Summary

A summary is a short version of the source. A summary must be in your words and be marked with a tag. However, a summary presents only the author’s main ideas. Because a summary is short, it is also general. As a short version of the source, the summary does not present all the specific examples or details. The purpose of summaries is to give just the general idea or ideas of a source so that you can respond in your writing.
Qualities of a good summary:
Comprehensive: conveys all important information
Brief: conveys important information concisely
Accurate: correctly conveys author’s ideas, findings or arguments
Neutral: it avoids judgements concerning topic, ideas or author’s style
Independent: makes sense to someone who has not read the source text
Types of Summaries:
Informative: simply conveys author’s main ideas, data, arguments, and supporting material.
Explanatory: conveys this information as well but also indicates the overall structure of the source text, explaining how the author developed his or her assertions.
How to Summarize?
Read, Reread, Annotate
Identify major sections of the source text
In opening statement of your summary you must introduce the topic of the source text, give the title of the piece you are summarizing, give the name and credentials of the author who wrote the piece, and give a brief restatement of the source’s thesis statement.
Generally, your summary does not need a conclusion: simply end your summary with the author’s last point
Documentation: summarized material should be documented. It is very important to document the summary even though it’s written in your words as you need to give the author credit for his/her ideas, arguments or findings.