“How to Write a Good Summary”

The first step in writing a good summary is the preparation. It is important to thoroughly

understand the material you are working with. Here is some preliminary step in writing a

summary.

1. Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings. If there are no subheadings, try to

divide the text into sections. Consider why you have been assigned the text. Try to

determine what type of text you are dealing with. This can help you identify important

information.

2. Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes.

3. In your own words, write down the main points of each section.

4. Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor detail.

5. Go through the process again, making changes as appropriate.

When skimming the text, it is important to identify several key factors. The first one being the

general definition. The general definition typically occurs at the first sentence, and it give insight

toward the topic in which the article will further discuss. The second key factor is the main idea,

this is central thought that the author wants to express to the reader. Main idea is typically

supported by example, commentary, and minor detail. These usages of these detail should be

monitored in such a way that some support explanation is available for the problem, but not all

the details.
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Once skimming is done, and the key factor had been recorded, it’s time to outline

your summary. When outlining your summary, the first step is to decide the time format of the

writing. There are two main time formats used which are “Chronological Order, Sequential

Order”. Chronological order usually refers to how things happen in order of time. The segments

of time may go forward or backward. This pattern works well when telling a story. History is

told in chronological order. Also explaining how something happens or works is chronological

order. Chronological order may recount a series of events that happened over time. This structure

is organized from one point in time to another. Sequential order usually refers to steps in a

process or event. This pattern works well when using step-by-step directions. Owner’s manuals

and cookbooks use this pattern. Sequential order may show how to do something. Consecutive

order means one after the other. This may be a period such as days. Any regular time intervals

such as each year, each month, and so on are consecutive over.

One you have the order planned, you may start writing your introduction paragraph.

Write your introduction paragraph. Your introduction should give the reader a basic idea of what

the book is about. It should also give a little bit of information about its main characters and/or

ideas. You don’t have to go into a lot of detail here; you just need to give enough information

that your reader knows what to expect from the rest of the report. Publication information for the

book should be given, this include the book’s title, author, year of publication, and genre. If your

book was written by someone important, won an award, or is a best-seller, give that information

too. For example, a short overall summary of Lois Lowry’s The Giver might look something like
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this: “Lois Lowry’s young-adult novel The Giver was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in

1993, and it won a Newbery Medal in 1994. It is set in what appears to be a utopian society that

thrives on ‘Sameness.’ There is no hunger, sadness, or poverty in this society. However, this

utopia depends on keeping its people from feeling true emotions. This lack of emotion causes

serious issues for the main character, Jonas, once he is chosen to become the new Receiver of

Memory.

After having written the introductory paragraph, the next step is writing the body

paragraph. Working from your outline, develop body paragraphs that summarize the most

important elements of the book. Unless you’re dealing with a very short book, you almost

certainly won’t be able to summarize every detail or even every chapter in your final draft.

Instead, focus on what seemed most important to you about the story and the characters. When

writing the body, it is important to use the movement of plot. If you've chosen to organize your

book report chronologically, think about how the plot moves along. What are the major events in

the plot? Where do things change? Where are the surprises or cliff-hangers? The general plot

movement in chronological order is shown in the diagram below. It is composed of the

exposition, which introduces important background information to the audience, the rising action

which is a series of even that bring into the point of greatest interest, the climax or the turning

point, then falling action where the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist unravel, and

lastly the denouement which comprises of events from the end of the falling action to the actual

ending scene of the drama or narrative.

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If you've chosen thematic organization (most engineering application uses the format), you can

develop your paragraphs according to topic instead of letting the plot determine your paragraphs.

You'll want a paragraph that introduces the topic, objective, and condition. The next paragraph or

two will be the body, this is the summary with each paragraph containing one header, two to three

concrete detail, and supporting detail which is optional. This paragraph also contains the short

conclusion which repeats the main idea or the thesis, and the linkage between the thesis and body.

Lastly, when writing the summary there are three main requirements:

1. The summary should cover the original as a whole.

2. The material should be presented in a neutral fashion.

3. The summary should be a condensed version of the material, presented in your own words.

* * Also do not include anything that does not appear in the original. (Do not include your own

comments or evaluation.) And be sure to identify your source.

Analysis of Summary of the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad-Robert Kiyosaki”

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Paragraph 1
The introduction
“The book is the story of a person (the narrator and author) who has two fathers: paragraph
the first was his biological father – the poor dad - and the other was the father of introduces the
main character
his childhood best friend, Mike – the rich dad. Both fathers taught the author
which is the
how to achieve success but with very disparate approaches. It became evident to author, and two of
the author which father's approach made more financial sense. Throughout the his father.
book, the author compares both fathers – their principles, ideas, financial The sentence with
practices, and degree of dynamism and how his real father, the poor and red colored font is
struggling but highly educated man, paled against his rich dad in terms of asset the main idea of
building and business acumen. the whole book.
The book title,
and basic
The author compares his poor dad to those people who are perpetually information on the
scampering in the Rat Race, helplessly trapped in a vicious cycle of needing book can be added
more but never able to satisfy their dreams for wealth because of one glaring for further clarity.
lack: financial literacy. They spend so much time in school learning about the
problems of the world, but have not acquired any valuable lessons about money, Paragraph 2
simply because it is never taught in school. His rich dad, by contrast, represents The second
the independently wealthy core of society who deliberately takes advantage of paragraph is the
the power of corporations and their personal knowledge of tax and accounting body paragraph,
in this story the
(or that of their financial advisers) which they manipulate to their advantage.
thematic sequence
is used. The
concrete detail is
The book’s theme reduces to two fundamental concepts: a can-do attitude and written in red font,
fearless entrepreneurship. The author highlights these two concepts by providing and the supporting
multiple examples for each and focusing on the need for financial literacy, how detail is written in
the power of corporations contributes to making the wealthy even wealthier, blue font. The first
minding your own business, overcoming obstacles by not fostering laziness, fear, concrete detail
cynicism and other negative attitudes, and recognizing the characteristics of introduces the
humans and how their preconceived notions and upbringing hamper their
concept of “rat
financial freedom goals.”
race”, and the
supporting detail
further explain the
concept. The
second concrete
Paragraph 3 detail shift toward
The last paragraph reintroduces the main idea previously the paradigm of
written in the introduction paragraph. The author of the the rich dad, with
summary further links these main ideas toward the detail the supporting
provided in the second paragraph. Overall, the author did a detail further
great job remaining neutral, covering the whole book, and explaining his
condensing the information. paradigm and
exploitation.
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Rewriting summary of the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad-Robert Kiyosaki”

The book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki is a story about two different fathers.
One of the father was the author biological father, and the other was the father of the author
childhood friend, Mike. Both father has a different financial paradigm. One value independence,
critical thinking, and financial literacy, while other is too fearful on breaking the norm, thereby
being in an endless loop called “Rat Race”. Throughout the book, the principles, ideas, and
financial practices of both father are being explored, therefore being apparent on why the rich
dad remain rich, and the poor dad, despite being highly educated, remain poor.
The author uses the term “Rat Race” to describe his poor dad, and other people who are
trapped in the vicious cycle of needing more wealth, but because of fear and lack of financial
knowledge, they could not get out of the cycle. The author further explains the significance of
financial literacy, and how school focus too much on other aspect of education, this result in
financial literacy often being forgotten. In contrast with the poor dad, the rich dad represents the
wealthy core of the society who is financially literate and can exploit the system to his benefit.
To sum it up, the book condenses all the lesson into three fundamental concepts: a can-do
attitude, a fearless entrepreneurship, and the importance of financial literacy.