A summary is a written composition that gives the main points or the core information in a resource e.g. text, speech, story, article, book, video clip etc.
The main function of a summary is to present the main ideas in a resource.
When you’re developing a summary, you should only highlight the most important aspects of the resource, personal opinions should not be included.
A summary can be as short as a few sentences or much longer, depending on the complexity of the text and the level of detail the author wishes to provide to readers.
However, the summaries, as overviews of text or other resources they are usually much shorter than the original material, usually about one third of the original text.
Any type of content, artistic or technical, offered in various formats, as: written text (on paper or in web pages), video or audio sequences, can be condensed to its bare essentials and presented as a summary.
Artistic or fictional works:
- literary writings: a novel, a story, a poem, a play, an opera.
- artistic work in video format: a movie, a play.
- artistic work in an audio format: a song, an opera, a musical.
Technical and non-fictional:
- writings in scientific field: biology, earth sciences, economics, environment, etc.
- historical writings: description of an historical event, history of a country.
- journalistic articles: news’ stories.
- non-fictional works in video format: sports events (a match, a race, a game).
- scientific works in video or audio format: documentaries, conferences, debates).
- a project, a work scenario (to be presented to a leader, or for a financial support).
- any description of food, beverage, or other object in everyday life.
- any description of events, facts, behaviors, conversations, etc. from everyday life.
