How to make a SUMMARY of a BOOK

Make a summary of a text It may seem simple at first glance, but when the text is as long as a book it is necessary to have some tools to be able to make a ordered summary and that the person who is reading it can understand it perfectly.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to explain to you how to make a summary of a book through two different methods. In this way you will be able to synthesize the main theme, the characters and the plot in a schematic way and very easy to understand with the method that you think best suits you.

The summary of a book consists of briefly synthesizing the main ideas that appear in a text. This summary should include essential elements What:

• Plot of the book: that is, what happens throughout the work.
• Main characters: mention who are those who carry out the action.
• Space time: indicate when and where the play takes place.
• Final outcome: a good summary of a book should indicate what the outcome Of the plot.

There are different ways to summarize a book; that's why we'll start with a method that draws your full attention on

reading comprehension and the ability of your brain to capture only the most important ideas in a long text and reject plots that do not contribute anything.

With this first method that we propose, you won't have to start typing Until you have finished reading the book completely, yes, you should pay close attention to your reading.

These are the steps you have to follow.

Focus on your reading

Read the book carefully and try to understand each of the paragraphs of this: re-read those pages that have not been clear to you. Try to organize your time well so that you do not have to read the whole book at the last minute, but can separate 20 or 30 minutes a day to just be focused on that.

Avoid any distraction such as television or noise and find a quiet and comfortable place where there are no people passing by. Take care of the illumination at the time of reading it is a good element so that your brain is only focused on the content of it.

Meditate on the topic and make a quick outline

Once you've finished reading the book, take a minute before you start writing and ponder what the main theme of the work and what are the subtopics that revolve around it. With that information make a quick outline This will help you determine which are the most important issues to discuss in your summary.

Write the summary

Write your summary with the diagram in front and try talk about the main topic and the plot that moves all the characters. If you see that it is necessary for the summary to be understood, you can introduce other plots that are not so essential to the story, but do so without going into too much detail and getting lost.

Check the text

Check the text Carefully once you have finished your summary to detect any errors or inconsistencies.

The previous method is not the only one that exists to make a summary of a book. Next, we are going to discover the second method that can help you when summarizing a book.

This method is based on working the summary as you read the book to have the work practically done when you finish your reading. It is a very useful way to summarize, however, there are many people who find this technique distracting and prefer to focus only on reading.

These are the steps you have to follow.

Underline and take notes

While you are reading the book It is important that you are in a quiet place where you can concentrate and there are no elements that can distract you. As with the previous method, the lighting will be basic so that your brain remains active for a longer time, but this time you will not read from a comfortable place, but from your desk.

That is because while you are reading you should go underlining the most important parts of the text and taking notes about what is happening to the characters. Just underline what is essential and write down what is really relevant because if not, in the end you will find yourself with too much material to organize.

Make a summary of each chapter

Everytime that you finish reading a chapter, take your notes and refer to the underlined sentences to create a Little summary just for that section of the book. Try not to be too long and base yourself only on the main plot, without going too much into the details that are not essential for the development of the story.

Create the final summary

Once you have finished reading the book, you will have several short summaries of each of the chapters. All you have to do now is rewrite that summary and make it general with all the information you already know and using the material you have already written.

As you write you will realize that, at the time, you developed themes that in the end have not been important to the story and you can dismiss them. Try to determine the main theme of the book and write the summary around it.

Ask someone to read it to you

Show your text Tell someone who has not read the book and ask them to honestly tell you if the story you have written about is understood.

Now you know how to make a summary of a book through two different methods. If you are interested in continuing to learn about this topic or something similar, do not hesitate to consult the writing section.