Summarizing Literary Texts

Learn to summarize literary texts objectively! Essential ELA skills for clear and concise retelling.

RL 7.2: Provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgements. When you tell someone about your day, you include the most important people, places, and events but leave out the little details. Similarly, a summary of a story is a brief retelling. It includes only the main characters, setting, conflict, and important events.When reading a story, you might have personal opinions, or feelings, about it. You might also make judgments about the story - whether it's believable, well-written, and so on. Although it's fine to have opinions and make judgments, don't include them in a summary. A summary is supposed to be objective, or only tell the facts. These pictures tell a story. What details would you include in a summary of the pictures? Now read the summary below and identify phrases that seem like opinions or judgments. So, what did you cross out? A version of this summary without judgments and opinions would read like this: "A boy and girl enter a living room and see drips coming from the ceiling. Although confused at first, they check the bathroom above the living room. There, they discover the water is from an overflowing bathtub."Remember that a summary of a literary text includes only its most important aspects. It's perfectly fine to have opinions and make judgments about what you read. When summarizing a story, though, just stick to the facts. Read the first part of a mystery story about a boy and his brother. Explore how to answer these questions: "What would be a good summary of this story? What would it include and not include?"Remember: A summary is a brief retelling. It does not include your opinions or judgments.Below is a student's draft of a summary. Read the draft carefully. There are three statements that do not belong. Identify the three statements that don't belong. Then, explain why they don't belong in the summary. Continue reading the mystery "Where is Lady Fish Pants?". Which sentence best summarizes this part of the story? Sam should have realized that Ted was telling the truth about the lady with the fish pants. The mystery of the lady with the fish pants is solved when Sam and Ted visit the gift shop and Ted sees the stuffed mermaid. Sam and Ted's mother is supposed to pick them up soon. Sam got tired of listening to Ted whine so he took him into the gift shop. Explain why the other answer choices are not good summaries of the text. Read the text. Use the Study Buddy and Close Reading to guide your reading. A student wrote the following summary of the story.Mr. Sanchez's class visits the aircraft carrier Lexington. When it's time to leave, Harrison can't find his camera. He should have kept the camera in his bag. The class looks for the camera on the flight deck. They find it dangling from a tall antenna near a pelican.Which sentence should not have been included? "Mr. Sanchez's class visits the aircraft carrier Lexington." "When it's time to leave, Harrison can't find his camera." "He should have kept the camera in his bag." "The class looks for the camera on the flight deck." Which sentence best summarizes how the mystery was solved? The carrier is called "The Blue Ghost" because it was reported to have sunk four times during World War II. The class figured out that the pelican had mistaken the silver camera for a fish. Harrison brilliantly realized that the camera was on an antenna. Harrison should not have brought his camera with him because it created a big problem. Write a brief summary of the story "Mystery on 'The Blue Ghost." Include information on the characters, settings, and events.