Summarizing

Summarizing requires readers to briefly state the most important information in a text in their own words. By its very nature, this activity provides an excellent opportunity for students to focus on and process what they are reading.

When students summarize, they must first determine what is important from the text and then condense that information and put it into their own words. In Digging Reading, they learn the three features of a good summary: It is brief, it covers the most important information, and it is stated in the reader's own words. Students use a specific process of deleting the less important information, identifying the most important information, and stating it in their own words.