Keeping Opinions Out of a Summary

A summary tells what happened, not what you thought about it.

A summary should be objective, which means it reports what happens in the text without your personal opinions or feelings. Opinions belong in a review or a response, not a summary. Words like 'awesome', 'boring', 'I liked', and 'the best part' are signs an opinion has slipped in. Compare these two summaries.

Summary A: 'In this amazing book, a brave boy named Felix goes on the coolest adventure ever to find his lost grandfather, and I loved the ending. ' Summary B: 'Felix sets out across the mountains to find his missing grandfather. After crossing a dangerous river and surviving a storm, he finds him in a shepherd's cabin, and they return home together. ' Summary B tells the important events clearly.

Summary A tells us more about the reader than the story.

• 1A summary is objective: facts from the story only.
• 2Words like awesome or I liked signal an opinion.
• 3Save opinions for a review or response.