When the tests for college entrance exams, competitions or even in school and undergraduate courses approach, it is necessary to know how to prepare good book summaries. Abstracts are often confused with critical reviews, and students, in general, always wonder what this summary is and how it differs from a review.
An abstract is a textual genre of the expository type set, it is the one that will synthesize the main ideas of the story narrated in a book, analyzing and simplifying what is described, so that the content will be learned and memorized. Normally, the texts to be summarized are those that have a story involving characters developing facts with the description of them, time and space, that is, of the narrative type.
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A review belongs to the same textual type, however, it is a type of summary in which the author must present his interpretation of it, so it is necessary to add the point of view about the story, unlike the summary, that value judgments should not be added, that is, constructions such as: “I think”, “in my opinion”, among others, are not allowed. others.
Book summaries are great allies to demonstrate that the content of the book was understood and interpreted, and, many times, they are charged as assessments both in regular education and in higher. In entrance exams and competitions, they can be charged in their tests, in addition to the summary being useful for summarizing the main ideas for fixing the content, helping in the study of those books that will be in the tests of literature.
1) Read and reread the book that will summarize
First, it is necessary to read and reread the book, as it is a larger amount of text than small texts of interpretation, it is good to pay close attention and, if necessary, divide the reading by separating certain reading times that last longer stipulated.
2) Organize the ideas
Make notes about the main ideas and highlight or write down the key words, trying to create a kind of mental map about the facts.
3) Start writing the summary
After reading, rereading and taking notes on the book, the ideal is to start writing a text presenting the ideas main characters, describing the main characters the space and time of the events, always following the chronological order of the facts. You can start by presenting the ideas of each section, then reduce your text, removing what is beyond the main until you reach the final version.
4) Don't make copies
It is important to write your summary in your own words after carefully reading the book to be summarized.
5) Pay attention to the structure and writing of the abstract:
Make sure your text is clear and objective; if you are not overlooking spelling and grammatical errors and if you are following the requested norms. Many teachers ask for a number of pages or characters to be followed, but, in general, the ideal is not to write a lot, because the idea of a summary is synthesis, so that only the main part of the text should be made explicit.
Important: Do not confuse the need to write in one's own words with the issue of opinions!
Therefore, it is ideal to follow a structure respecting the beginning, middle and end of your text, presenting at the beginning the main idea, the characters, time and space, then the development of the story demonstrating the problem to be solved and the climax built by the author; and finally, the resolution of the presented problem.
With this recipe, you'll be prepared to rock your studies and write great summaries.
