a shortened version of an article, story, film or other literary text, in which only the main points are listed, and details, examples, explanations and repetitions left out. Some useful tips for summarising are:

• turn clauses into phrases, e.g. the man who was limping along the road becomes the man with the limp
• turn phrases into words, e.g. the man with the limp becomes the limping man
• eliminate examples and figurative language
• identify key words
• identify key sentences in paragraphs (the topic sentence) to help you eliminate unnecessary words
• write a draft
• ensure that the final draft flows
• don’t insert any of your own opinions, this is purely a summary. Write in the same voice, in other words, don’t write, e.g. As the author says ...