1. First sentence should include the author, the main idea, and the title,
2. I break a story or text into sections, then I try to give equal coverage to each section,
3. If it has sections, I include the section names,
4. Use transition words between sections,
5. Beware of adjectives and adverbs. One can usually summarize a text without them
6. Summaries are sometimes Cliff's notes (all major details), but sometimes summaries are for a different purpose (only the details that relate to the purpose.)
7. A useful place to look at summaries is by looking at movie spoilers. Think of a movie that you know well. Then google "movie spoilers+ the movie title." For a large number of famous movies, two types of spoilers will be available: retellings of the entire movie and actual summaries of the movie. Only spoilers that leave out many of the details of a film are proper summaries.
8. As a rule of thumb, try to keep summaries under 100 words. A longer summary is usually not necessary.
