Rules for summarizing:
1. Only summarize what the author said. Do not tell what you thought about the story.
2. A summary is fairly short. Keep it to ten to twenty-two sentences or between two hundred and four hundred words. The shorter the original story is the shorter your summary should be.
3. Cover only the main ideas and important supporting details. I’ve read the story. I’m trying to make sure you did too.
4. Begin with the name of the story and the author. For example:
In the story “Dead Man’s Path†by Chinua Achebe….
5. No quotes!
This was a short assignment I gave in lieu of a quiz on the literature reading that had been homework.