Summarizing or Paraphrasing CONTENT

QUESTION: Does a summary have to summarize a whole article to be considered a summary or can it summarize a portion of the article? 

Summary = LESS WRITING (new words) Paraphrase = SAME SIZE (new words)

The basic definition for a summary is to take something large and to condense it into as few (new) words as possible.

This can be done for a full article, resulting in a paragraph-sized summary (written in your own words).

However, this can be done for a section of an article, as well, resulting in a sentence or two (in your own words), expressing the larger content in a brief way.

The difference between a summary and a paraphrase—since they both require the author to take content and put it into his/her own words—is that...

A SUMMARY takes a large chunk of information and CONDENSES the MATERIAL in SIZE and LENGTH from the original CONTENT. 

A PARAPHRASE takes a phrase or clause and REWRITES it IN NEW WORDS; however, the LENGTH of the CONTENT stays the same.

Summary = LESS WRITING (new words) Paraphrase = SAME SIZE (new words)

 

For Educational Purposes ONLY

10 February 2019

© J. Dick