What is a synopsis?A brief summary or general survey of

something.An outline of the plot of a play, film, or book.

Why is a synopsis important?The ability to summarize information is one

of the most important critical thinking skills you can devel0p. Taking large amounts of information, understanding what that information means, and condensing it into a shorter version of the original allows you to have important information on hand for easy reference without having to memorize long passages or complex statistics.

In technical writing, different audiences need varying amounts or types of information. The technical summary, or abstract, is written for those who need a brief overview of a longer document for general information or to make decisions. For whatever purpose, writing summaries is a task that many think is easy but, in actuality, can be quite challenging.

Process and Hints to Summary WritingThe biggest problem with summary writing is deciding what to include and what to leave out. Read the piece to be summarized for

understanding, without editing. Make sure you understand the content, including the major and minor sections, as well as the overlying message being conveyed. Look closely at the topic sentence and key words repeated throughout.

Read through the material and cross out useless information while underlining what you believe to be the most important points, even if those points are words or phrases.

Process and Hints to Summary Writing (cont). Write your summary in your own words.

Follow both the organization of the original as well as its tone, though you need to make sure your own point of view is objective. Opinions should not appear in your synopsis. Any words or phrases from the original need to be properly documented and punctuated.

Your summary should be 15 to 20 percent of the length of the document.

Be sure to go back when you’ve finished your summary and compare it to the original for accuracy.

AssignmentRead the sample news article on your own

underlining only the key points.Read the synopsis sample on the other side.EvaluateYou will now begin your own synopsis

assignment.