Writing a summary: KISS

     Keep it short and simple. KISS. That's what you do when you write a summary of a longer piece of writing, whether it is a summary of an essay, article, chapter, report, or  book. A summary might just be one paragraph long and include only the main ideas of the longer writing.  The summary shouldn't include details, specifics, or examples. Summary writing is important in college. A professor might ask you to read a textbook chapter or a long lab report and write a paragraph summary.  In the business world, leaders often don't have time to read long reports, so they ask one of their employees to read the report and write an executive summary of it. An executive summary is often not longer than one page. When you write a book report essay, you will need to be able to summarize what the book you read is about in less than a page. That might seem difficult, but it isn't so hard if you just focus on the main ideas, plot and characters in the book. Just remember,  KISS.