Summarizing informational text is no easy feat for the amateur.  Summarizing a text by hand takes even more time than just reading and comprehending it, because not only must the information be broken down and digested, it must be put back together in a comprehensive and intelligible way.  This is a creative act and takes significant brainpower . . . which is why many people who have tried to build text summarization tools with understanding what they’re doing have failed due to burnout and overwork.

A sustainable summary generator cannot just rely on pure brainpower to succeed.  It’s necessary to leverage the power of technology and computers (in an intelligent way) to do much of the grunt work of sorting and classifying ideas.  Auto text summarization tools do this with complicated sorting algorithms and artificial intelligence to break down the text for summarizing into useful and not-useful portions.  Even the most sophisticated summarizing online tools are less than perfect, however.

The difference between summarizing and paraphrasing

The techniques used in summarizing and paraphrasing will easily demonstrate the difference between the two. It will also show you when you can use summarizing vs paraphrasing to get your points across. Summarizing vs paraphrasing and quoting are also different ways of presenting the information. However, with quoting you have to write the exact words from the reference in quotation marks. When you summarize and paraphrase you write these words in an original manner by rephrasing and rewording.

Professional Example of Summaries

Original: The success of the new Lions offense can mostly be attributed to the coach’s decision to get rid of the set offense, and instead work out of the shotgun, with quarterback Matt Stafford focusing on the drop off options rather than the deeper ones. This has resulted in a spread-out defense, and ultimately to lots of room for the receivers and running back options that he does have. The key to his future success is that he is able to get rid of the ball quickly, not make mistakes, and not get sacked.

Summary: The coach’s decision to move to a shotgun offense has greatly helped Matt Stafford develop by providing him with more options to throw to, and allowing his receivers and running backs more space so that he can find them.

I’ll recommend Resoomer, the best summarizing tool available online.