The art of summarizing bulky documents requires precision, clarity, and critical thinking. When you have to summarize a file, a business report, or a policy document, the trick is to create an outline that retains the exact meaning. Nevertheless, it has often been seen that most summaries fall short due to certain pitfalls.
Errors to Avoid
The essence of a summary doesn’t include taking away the substance of the document. Instead, the document should retain the original context and include vital points. Below are five pitfalls to avoid when summarizing a file.
Being too concerned about details
Among the most significant errors, one can get involved in the minor, secondary aspects. The peculiar feature of a good summary is that it focuses on the key arguments, conclusions, and important data without including minor details. Putting irrelevant information is no longer the essence of a summary, which is time-saving to the reader.
Disregarding the purpose of the document
You also need to get the target of the original document right before you write your summary. Otherwise, the latter might not be on target.
When it is time to read, ask yourself: What did the writer intend to do? Is the purpose of the summary to convince, educate, or suggest an answer? That should be reflected in your summary.
Paraphrasing without knowledge
Others just rearrange the words but do not really understand the meaning. It may alter the message or cause misinterpretation. Always read and take notes, and be sure you have understood the content, then condense.
Loss of the logical flow
A summary ought to have the same logical flow as the original one. Readers may get confused when they jump between different ideas without apparent links. Order ideas according to the order in the document to maintain some coherence.
Coming up with something too long or too short
Anything overly long, and then you kill the idea of a summary, or an excessively summary would miss some crucial points and details. Do not exhaust the main ideas, as it might not help you achieve your purpose of summarizing.
A rule of thumb is that it should range around 10-20 percent of the length of the original text, depending on the complexities. It should also apply if you want to translate into another language.
Conclusion
The big picture summary is not a rewrite- it is the distillation of essence. Avoiding them would allow you to produce summaries that are clear, concise, and actually helpful to the decision-making and rapid understanding. Look out for software that can convert a file or compress a file if they are too large.
