How to Summarize a Complex Text: Key Steps & Tips

Summarizing lengthy or complex text often feels challenging. It can be hard to understand where to start and which details to present. This is because the text may contain extensive arguments, various examples, and complex technical terms, making it difficult to identify the key points.

A good summary can help readers skim through your ideas quickly while still understanding the main message. It presents the key information from a complex text logically. For anyone, whether a student, writer, or professional, mastering the skill of summarizing helps improve clarity and convey the information effectively to the readers.

But how can you convert a complex text into a meaningful summary? This is what I’ll help you learn in this blog. I’ll show you practical steps and tips to summarize complex text easily.

Key Steps to Summarizing a Complex Text

The following are some of the key steps to summarize a complex text without losing the main points.

Understand the General Topic

You can write a good summary when you fully understand the context. So, start by reading the text without attempting to summarize anything. This is just to get the sense of the topic. After that, read the text again. This second read helps you notice the areas where the writer explains the main points. It prepares your mind to notice information that truly matters. You need to notice the following when you read text.

Find the Supporting Points

Long and complex text may contain many ideas, but not all of them are necessary to include in a summary. You have to spot the points that directly support the main ideas. Some of the supporting points are shown below:

These supporting points add structure to your summary and help keep it focused and relevant to the original text. 

Remove Extra Details

Writers sometimes include lengthy examples and stories to strengthen their ideas. Though it is not required to include these in the summary, they are quite useful in the original material. Thus, retain only the ideas that are necessary to convey the primary message. The following are some details that you can skip:

Your main goal should be to keep the message clear while removing the extra details from it. 

Rewrite the Main Points in Your Own Words

Now that you have learned to extract the core message and the supporting ideas, write them in your own words and writing style. Use simple wording and don’t copy long sentences from the original content piece. 

A clean summary should follow the following structure. 

From the table above, you can see that a well-written summary begins with the main message in its opening lines. After that, it presents the supporting points in the middle. It ends on a concise conclusion. This summary structure ensures that it is easy to read and follows a logical pattern. 

Final Review for Clarity and Completion

Once you complete rewriting the main points and supporting points, you have to give it a careful review. For this, read your written text again and check the following:

After checking the above points, make the necessary changes if required. Once these points are completely conveyed, your summary is considered complete. It should now clearly present the main message and the supporting ideas and flow in a logical order, excluding the unnecessary details. 

Tips to Make Your Summaries Effective

Many people, even I, sometimes feel stuck while summarizing complex text. It can often be hard to decide which ideas matter the most and how to structure sentences properly. To make the process easier, I follow my personal favourite strategies. I’m sharing those tips below so that you don’t feel overwhelmed while summarizing complex text.

Avoid Personal Opinions

A summary is just a shortened version of the original text. It should not include your own thoughts or opinions. 

For example, do not write – “I think the writer is right about climate change.”

Write it as – “The text explains how climate change affects food supply.”

Keep Sentences Short

Most readers may prefer reading short sentences. They help make the message clear and easy to follow. However, complex text often contains long strings of ideas in a single line. Your summary should not copy that style. 

For example,

Original complex text – “The rapid growth of urban areas, driven by migration and industrial development, has created several social and environmental challenges.”

Clear, summarized version – “City growth is bringing many social and environmental challenges.”

Watch for Repetition

While reading the original text, you may notice that the writer sometimes repeats the same point several times to add depth to their ideas. You have to select the strongest version and ignore the rest. 

For example, “If the original text mentions exercise improves heart health in three places, write it once in your summary.”

Get Quick Support from an Online Tool When Needed

Sometimes, long or complex text may seem challenging to handle. The wording feels heavy, and the ideas are scattered. In such cases, I get quick assistance from online AI-powered tools. 

For example, AI Summarizer helps me quickly generate a precise summary of the complex text. I compare its version with my draft and check if I missed any important points. This helps me identify the areas of improvement in my summary. After that, I adjust and edit my summary and create a final version that feels more balanced.

AI tools can give you a good starting point. You can then add your own input and refine some points to write a clear summary of a complex text.

Summing Up

Summarizing complex text often feels like a challenging task. You need to discover the main ideas, remove the unnecessary points, and rewrite everything clearly. However, by following a structured method, you can efficiently summarize the text.

Also, you can use AI-powered tools as an assistant to generate a baseline for your summary. This helps ensure you don’t miss any important points. Practice summarizing complex text with the help of the steps mentioned above.

Over time, you’ll become better and more confident in summarizing complex text.