Now that you understand how central ideas can be used to summarize a text, let’s look at an example.
Recall in the Central Idea: New Lightbulb Discovered module, you found the central ideas from the article “Physics team that discovered new lightbulb wins Nobel Prize Opens a new window”.
Click each heading in the activity below to see the central ideas from different sections of the text and the key details that support them.
Now let’s use these central ideas and key details to develop a summary of the article.
First, let’s determine the overall central idea of the text as a whole. What is the most important idea that each of the central ideas from the different sections support?
Each of the central ideas supports the overall central idea that a team of scientists discovered an energy-saving lightbulb. The article’s headline, “Physics team that discovered new lightbulb wins Nobel Prize” is also a clue to the overall central idea.
The overall central idea leads to the topic sentence in the summary:
Topic Sentence
A team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering an energy-saving lightbulb.
Now let’s add supporting details to the summary by using the central ideas and key details from different sections of the text:
Summary
A team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering an energy-saving lightbulb. They discovered LED lights, which will save energy by providing more light while using less electricity. LED lights stay cool, last longer, and use less energy that the old incandescent lightbulbs. They may even be able to be used to purify drinking water in the future. These lights provide a greater benefit to mankind than other lightbulbs. It took the scientists many years to achieve blue LEDs, but they kept trying until they succeeded.
Now click the Show Answer button below each of the following questions to see how well this summary was developed.
1. Does it state the overall central idea for the text?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! The overall central idea is included in the topic sentence highlighted below:
green highlight beginsA team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering an energy-saving lightbulb.green highlight ends They discovered LED lights, which will save energy by providing more light while using less electricity. It took the scientists many years to achieve blue LEDs, but they kept trying until they succeeded. LED lights stay cool, last longer, and use less energy that the old incandescent lightbulbs. They may even be able to be used to purify drinking water in the future. These lights provide a greater benefit to mankind than other lightbulbs.
2. Does it cover the most important central ideas from the different sections in the text?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! The central ideas from the different sections are highlighted below:
A team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering a new lightbulb. green highlight beginsThey discovered LED lights, which will save energygreen highlight ends by providing more light while using less electricity. LED lights stay cool, last longer, and use less energy that the old incandescent lightbulbs. They may even be able to be used to purify drinking water in the future. yellow highlight beginsThese lights provide a greater benefit to mankind than other lightbulbs.yellow highlight ends cyan highlight beginsIt took the scientists many years to achieve blue LEDs, but they kept trying until they succeeded.cyan highlight ends
3. Do all of the central ideas from different sections in the text support the overall central idea?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! Each central idea supports the idea that scientists discovered an energy-saving lightbulb.
4. Have you included key details that support one or more of the central ideas?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! Key details for two of the central ideas have been included. Those details are circled below:
A team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering a new lightbulb. green highlight beginsThey discovered LED lights, which will save energygreen highlight ends by blue outline beginsproviding more light while using less electricityblue outline ends.
blue outline beginsLED lights stay cool, last longer, and use less energy that the old incandescent lightbulbs.blue outline ends They may even be blue outline beginsable to be used to purify drinking water in the futureblue outline ends. yellow highlight beginsThese lights provide a greater benefit to mankind than other lightbulbs.yellow highlight ends cyan highlight beginsIt took the scientists many years to achieve blue LEDs, but they kept trying until they succeeded.cyan highlight ends
5. Does it contain only information from the text?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! The information included in the summary has come from ideas in the text and does not reflect any prior knowledge or opinions about the information in the text.
6. Are all the sentences written in your own words?
Show AnswerHide Answer
Yes! The sentences have been restated in my own words. No sentences are copied directly from the text. For example, the author writes the following text:
“LED bulbs are much brighter, last much longer and use much less energy than old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs. Incandescent bulbs use electricity to heat a thin metal strand called a filament. It wastes energy by giving off both heat and light. Instead, LEDs change energy into light, without the heat.”
In the summary, I restate this information in the highlighted sentence below:
A team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for discovering an energy-saving lightbulb. They discovered LED lights, which will save energy by providing more light while using less electricity. yellow highlight beginsLED lights stay cool, last longer, and use less energy that the old incandescent lightbulbs.yellow highlight ends They may even be able to be used to purify drinking water in the future. These lights provide a greater benefit to mankind than other lightbulbs. It took the scientists many years to achieve blue LEDs, but they kept trying until they succeeded.
Remember to ask yourself these questions as you review your summary of a text. Now go to the next page to practice identifying the central ideas and summarizing on your own.
