Reading Comprehension: 
The Thinking Process Approach-
Summarizing and Synthesis

Summarizing is a complex strategy that involves higher level cognitive skills. Summarizing requires readers to sort text information in an effort to focus on the necessary and eliminate the extraneous. Additionally, summarizing requires paraphrasing skills as readers produce a new document that yet remains true to the context and intent of the original.

According to extensive studies, summarizing and note taking are among the most effective instructional strategies building student achievement (Classroom Instruction that Works, 2001). Important to this process is an awareness of text structure and basic summarizing formats and practices. Unfortunately, many middle and high school teachers operating under the assumption that students have been taught how to summarize and how to take notes overlook the explicit teaching of these essential strategies.

This workshop offers systematic instruction and classroom materials based on research based summarizing strategies. Teachers will learn how to scaffold their students’ skills in determining main ideas and distinguishing between what to keep and what to delete from an original text.