Summarizing involves reducing a large text down to its most important elements, including the main idea and supporting details, and retelling them in fewer words. There are two types of summarizing: extractive summarizing takes key words and phrases directly from the text, while abstractive summarizing rephrases the main points in your own words. The purpose of summarizing is to provide context for an argument by briefly outlining the key aspects of a work in a shorter form than the original.