Why an even summary is a bad summary
Most summaries compress everything by the same proportion, which removes the argument and keeps the topic. Asking for the main claim, the evidence for it, and the strongest objection as 3 separate parts produces a summary you can act on.
A summary is a lossy operation, and the useful question is which part you can afford to lose. Left unspecified, the answer is the reasoning, because reasoning is the longest part.
On this page
Even compression removes the argument
A text is a claim plus support plus qualification. Shrinking all 3 equally leaves a claim with a hint of support, which reads as an assertion. This is why summaries feel confident and thin at the same time, and it is a property of the instruction rather than of the model.
Ask for the 3 parts by name
The main claim in 1 sentence, the 2 strongest pieces of support, and the most serious objection the text acknowledges. This produces an uneven summary, which is the point: the parts that carry weight get room, and the framing does not.
Ask what was dropped
Requesting a list of what the summary left out costs 2 lines and tells you whether the compression was safe. It also surfaces the case where the source had nothing to drop, which is worth knowing about the source.
Summarising several sources
Summarise each separately, then ask where they disagree. Merging first produces an average that belongs to nobody and hides the contradictions, which are usually the reason you were reading several sources.
Questions a buyer asks
How short can a summary safely be?
As short as the claim plus 1 piece of support. Below that it is a title rather than a summary, and titles are not decisions.
Does a bullet list help?
It helps scanning and hurts reasoning, because bullets hide the connections between points. Ask for prose when the argument matters.
Can I trust a summary of a text I have not read?
For orientation, yes; for a decision, no. A summary cannot tell you what the source got wrong, because it inherits the source.
Paste a long text and ask for claim, support and objection separately.
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