Using Technology to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts
This post is the second part to How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts. These days, there is an app to perform virtually any function, so why not one for summarizing text. I am always scouring the internet for ways to perform tasks faster and more efficiently, and earlier in the year, while researching ways to auto-summarize my blog posts to use as a meta-description, I discovered a few options. What I have found, is that manually summarizing takes more time, but the results are far better and more accurate than the technology options. The technology options are hits and misses, and mostly misses. However, you can sometimes use the auto-summarizing as a starting point for the manual summarizing.
I am using technology to summarize “How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts,” so please let me know what you think of the results.
tldr (Too Long; Don’t Read): This is a web and mobile app that gives you options as to the length of your text summary. You can add it you your browser.
“How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts
I read a lot and write many book summaries/reviews what I call SummaReviews for The Invisible Mentor blog. Question: When you read a book, there's a purpose for reading it. Recite: Repeat certain information that you're reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.”
Here is a longer summary using tldr.
“How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts
I know that if I do a better job writing meta-descriptions, I will increase traffic to my blog.
I read a lot and write many book summaries/reviews – what I call SummaReviews – for The Invisible Mentor blog. If I practice using the steps outlined in the courses, I will get better, not only at writing book summaries, but also meta-descriptions.
Write it in your own words.
I hope you are!
- Look through the entire book to get the helicopter view of what the book is about.
- Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it. In many instances, you are reading to gather information and to further your knowledge on a topic. That means that you have specific questions, whose answers you expect to find in the book.
- Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.
- Review: Tell yourself what you have learned from the book – the self-testing state.
- Look through the entire book to get the helicopter view of what the book is about.
- Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it. In many instances, you are reading to gather information and to further your knowledge on a topic. That means that you have specific questions, whose answers you expect to find in the book.
- Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.
- Review: Tell yourself what you have learned from the book – the self-testing state.
- If you do this consistently, you will write better mete-descriptions.
If you’re new to the blog, visit the Start Here page for my pillar posts.
Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that’s why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.
Book links are affiliate links.”
Squash Text Summarization: This is a mobile app for Android that gives you the option between summaries of four and eight sentences in length.
“In many instances, you are reading to gather information and to further your knowledge on a topic.
Ask the questions that come to mind.
Looking at the two processes, if you have to summarize a book, or longer text, this is the process that I recommend.
If you have to write a meta-description for your blog post, even if it is not a book summary or review, go through the process of reducing what you wrote, deciding which main points to reject, choosing which keywords to highlight, reproducing your ideas and opinions then repackaging them in fewer words – one to two sentences.”
Iris Reading Summarize This: You have to copy the information from your blog post and paste it into the box on the Summarize This web page.
“How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts
I must admit that I am not great at writing engaging headlines – I know that there are formulas tested by the ad men of yesterday, and when I remember, I use some of those formulas. And writing meta-descriptions are a chore for me, and in my opinion, they are more about search engine optimization and making Google happy. And most of the times, if I am honest with myself, I do not invest enough time to craft the meta-descriptions for my blog posts. However, something clicked for me today that will cause me to change my errant ways. I know that if I do a better job writing meta-descriptions, I will increase traffic to my blog.
Close to a year ago, I started my informal liberal arts education, and to date, I have taken a few writing courses. In one of the courses, there are instructions outlined for summarizing text, and in another, there are instructions for writing abstracts. Summaries and abstracts, involve summarizing content, and so are meta-descriptions, although abstracts and meta-descriptions are more closely aligned. When the connection clicked, I immediately realized all the implications for me. I read a lot and write many book summaries/reviews – what I call SummaReviews – for The Invisible Mentor blog.
If I practice using the steps outlined in the courses, I will get better, not only at writing book summaries, but also meta-descriptions. When you are summarizing text, there are a few rules to be mindful of: Make the summary shorter than the original. Leave out some of the main points. Write it in your own words. Express the author’s (in some instances you are summarizing your content) facts and opinions accurately.”
Smmry: This tool allows you to enter the URL of the webpage that you would like to summarize.
“How to Write Meta-Descriptions, Summaries and Abstracts
I read a lot and write many book summaries/reviews – what I call SummaReviews – for The Invisible Mentor blog.
Look through the entire book to get the helicopter view of what the book is about.
Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it.
Reading: Actively read the book, take detailed notes, ask the questions, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid the understanding of the piece of work.
What have you learned that relates to prior knowledge? What are the key ideas in the book and how can you apply them? Did the book contain any surprising information?
Reading: Read actively, take detailed notes, ask questions while reading the text, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid in understanding the piece of work.
Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.”
Text Compactor: This tool gives you the option to choose what percentage of the original text the summary should be.
“Look through the entire book to get the helicopter view of what the book is about.
Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it. Determine if you understand the material.
Reading: Actively read the book, take detailed notes, ask the questions, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid the understanding of the piece of work.
Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information. Did the book contain any surprising information?
Looking at the two processes, if you have to summarize a book, or longer text, this is the process that I recommend.
Survey: Look at the table of content, the layout of the book and the index. Look through the entire book to get the helicopter view of what the book is about.
Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it. Determine if you understand the material.
Reading: Read actively, take detailed notes, ask questions while reading the text, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid in understanding the piece of work.
Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.”
Free Summarizer: This gives you the option to choose how many sentences you would like for your summary.
“I read a lot and write many book summaries/reviews what I call SummaReviews for The Invisible Mentor blog.
To use the 5Rs when summarizing content: Read the text so that you know and understand the material, highlight key points, write the shorter version in your own words using synonyms, and use connecting words so the summary is clear and flows smoothly.
Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it.
Reading: Actively read the book, take detailed notes, ask the questions, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid the understanding of the piece of work.
Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.
Question: When you read a book, there is a purpose for reading it.
Reading: Read actively, take detailed notes, ask questions while reading the text, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid in understanding the piece of work.
Recite: Repeat certain information that you are reading so that you remember it, annotate the book, take notes, and highlight key information.
If you have to write a meta-description for your blog post, even if it is not a book summary or review, go through the process of reducing what you wrote, deciding which main points to reject, choosing which keywords to highlight, reproducing your ideas and opinions then repackaging them in fewer words one to two sentences.
Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.”
Here is a one sentence summary using Free Summarizer.
“Reading: Actively read the book, take detailed notes, ask the questions, go through the information slowly, read the information on any charts in the book, and look at the images to see how they aid the understanding of the piece of work.”
After testing a few of these text summarization tools, you have to read through their output and clean up the summaries, and there are times when you have to toss them out because they make no sense. Most times, the summary is the starting point for writing the meta-description for your blog post and can save you time. I would love it if you tested them and let me know if you get better results. And the results could be because of the nature of the blog post – it is a bit complex.
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Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.
Book links are affiliate links.