Text summarization is the process of creating a shortened version of a text document that preserves the most important information from the original source. While ChatGPT is not specifically designed for text summarization, it is possible to use it for this purpose by providing it with appropriate prompts and fine-tuning its output to produce a summary of the text.
Here are a few examples of how you could use ChatGPT to summarize different types of texts.
If you’re new to ChatGPT and would like to learn more about how to use it as an author, click here.
Example 1: Summarize a full book
Prompt: Summarize the main takeaways of the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
ChatGPT response:
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” is a classic self-help book written by Dale Carnegie that aims to teach readers how to build and maintain successful relationships with others. Some of the main takeaways of the book include:
- Focus on the other person: Carnegie emphasizes the importance of showing genuine interest in others and making them feel appreciated and valued.
- Use positive language: Carnegie advises readers to use positive, uplifting language when communicating with others, and to avoid criticism or negativity.
- Practice active listening: Carnegie encourages readers to listen carefully and attentively to others, and to show empathy and understanding towards their feelings and experiences.
- Emphasize common ground: Carnegie advises readers to find common ground with others and to focus on the things that bring them together, rather than dwelling on their differences.
- Practice humility: Carnegie advises readers to be humble and to acknowledge their own limitations and mistakes, rather than trying to appear perfect or superior to others.
- Build trust: Carnegie emphasizes the importance of building trust in relationships, and advises readers to be honest, reliable, and dependable.
- Practice gratitude: Carnegie advises readers to express gratitude towards others and to appreciate their contributions and efforts.
Overall, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is a practical and influential guide to building and maintaining successful relationships with others, and it offers valuable insights and strategies for improving communication, empathy, and collaboration with others.
Example 2: Summarize articles, papers, or chapters
Side note: I did not include the full prompts or outputs from ChatGPT in the following examples because that would take up a lot of space. Simply substitute the text in brackets with the content you want to summarize.
Summarizing a news article:
Prompt: Please summarize the following news article: [article text]. The summary should be no longer than 100 words and should include the key takeaways of the article.
Summarizing a research paper:
Prompt: Please summarize the following research paper: [paper text]. The summary should be shorter than 250 words and should include the top three main findings and conclusions of the paper.
Summarizing a book chapter:
Prompt: Please summarize the following book chapter: [chapter text]. The summary should be no longer than 150 words and should include the main points and important takeaways of the chapter.
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