Want To Use ChatGPT To Summarize Content? Here Is How

Feeling overwhelmed by mountains of information? ChatGPT is your secret weapon, condoning lengthy texts into digestible nuggets of knowledge. Whether you’re a busy professional, a student buried in textbooks, or simply someone who values your time, learning to harness ChatGPT’s summarization powers is a game-changer.

How to summarize a piece of content in ChatGPT

This guide will introduce step-by-step instructions to ensure you can learn how to use ChatGPT to produce concise summaries of your desired texts:

Step 1: Accessing the ChatGPT Platform

Navigate to chat.openai.com on your preferred web browser. 

• If this is your first time, click on the “Sign Up” option.

• If you already have an account, select the “Log In” option instead.

Step 2: Copying Your Content For Summarizing

• Go back to the browser tab where your selected article is open.
• Use your mouse or trackpad to select the text you need summarized. You can choose the whole article or just specific parts.
• Right-click on the highlighted section and click “Copy” from the dropdown menu. 

This action ensures that the content is ready to be transferred into ChatGPT’s interface for processing.

Step 3: Input Into ChatGPT

• Switch back to the ChatGPT tab on your browser, where you’re ready to input the text. 
• Click in the chat input box at the bottom, right-click, and choose “Paste” to insert the article text you’ve copied. 
• Right after pasting the text, clearly instruct ChatGPT on what you need by typing a command.

–> For example:

This specific prompt guides ChatGPT in generating a summary that captures the essential elements of your article.

Step 4: Evaluating ChatGPT’s Response

• Once you press “Enter” or click the send button, ChatGPT will process your input and present a summary based on the provided content. 

• Carefully read through the generated summary to assess its accuracy and completeness. Ensure that it encapsulates the original text’s core ideas, arguments, and conclusions.

Step 5: Refine if Necessary

If the first summary doesn’t quite hit the mark or leaves out important details, don’t worry. You can always ask ChatGPT for a more comprehensive summary or pinpoint specific areas you’d like it to elaborate on.

–> For example:

This ChatGPT prompt can be used to refine the summary to include the requested details.

Step 6: Utilizing the Summary

Now that you have a concise and informative summary, it’s time to put it to good use. Whether it’s for academic purposes, professional reports, or personal knowledge, the summary you’ve crafted with ChatGPT’s assistance is a valuable asset. 

Remember that this guide can help you generate different types of content, including YouTube summary content. Input the appropriate prompts to generate the exact type of content you need.

Tips to generate the ChatGPT prompts for summarizing

Creating effective prompts is crucial when you’re looking to get concise and informative summaries from ChatGPT. Here are some tips to summarize content for better outcomes.

Give it a maximum amount of characters/ words

When you ask ChatGPT for a summary, be specific about the size you want (like no more than 300 words). Setting a word or character limit ensures your summary is a perfect fit for your needs – concise and to the point, without sacrificing any crucial information.

Let’s say we’re looking at a long piece about renewable energy. You’re interested but don’t have much time. You might tell ChatGPT with the prompt like:

This way, you’re asking for a short version that hits the high notes: what’s new and what’s tough in renewable energy.

Note: Setting a limit is like finding the sweet spot between brevity and detail. A too-short summary might miss crucial details, while a lengthy one could defeat the purpose of summarizing altogether. So, experiment with different limits and find what works best for you and the content you’re working with.

Include the exact requirements in the prompts

When asking for a summary from ChatGPT, be specific and detailed about what you want to know. It’s like giving directions to a friend – the more precise you are, the more likely they’ll get you where you need to go.

Let’s say you’re reading a lengthy article about renewable energy, but you’re mainly interested in the cutting-edge tech and the financial side of things. Simply tell ChatGPT to focus on those specific aspects when summarizing the article, and it’ll deliver the goods.

With the above example, instead of just asking for a summary, you should specify like below:

Note: If you’re seeking a thorough understanding of a specific topic, make sure your prompt reflects that. But if you’re simply looking for the main takeaways, keep your instructions concise.

Specify the structure of the summary

Whether you prefer a bulleted list of key points or a concise paragraph overview, simply tell ChatGPT how you want your information served. This ensures you get an informative summary that fits your preferred style.

With the same text above, but this time, you want the summary to be super straightforward and quick to skim. You might ask ChatGPT with the below prompt:

Limitations of ChatGPT summarizing function

While the ChatGPT summarize function is a powerful tool for condensing long texts into more manageable summaries, it’s essential to recognize its limitations. Here are some key limitations to keep in mind:

• Accuracy: Summaries may not be entirely accurate, so fact-checking is necessary.
• Critical Thinking: Summaries may lack nuanced or critical details.
• Context Understanding: Summaries may oversimplify complex topics.
• Recency: Summaries may not include the most current information.
• Personalization: Summaries may not fully align with your preferences.
• Token Limit: Lengthy articles may exceed ChatGPT’s processing capacity.

By keeping these limitations in mind and adjusting your expectations accordingly, you can more effectively summarize ChatGPT content. 

FAQs

Bottom line

Utilizing ChatGPT to summarize texts can significantly enhance your productivity and understanding of various topics. Take advantage of our advice to simplify the summarizing process with ChatGPT.

Follow our upcoming blogs to explore other utilization of ChatGPT, including how to create a presentation with ChatGPT.