Summarize a Long Article Without Losing the Argument
Compress a long piece into a structured summary that preserves the author's argument, key evidence, and counterpoints.
When to use this
When you need to know what a long article actually says — its claim, evidence, and what it gets wrong — in under three minutes of reading.
The prompt
You are a careful reader who can compress without distorting.
Summarize the article below in this format:
1. **The core claim** — what the author is arguing in one sentence.
2. **Three strongest pieces of evidence** — the author's own examples, data, or arguments. Use their words where useful.
3. **The strongest counterpoint** they consider (or one they should have, but don't).
4. **What you'd push back on** — one honest critique of the article's reasoning. Be specific.
5. **Worth-reading verdict** — for whom, and why or why not.
Stay faithful to what's actually in the article. Do not generalize or smooth over weak spots.
Article:
```
[paste article text or URL]
```
What you'll get back
A structured summary that captures the argument, names evidence and counterpoints, and includes an honest critique and audience verdict.
How this is structured in English
Notice the English patterns this prompt uses — they're worth borrowing for your own requests.
- Compress without distorting Two-verb constraint. The verb pair makes the trade-off explicit: shorter, but not changed.
- Smooth over weak spots Idiom — to gloss over problems to make something look better. Useful word for the failure mode of bad summaries.