Summarize for Different Purposes: Learn, Decide, or Share

Three Purpose Modes

Every summary serves a purpose, and different purposes require different outputs. A summary for learning emphasizes concepts and connections — things you’ll need to understand and remember. A summary for decision-making emphasizes action items, data points, and risks — things that affect what you’ll do next. A summary for sharing emphasizes hooks and quotable moments — things that make others care.

Most people use one generic summary approach for all three situations. That’s why their summaries feel either too academic, too shallow, or too boring depending on context. Purpose-specific prompts fix this by telling AI exactly what kind of output you need.

The base summary prompt (C015) gives you a solid default. These prompts add purpose-awareness that transforms generic summaries into targeted tools.

The Templates: What Each Delivers

For Learning

When you’re reading to understand and remember, you need a summary that emphasizes: key concepts (what ideas must you grasp?), connections to existing knowledge (how does this fit what you already know?), and explainability (what should you be able to teach others after reading?).

A learning summary is longer than a decision summary. It includes context, definitions, and relationships between ideas. It might reference foundational concepts you should review. The goal is comprehension depth, not action speed.

For Decision-Making

When you’re reading to decide or act, you need a summary that emphasizes: the bottom line (what does this suggest you do?), supporting data (what numbers or evidence matter?), and risks or uncertainties (what could go wrong if you act on this?).

A decision summary is shorter and more direct. It might skip interesting background that doesn’t affect your choice. It prioritizes relevance to action over intellectual completeness. The Executive Summary Prompt (C017) goes deeper on this mode.

For Sharing

When you’re reading to share with others, you need a summary that emphasizes: a compelling hook (why would anyone click?), the “so what” angle (why should they care?), and quotable highlights (what phrase or statistic will they remember?).

A sharing summary is the most compressed but also the most crafted. It’s not about your understanding — it’s about capturing attention and transferring one key insight. Social media posts, email forwards, and conversation starters all need this mode.

When to Choose Which

Choose learning mode when: You’re studying for exams, building expertise in a new area, reading something you’ll need to reference later, or trying to understand a complex topic deeply. Learning summaries are for your own comprehension.

Choose decision mode when: You’re reviewing reports before a meeting, researching options for a purchase or strategy, scanning news for actionable intelligence, or preparing to advise someone. Decision summaries are for action.

Choose sharing mode when: You’ll forward this to colleagues, post about it on social media, mention it in conversation, or write a newsletter. Sharing summaries are for others’ attention.

Not sure? Use PR056 to get all three, then pick the one that fits your actual use case. You’ll often discover your purpose once you see the options.

Customizing for Your Context

These templates are starting points. Add your specific context to get better results:

“Summarize for decision-making, specifically whether we should adopt this technology for our customer service team.” Now AI knows exactly what decision you’re facing.

“Summarize for sharing with my LinkedIn audience of HR professionals.” Now AI knows who you’re sharing with and can calibrate the hook accordingly.

“Summarize for learning, with emphasis on how this connects to behavioral economics principles I already understand.” Now AI can build on your existing knowledge.

For the complete summary toolkit, return to the Summarize Articles pillar or explore the full AI for Reading hub.