Writing A Summary - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Printer Friendly Version
Grade Level
Middle School
Length of Time
1 hour

Students will select a topic from a list I have included in this lesson. The topics include short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

This lesson will take more than one hour because the students will have to read the short story and then write a summary about it.


Students will learn:
About writing a summary of a short story
How to write a summary

Materials Needed

Collection of short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Notebook paper
Pencils and Paper / Pens and whiteouts



Then, you will talk to the students about writing a summary.

Students need to choose a topic from the list. The list contains short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

After that, they need to read their short story and write a summary about it. Worksheet - Questions for writing a summary on a short story.

Directions - Choose one of the topics below. Then, read the short story and write a summary. You can write the summary in pen or type it on the computer.

1. "The Reigate Puzzle"

2. "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

3. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"

4. "A Scandal in Bohemia"

5. "The Adventure of the Copper Beaches"

6. "The Man with the Twisted Lip"

7. "The Boscomb Valley Mystery"

8. "A Case of Identity"


You can grade the students on accuracy of the information in their summary, sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar, and punctuation.

Sponsored Links
Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan Subjects
Similar Lesson Plans
  • Imitating an Author's Style
  • Cooperation Through Puppet Shows
    Children will learn a story they want to turn into a puppet show, make their own puppets, and prepare and perform the show, working in small...
  • Young Goodman Brown - Themes
    In this lesson, the students will read Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and write an essay about the theme the author wanted to reveal to...
  • Technical Writing - the Hobbit
    In this lesson, the students will read The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and make a list of the steps the the Hobbit took to reclaim his gold ring because he found out how important the ring was, and he...
  • Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt
    The students will use the internet to learn basic biographical facts about Shakespeare in the form of an internet scavenger hunt. This acitivity is a great introduction to a Shakespearean unit of...