definition of gist summary
- GIST: Establishing Comprehension The word gist is defined as the main or essential part of a matteressential part of a matter,  according toaccording to Webster's Dictionary. This activity forces students to squeeze meaning into a tight, precise summary. What is the goal? The goal of GIST is to have students convey the gist of what they have read by summarizing the text in 20 words. Extraneous details must be discarded as aExtraneous details must be discarded as a clearly defined focus is found. It is best to require a sentence format.