Which of the following best defines a summary?

A summary is best defined as a condensation of the main points in the reader's own words. This definition emphasizes the crucial components of summarizing, which include distilling the essential ideas and presenting them concisely while ensuring that the essence of the original content is maintained. Summarizing requires the reader to actively engage with the text to extract its core messages and express them in a distinct manner, which demonstrates comprehension and retention of what has been read.

The other options do not capture the essence of a summary effectively. Personal opinions about the text do not constitute a summary; instead, they reflect the individual's subjective interpretation or response. A rewording of the original text without citation would likely be labeled as plagiarism, since it fails to articulate the author's ideas in new terms and disregards the necessity of crediting the source. Lastly, simply listing all facts presented in the text does not qualify as a summary, as it does not condense the information nor focus on the primary messages, resulting in a collection of details rather than a coherent overview of the text's central ideas.