In short / to put it briefly (总而言之 / 简而言之)

Structure … ，总而言之 / 简而言之 + recap

总而言之 (zǒng ér yán zhī, “in short, all things said”) and 简而言之 (jiǎn ér yán zhī, “to put it briefly”) are set four-character phrases that open the closing clause of an essay or exposition and condense everything before. They are the formal, written counterpart of 总之 (HSK 4): the meaning is the same, but the tone is more solemn and belongs to journalism, reports and academic prose. 总而言之 gathers the whole of what was said; 简而言之 also promises to abbreviate and get to the point.

Examples

总zǒng而ér言yán之zhī，这zhè项xiàng改gǎi革gé利lì大dà于yú弊bì。
All in all, this reform does more good than harm.
简jiǎn而ér言yán之zhī，我wǒ们men的de目mù标biāo只zhǐ有yǒu一yī个gè。
In a word, our goal is just one.
总zǒng而ér言yán之zhī，成chéng败bài取qǔ决jué于yú执zhí行xíng力lì。
In short, success or failure hinges on execution.
简jiǎn而ér言yán之zhī，问wèn题tí在zài于yú缺quē乏fá资zī金jīn。
To put it briefly, the problem is the lack of funds.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.