Use of the word distill was an interesting way to describe processing another source and using it to form your own thesis. summarizing the primary sources will help you make your analysis more convincing. Being well red on the topic helps it to be strongly rooted in fact instead of being based on hazy recollection. The general task is to showcase you ideas, you analysis of the topic, and your source material.
True summary is more of a recap of the main points. Another type of summary is the interpretative summary.
John M 