Many students are concerned about summary writing for several reasons: they are unable to identify

information relevant to the answer and are unable to put the information together into a coherent
paragraph. Weak students have an additional problem to grapple with language. While these
concerns are genuine, there is no reason to fret as these problems can be easily overcome with proper
guidance and help from teachers.
Let me remind you that summary writing is not a writing skill. It is largely a reading skill (you are
required to select relevant information in the text) with a bit of writing thrown in (you have to string
the points together into a unified text).
The task is made easier for you as you do not need to summarise the whole text, only certain aspects
(usually two). Therefore, it is crucial that you read the question carefully and consider what
information is relevant.
Remember, you need to identify at least 10 points (for content). So do not worry too much about
paraphrasing. Focus on getting marks for content, not language.
Summary writing involves specific skills such as the following:
Selection This means choosing information that is relevant to your answer. Information that
is relevant to your answer depends on the aspect(s) of the text you are to summarise.
Condensation This means reducing the length of the given information while preserving the
important points. This can be done by omitting unimportant details, or using single words to replace
phrases or clauses.
Reorganisation or rearrangement This means taking the given information and arranging
it in a different way.
Paraphrasing or restatement This means saying something in a different way, without
changing the meaning.
Guidelines for summary writing:
1. Read the question carefully. Ask yourself: What am I required to summarise.
2. Mark the first and last lines of the passage you are asked to refer to.
3. Then select information that is relevant to your answer. To do this, underline the relevant lines or
ideas as you read the text. Always ask yourself: Is this?? (For the summary below, you would ask:
Is this what Yunus did to help the poor? Is this an improvement in the lives of the women?).

4. Look through the lines/ideas you have underlined.

5. Summarise these ideas, using condensation, reorganisation or paraphrasing skills.
6. If you cannot paraphrase ideas, see if there are words in the text that you can replace.
7. Begin the summary with the 10 words given and remember that the three dots after the
tenth word mean you have to complete the sentence with some relevant information from the text.
8. Organise the ideas/points in the manner in which they are found in the text.
9. Adhere to the word limit. Writing more than the required number of words will not get you any
marks. Anything far too short of the word limit means you lack content.
10. Pay attention to the tense (and sometimes pronoun) used in the given 10 words.
11. Write the summary in one paragraph.
Things to avoid
1. Do not include information not in the text.
2. Do not include your own ideas or opinions.
3. Do not spend too much time paraphrasing as you might end up losing marks for content unless
you can do so without altering/distorting meaning.
4. Do not repeat ideas. Sometimes, an idea is repeated in the text and you may not notice it as it may
have been paraphrased.
5. Do not include material from other lines in the text.