CUFE, M. Sc.

Che & MPM, 2009

2009--2010

Summaries
and
Abstracts

Forerunner, Sample

Summarize

Summaries/Abstracts

Are condensation of the text

Are written for long
reports/Articles

aid to the memory

Are read by everyone interested

Have rules: Never use "I" or a
figure in the abstracts

1- Descriptive Abstract
This paragraphs advances differences between
speaking and writing. (5 words)

2- Informative Abstract
Speaking and writing, are not identical. The
paragraph shows that writing is not speech;
learning to write is not the same as learning
to speak. It highlights difficulties of writing.
Feedback obtained in both cases is different.

The two processes, speaking and writing, are not

identical. Writing is not simply speech written down on
paper. Learning to write is not just a natural extension
of learning to speak a language. We learned to speak
our first language at home without systematic
instruction; whereas, most of us had to be taught in
school how to write that same language. Many adult
native speakers of a language find writing difficult. A
speaker speaks to a listener who is right there,
nodding or frowning, or interrupting or questioning.
For the writer, the reader's response is either delayed
or nonexistent.

The writer has only that one chance to convey

information and be interesting and accurate enough to
hold the readers' attention. When one looks at these
differences and there are few more we can see that
the students will not just pickpick-up writing as they learn
other skills in classes. We have to teach them writing.

3- Indicative (Mixed) Abstract

This paragraphs advances differences
between speaking and writing. It
mentions three arguments that plaid
for teaching students how to write.

All these differences plaids for teaching

writing.

Summarize the following paragraph

Handicapped would mostly benefit from

changing part of stairs into a ramp in front
of the building. Individuals who wear
braces, who use canes or a walker, who
need other types of assistance find it
difficult to walk up a flight of stairs.
Individuals with asthma or other breathing
problems often find stairs a menace. In
addition to these individuals, parents with
small children in carts or strollers would
find the ramp convenient. Older citizens,
too, would benefit from this small but
significant alteration in front of the
building.

The paragraph summarizes how changing part

of stairs into a ramp in front of the building
would help handicapped users.
The paragraph summarizes how changing part
of stairs into a ramp in front of the building
would benefit individuals who wear braces,
who use canes or a walker, who need other
types of assistance, individuals with asthma
or other breathing problems, and older
citizens using the building

Content

The Theory

Includes thesis

emphasizes what is new

Stresses objectives, conclusions and
recommendations.

Introduction: one or two sentences

Body: Briefly touch necessary details
to clarify message

Includes Conclusions/recommendations
Three forms: Informative, descriptive,
and indicative (mixed).

Informative Abstracts (IS)

should be independent by itself

length is proportional to the
form
Examples of IS

The cost of merchandise has
been dependent on the cost of
ingredients, cost of labor,
availability of raw material,
promptness of delivery, and
demands.

Aging of the foam reduces its
thermal resistivity by 7%.

Descriptive Abstracts

Simply indicate the topics, List the topics

without details

Rarely exceed few sentences
Examples of Descriptive statements
The essay lists the natures and functions of
summaries. The ways the readers use
summaries are mentioned briefly. A
distinction between descriptive and
informative is made, and the advantages
and disadvantages are compared.
This report discusses production problems,
raw-material supply-difficulties, and
changes in the sales.

Rules of Thumb for All Abstracts

Summaries for Empirical Reports
One or two sentences for the
introduction, few sentences for the
method, and the last half states the
conclusions.
Summaries for Action Reports
First state recommendations and
actions, give the main reasons for
recommendations, follow with cost,
savings, time, and evidence.

Use no formulas
Tell what is new or to know
Use direct, active sentences
International cooperation is important not
The importance of the international
cooperation is emphasized.
Do not write "The collapse of the element
was for two reasons, of which the first was
the increase in the pressure and the second
was the increase in the temperature."
But write "the element collapsed for two
reasons: the pressure had increased over
1500 psi, and the temperature exceeded 325
degrees."

Give three different Summaries for this paragraph

Give three different Summaries for this paragraph

The topic statement of a paragraph summarizes its

main idea. Readers of a paragraph want to know
right away what the topic is. They also like to have
some idea of how this topic will be developed.
Readers will use whatever cues they can to quickly
generate expectations as a whole. This strategy
serves two purposes: (1) it allows readers to guess
what is coming, and (2) it allows them to avoid
reading the paragraph altogether.

SPE Operations Positioned for the Future

New job descriptions. New ways of thinking and
working. New challenges. And, in some cases,
new people. Restructuring of SPE operations is
largely completed. The new structure reflects
quite a departure from the old one.
First, generation and delivery of is collected
under the umbrella of Professional Programs and
Publications (PPP). The groups job is to serve
the SPE membership not only well, but better.
This needed the creation of a programs advisor,
whose job is to facilitate effective technology
coverage through both established and new
programs and to seek new ways of dissemination.

Therefore, provide a good topic statement right at

the beginning of the paragraph. Often a topic
statement is extended over the first two sentences of a
paragraph. It should, however, always contain one
or more key words directly related to the topic, and it
should be as complete a general statement of the
main idea as possible. In addition, if possible, it
should suggest how the topic will be developed.

SPE Operations Positioned for the Future

SPE Operations Positioned for the Future

Second, support functions are delegated

to Finance and Administration. This
change was a major step toward more
efficient and cost-effective operations.
Too many people were gathering materials
from a variety of locations to send somewhere, trying to find the most cost-effective
way to send them. By consolidating this
responsibility into a single area, we should
see significant improvements in efficiency
and expenditures.

Third, activities to stimulate existing

revenue streams and generate new ones
are assigned to the Enterprises Group.
This group includes a strong marketing
and research element. Promotion of
SPE programs previously was done on a
largely fragmented basis, by staff without
sufficient training, and resources. A good
marketing effort is important not only to let
members know about what programs are
available, but also to maximize income
from revenue-generating activities to
support other programs. The research
element was considered especially critical
to help SPE focus on what members need.

SPE Operations Positioned for the Future

Like most reorganizations, this one

wasnt easy. This was a stressful period,
both for those who participated on the
reorganization team and those who
waited to learn the outcome. Perhaps
the biggest challenge was developing a
structure that is best for SPE while
knowing that the decisions being made
could change some lives radically.
Human nature being what it is, it can be
difficult to keep ones self-interest from
affecting the view of the big picture. But,
professionalism and dedication prevailed.

SPE Operations Positioned for the Future

By the end of the process, we had

learned that structure does not just
mean lines of reporting; its how you
perform tasks, how the organization
behaves, how you communicate, and
how you work together to achieve a
vision.

A bad day at work

Give three different Summaries for this paragraph

Subject: A bad day at work

Rob is a commercial saturation diver
for Global Divers in Louisiana. He
performs underwater repairs on
offshore drilling rigs. Below is an email he sent to his sister. She then sent
it to Laughline, who was sponsoring
a worst job experience" contest.
Needless to say, she won.

What I do, when I get to the bottom and start

working; that is I take the hose and stuff it
down the back of my wetsuit. This floods my
whole suit with warm water. It is like working
in a Jacuzzi.
Everything was going well until all of a
sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course,
I scratched it. Within a few seconds, my butt
started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my
back, but the damage was done. In agony, I
realized that the hot water machine had
sucked up a jellyfish. The jellyfish had
settled into the crack of my butt. When I
scratched what I thought was an itch, I was
actually grinding the jellyfish into my butt.
Needless to say I aborted the dive.

Hi Sue,
Last week I had a bad day at the office. I
know you have been feeling down lately at
work, so I would you share my dilemma to
realize it is not so bad after all. Before, I
first must bore you with technicalities.
As you know, my office lies at the bottom
of the sea. I wear a diving suit to the office.
This time of year the water is quite cool. So
to keep warm, we have a diesel powered
water heater. This $20,000 piece sucks the
water, heats it to a delightful temperature. It
then pumps it down to the diver through a
hose. Now this sounds like a darn good
plan, and I have used it several times with
no complaints.

I was instructed to make three agonizing inwater decompression stops totaling 35

minutes before I could reach the surface to
begin my chamber dry decompression. When
I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing
but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the
water, the medic, with tears of laughter
running down his face, handed me a tube of
cream and told me to rub it on my butt as
soon as I get in the chamber. The cream put
the fire out, but I could not poop for two
days because my butt hole was swollen shut.
So, next time you are having a bad day at
work, think about how much worse it would
be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt.

When the gasoline is burned in an internal

combustion engine, it produces, in addition to
water and carbon dioxide, noxious carbon
monoxide and nitrous oxides which are dangerous
pollutants. The hydrogen in the gas combines with
oxygen from the air to form water vapor; carbon in
the gas combines with oxygen from the air to form
carbon dioxide. The net products of the
combustion are water and carbon dioxide. Gasdriven cars burn gas that leaves the air relatively
clean. Hydrocarbon gases contain mainly
hydrogen and carbon contain very little
impurities. Gas-driven cars are environmentally
more friendly than gasoline cars.

Clarity and precision are often

interdependent. Clarity is achieved
when the writer has communicated
meaningfully to the reader. Precision
is achieved when the writer attains
exact correspondence between the
matter to be communicated and
written expression. Faults in clarity
and precision result when the
following occur....

Not only the physical and life sciences

but also the social sciences and the
humanities require the services of
technical writers. For example, a
discussion on language testing can
become very "technical." Demography
offers a variety of aspects involving
complex statistical data,....
Insects, animals, and birds
communicate. A bee returning from
flowers with a load of nectar performs
a dance that tells the other bees in
hive where to get nectar....

What happens when the source

(person) tries to establish
commonness of experience with
the receiver? First, the source
encodes the message he wants to
communicate. The message is
then sent to the receiver. The
receiver gets the message and can
decode it only within the
framework of his knowledge of the
subject and his personal
experience.

What kinds of things must writers learn to

become effective and efficient
communicators? Writers should
understand the situation, uses, and
audiences for a given communication and
write for those audiences and uses. Also
they should have clear organisation and
logical reasoning; they should write clear
and concise sentences; and that they
should follow the standard conventions for
grammar, punctuation, and other
mechanics. In other words, writers should
produce sentences that readers can easily
understand, and they should place those
sentences in context of paragraphs and
larger.