Tips on summary writing

SPM ENGLISH: LESSON 5

By JUGDEEP KAUR GILL
TODAY, we will look at Section C which makes up a substantial part of the SPM 1119
English Paper Two. This section consists of two parts – Reading Comprehension and
Summary Writing, which carry 10 and 15 marks respectively.

The reading comprehension questions aim to test your understanding of the passage as well
as vocabulary. Among the skills tested are recognising general and specific ideas, finding
important details and guessing meaning from context.

Guidelines for comprehension

1. Read the whole passage through once to get a general idea of what the passage is about. Do
not worry if you come across unfamiliar words. Sometimes, it is not necessary to understand
every word you read.

2. Read the passage a second time, if necessary. The second reading helps you take in the
details and improve your understanding.

3. Read the questions carefully. Use cue words in the questions to help you answer the
questions. These can be the “wh” words (what, when, where, why, who, whose, how) and
action verbs (identify, find, list).

4. Questions sometimes contain words found in the passage. Use these words to help you
identify the part of the passage where the answer can be found.

5. You can lift clauses or sentences from the passage to answer questions. You do not have to
use your own words unless you are told to do so. Moreover, there is a danger in paraphrasing
– you might alter/distort the meaning expressed in the passage.

6. For questions on vocabulary, if you are asked for a word, then give only ONE word and
nothing else. Make sure you spell the word correctly. If you are asked for a phrase, then give
the relevant phrase.

7. Some questions require you to use your own words and you must do so.

8. Do pay attention to the tense used in the questions when formulating your answers.

Pitfalls to avoid

1. Do not give more than the required information. Sometimes, students copy chunks from a
text, giving two or more sentences. This only highlights their weakness – failure to
understand the question and/or text.
2. Do not give two or more answers to a question. Some students write down all the possible
answers to a question just to be on the safe side.

3. Do not waste time paraphrasing answers unless you are asked to do so.

Summary writing

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.

Pitfalls 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.

Let’s take a look at a sample reading text.

Study the passage below and see how the questions that follow have been answered. The
answers to the comprehension questions have been put in bold in the passage while those to
the summary have been underlined.

1 Dr Muhammad Yunus, a banker and economist, was

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to
improve the economic and social conditions of the
disadvantaged poor in Bangladesh. Hailed as a rare
visionary, Yunus, who leads a simple life, wants to
eradicate poverty from the world. 5

2 Dr Yunus’ fight against poverty began during the famine of

1974 which killed 1.5 million Bangladeshis. As a professor
of economics at Chittagong University, he was teaching his
students that the longer you work the more you earn. Yet,
this economic theory did not seem to work in Bangladesh.
He was dumbfounded to learn that people were starving
despite working 12 hours every day of the week. 10

3 With the help of his students he set out to learn why these
people were living in poverty. In the village of Jobra, near
Chittagong University he came across women who made
bamboo furniture. These women had to borrow money from
moneylenders to buy the raw materials needed to make
bamboo stools. They were also forced to sell these stools to
the moneylenders to repay them. Their profit of 0.50
Bangladeshi taka was barely enough for them to support
their families. 15

4 Dr Yunus discovered that these people were at the mercy

of moneylenders who charged high interest rates for loans
given out. They had no choice but to turn to moneylenders
because traditional banks refused to give them small
loans at affordable interest rates. Moreover, the banks
considered these people repayment risks. 20

5 This prompted him to set up Grameen Bank in 1976 which

gives out small loans or microcredit to destitute
Bangladeshis. Loans as little as US$30 are given to very
poor people to start their own businesses. Grameen has
certain conditions - borrowers must be women. 96% of
Grameen’s borrowers are women. Yunus discovered that
women were more careful and responsible about their
loans as 99% of them usually repay their loans. 25

6 Another brainchild of Dr Yunus’ is the Grameen Phone or

Village Phone. With the Village Phone, the rural popluation
of Bangladesh are now able to enjoy phone connectivity.
Besides, this is another project which provides rural women
with business opportunities. It works along the same
principles of Grameen Bank, where rural women are given
small loans to buy cellular phones so that they can set up
“public call centres” at their homes. The women then use the
money they earn to settle their loans. 35

7 Dr Yunus’ ideas have saved not only the poor from death
but also given a new strength to women. Before Grameen,
many Bangladeshi women were viewed as useless and a
burden by their fathers and husbands. This largely stems
from the traditional view that the man is the sole bread
winner in a family. With no means to earn money, some of
these women especially widows were forced to beg. Now,
with microcredit, the women have proven to the men that
they too are capable of taking care of their families and
supporting them financially. Their self-esteem has also
 improved as they are now active financial contributors to the
family. With more money in hand these women are able to
provide better nutrition for their children. Grameen is also
responsible for the improved social status of women as men
seem to show them more respect. 45

8 Today Grameen also provides education and housing

loans. Financing is also available for irrigation projects and
other economic activities. But its main principle remains –
helping the poor. Despite the success of Grameen, Dr Yunus
is still not satisfied with the changes he has brought about.
There is a lot more work that needs to be done to improve
the living conditions of the poor. Dr Yunus hopes to use
part of the US$1.4 million award he received to set up a
company to produce low-cost, high nutrition food for the
poor. The other plan he has is to set up an eye hospital for
the poor in Bangladesh. 50

Source: adapted from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen_Bank and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus

Questions 1-5

1. From paragraph 1, (a). why was Dr Yunus given the Nobel Peace Prize? (b). what
is Dr Yunus’ aim in life?

2. (a). From paragraph 2, what is “this economic theory”? (b). From paragraph 3, what
did the women do with the money they borrowed from the moneylenders?

3. From paragraph 4, give two reasons why poor Bangladeshis could not obtain loans from
traditional banks?

4. From paragraph 5, (a). why are 96% of Grameen’s borrowers women? (b). find a
word which has the same meaning as poor.

5. (a). From paragraph 7, how has Grameen changed men’s treatment of women? (b). From
paragraph 8, provide evidence that proves that Yunus is a selfless man.

Summary question

Dr Muhammad Yunus is truly a selfless person who has dedicated his life to helping poor
people.

Write a summary about:

· what Dr Yunus has done to help the poor and

· how his ideas have helped change the lives of women.

Your summary must

· be in continuous writing

· not be longer than 130 words, including the 10 words given below.

· use material from lines 24 to 49

Credit will be given for use of own words but care must be taken not to change the original
meaning.

Begin your summary as follows: Dr Yunus’ mission to help the poor improve their lives
began?

Summary Points

What Dr Yunus has done to help the poor

 set up Grameen Bank

 which provides small loans to poor Bangladeshis
 to help them start their own businesses
 set up Grameen Phone
 rural population of Bangladesh are now able to enjoy phone connectivity.
 provides rural women with business opportunities

How his ideas have helped change the lives of women

 the women have proven to the men that they too are capable of taking care of their
families and supporting them financially
 their self-esteem has also improved
 active financial contributors
 they are active contributors to the family
 with more money in hand they are able to provide better nutrition for their children
 improved social status of women as men show them more respect

Dr Yunus’ mission to help the poor improve their lives began when he set up Grameen
Bank. Grameen provides small loans to poor Bangladeshis to enable them to start their own
businesses. Besides Grameen Bank, Dr Yunus also set up Grameen Phone, which enables the
rural population of Bangladesh to enjoy phone connectivity. This venture also provides rural
women with business opportunities. Dr Yunus’ ideas have helped change the lives of women
for the better. They are now capable of taking care of their families and supporting them
financially. Their self-esteem has improved as they now take an active role contributing
financially. With more financial control, they are able to provide better nutrition for their
children. Most importantly, men show them more respect now than they did earlier. (126
words)

Note: This summary has deliberately not been paraphrased to show you that you can actually
lift ideas/sentences from the passage to write a coherent piece.