Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reader English
SUMMARY WRITING
Table of contents:
Page
Table of contents 1
1. Reading techniques 2
2. text structure, identifying functions of different parts of a text 3
3. Summary writing – working in steps 4
3.1 Summary writing in short 4
3.2 Prewriting stage: text analysis 4
3.3 Writing and rewriting stage 5
3.4 10 Tips on summary writing 9
Appendices 11
1. Markers and Linkers 11
2. Checklist Summary Writing 12
3. Punctuation 13
4. Sample Rating sheet Test 14
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Introduction
Throughout your college and professional career you will have to do a great deal of
reading and writing. Good writing and reading is an important tool to increase your know-
how and to give meaning to reality.
The goal of writing is usually not to repeat what others have written before you. On the
contrary, it usually entails expressing things you feel are worthwhile. Your research and
analysis of data will result in a certain view on the world. Through writing you are able to
communicate your reconstruction of reality based on your investigation. Writing enables
you, in short, to show others your ideas.
Clearly, summary writing is an important skill, yet many students struggle with it.
Summarizing in English seems even a bigger challenge.
1. Reading techniques
When skimming, be selective. Use all the extra-textual information available and look for
keywords or read only the first and last lines of the paragraphs, where you will find the
theme of the article, the topic sentences or concluding statements.
When scanning, it is essential to concentrate on the relevant parts only and to ignore and
skip the irrelevant parts. Make extensive use of all the clues in the text such as
illustrations, subheadings, letter type (bold or italics), capitalization, paragraphing.
C. Close reading
When you read a text from A-Z you read every single detail of the text. This is called
close reading. You read with the intention to digest all information and make a clear
distinction between major and minor details. Although this reading technique is more
time-consuming it enables the reader to really understand the text in order to be able to
write a complete and well-structured summary.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Paragraphs are related to one another. They can form a sort of hierarchy if certain
paragraphs follow from or are dependent on other main paragraphs. It is therefore
possible to rate paragraphs in terms of their importance. And that is an important notion
when it comes to summarizing a text. A flowchart can be used to visualize the hierarchy
or relationships of paragraphs. Flow charts and text structure will be discussed in class.
Connectives/linkers
The relationship between paragraphs is expressed by means of certain words. For
instance, when reading the word 'but' you know what follows will be in contrast with what
went before. Or when you read 'in addition to' you know that something will be added to
what you read before. These words are called 'connectives' or 'linkers' as they link
sentences, paragraphs and ideas. They are signals for the reader so that he/she sees the
relationship between the various parts of the text and they will help your readers move
from one point to the next. See appendix I for more details.
Paraphrasing
Writing a summary requires using your own words and sentence constructions.
Sometimes this will entail the skill of paraphrasing words or ideas of the original text. If
you make a paraphrase of a piece of text you reword it in such a way that it contains
exactly the same information as the original but in different words. (see chapter 3 for
more details)
The following chapter offers a practical approach to reading texts and writing summaries.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
A summary has quite a few characteristics. On the next page you see an overview of
some strict rules of summing-up.
Summaries…
name the author and the source of the original text, preferably in one sentence;
are shorter (at least 60% shorter!) than the original text--they leave out for
instance examples, details and repetitions;
normally are written in your own words--they do not contain extended quotes;
rely on the use of standard signal phrases ("According to the author..."; "The
author believes...” etc.).
In order to write a good summary which has all these features, you will have to take
quite a few steps and you might wonder where to get started. The following paragraphs
give you an account of all the stages for writing an excellent summary. Try and do all the
steps in English whether the article is written in Dutch or in English, since the end result
in both cases is an English summary!
Before you can start writing a summary you need to analyze the original text to find the
essence of it. The steps below will help you on the way!
Step 1 Skim
Read the title, the first and last paragraph (in longer texts the first two and last two
paragraphs) quickly and decide at the outset the subject of the text (what the text is
about) and what the author is saying (main thought). You write the subject and the main
thought on paper in a complete sentences rather than merely keywords. Do this in
English (even though the article is written in Dutch!).
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Next to each paragraph jot down a few words which state what the paragraph is about.
Read the text again and decide whether you can reduce the number of paragraphs, which
is possible in the case of a summed-up connection (i.e. the parts can be reduced to the
same denominator or put under the same heading). Reread the text again and underline
or highlight the topic statements in your paragraphs. Information about the thesis
statement and topic sentences will be provided in class.
Step 4 Rethink
Revisit a paragraph of the text. Try to say the main idea of that paragraph to yourself. Is
the main thought a topic sentence? Did you highlight it? Is the topic sentence missing? If
it is missing, did you make one, in the margin?
Step 5 Identify the functions of different parts of a text and visualize structure
Paragraphs are related to one another. They can form a sort of hierarchy if certain
paragraphs follow from or are dependent on other main paragraphs. It is therefore
possible to rate paragraphs in terms of their importance. A flowchart visualizes the
hierarchy or relationships of paragraphs. How to make a flowchart will be discussed in
class. Markers or signal words can give you a useful insight in these links. Create a
flowchart for the article.
In the next paragraphs useful information about text structure and paraphrasing is given.
Read this before you get started working on step 1 of the writing and rewriting stage.
Text structure
A golden rule for good writing is: Don’t make your reader work too hard. By all means
prevent ‘reader frustration’. It helps for that matter to assume that your reader is tired,
not too sympathetic and not too willing to understand what you want to say. It also
means giving a good structure to your text and using a clear framework. In the following
paragraphs a short overview is given regarding text structure.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
This structure helps your reader to get your message. The introduction tells you in
general what the body is about, it usually includes no details. The body of a text is
divided into paragraphs, usually with a topic sentence as the initial sentence. This is the
key sentence of the paragraph, giving the most important information and therefore
often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph. The other sentences in the paragraph
further explain or describe the topic. The conclusion is, rather than a repetition of the
main point, a summary of the results. Remember that well-written texts usually refer to
the future. Also mind that, even though a text starts off with an introduction, the writing
of the introduction and conclusion is usually part of the final stage of text writing. The
table below gives an illustration of text structure.
From the above it shows that a clear structure helps understanding the message of an
article. Your summary should therefore be clearly structured as well. Thus pay attention
to the following aspects when writing your summary:
Layout: a title and divide your summary into various paragraphs (without a title
the reader is lost at the very first minute!);
Introduction; should indicate the general theme/thesis statement of the
summary;
Include all of the main ideas, state facts in general terms and use different
paragraphs to describe the main ideas separately
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Don’t include too many details; leave out examples; No need to mention people’s
names;
Use your own words, paraphrase sentences from the original text, however,
maintain the original meaning
Use the KISS Strategy!!!! (Keep it short and simple)
Use transition and linking words and phrases
Use the proper personal pronouns to avoid repetition (it, they, he, she)
Use the right tenses:
The school was founded by ….. (*has been founded)
In 1951 they started the …. (*have started)
Sony, Toyota, Nissan, Ricoh are just a few of the large Japanese multinational companies
with thousands of employees worldwide. It is to their management techniques, to their
marketing strategies end work patterns that most of Japan's economic successes in
recent years can be attributed. Is this true? It may be, but there could be another
explanation of Japan's prosperity. ln Japan almost 60% of all manufacturing workers are
in companies with fewer than 100 employees. This compares with a figure of below 20%
for Britain and the United States and, for the "small is beautiful" advocates, this is the
real reason for Japan's high productivity and success. (107 words)
Japan's recent economic boom could be accounted for by the performance of the large
multinationals. However, some people claim it is really due to the performance of the
small companies employing some 60% of all industrial workers. (37 words)
A paraphrase is:
your own version of important information and ideas expressed by someone else,
presented in a new form.
One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a
source.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
The steps described in the table below are useful to paraphrase correctly.
Step 2
Think for a moment about the ideas and how they relate to the subject of the text.
Step 3
Put the text aside and without looking at the original write down the ideas.
Step 4
Look back at the original and check if you have changed grammar and vocabulary. If you
did not do this, change it now.
The table in Appendix 1 shows a number of markers and linkers (i.e. connecting words)
that will help you to structure your summaries more efficiently. They will also improve
the coherency of your summaries
Step 3 Edit
Check if all the important aspects are in your summary. The checklist in Appendix 2 can
be used for this. Some key points are:
Decide whether your text makes sense (Ask a friend or relative to read it or
read it loud so they/you can hear mistakes).
Editing also may consist of rewording since this helps you to memorize the
author’s words but also avoids plagiarism, i.e. stealing.
Moreover check if your summary has a beginning, middle and end (think about
text structure!).
Then, rewrite it into a final improved version.
Arrange your summary sentences in the identical order as the central ideas in
the original text.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Correct very carefully for neatness and accuracy: grammatical and spelling
mistakes give a slapdash impression!
Tip 1: Be objective!
It is essential in summaries that you do justice to the author’s statements. Interpreting,
i.e. expressing your opinion is therefore unwanted.
There are no guidelines for the use of “I”, “he” or “she” in a summary. On the whole
there are three possibilities:
1. You represent the text the way it is represented, for example: “I hope that the
school teaches pupils to respect humans and nature”.
2. Or you can render the text from your reading, i.e.: “the author hopes that the
school will teach pupils to respect humans and nature”.
3. Your summary is an objective report of the presented text, i.e. “Hopefully the
school teaches pupils to respect humans and nature”.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Summaries can be too short because of insufficient content, i.e. you have forgotten some
significant points or because of over-brief expressions. Check the original text and your
summary again, asking yourself:
- Did I oversimplify a point?
- Did I combine two separate but related points and could I mention these one by
one?
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Do not translate a Dutch summary into English. Do all the steps as described in chapter 3
in English, so you are not tricked into using Dutch sentences structures.
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
The table below shows a number of markers and linkers (i.e. connecting words) that will
help you to structure your summaries more efficiently. They will also improve the
coherency of your summaries.
Feature Marker/linker
Contrast/ however, whereas, but, yet, only, although, some....others, now, not
Concession only, indeed, even, unless, still, nevertheless, in spite of, despite
Cause or effect because of, due to, since, of course, consequently, thus
Purpose the reason for this is ...., so that ....., in order to, so as
Sequence first, then, next, when, and, also, eventually, moreover, furthermore,
subsequently, finally
Reason because, since, as, for
Reference this, that etc., it, when, where, both, each, whatever
Example/ like, e.g., for example, for instance, such as, shown by, in
Ilustration particular, in this case
Some transitional phrases are:
as a result, at any rate, for example, in fact, in other words, in the second place,on the
other hand, to the contrary.
Production delays are inevitable. Our current lag time in filling orders is one
month.
Use a semicolon (;) and a transtitional word or phrase to indicate the relation between
the two sentences:
Production delays are inevitable; nevertheless/ therefore/ in fact/ at any rate our
current lag time in filling orders is one month.
(each substitution changes the meaning of the sentence)
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Appendix 2
Checklist Summary Writing
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
Appendix 3: Punctuation
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Reader H4: Summary Writing
(The weighting factor for each category will be announced during the course.)
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