English for Academic and Professional Purposes

1
Understanding Research Skills

Week 0011 : Understanding Research Skills

Vitally important in developing academic writing skills is the

knowledge of citing sources properly. Barrie Olson
emphasized the importance of citation as a “ disciplinary
values”. According to him, foremost among other writing
skills is the knowledge of citation that students should
learn . Citation means choosing better sources , integrating
their work into another’s work and acknowledging the
sources.
Students faced a great deal of academic challenges especially
in writing. Incorporating other people's research and ideas
into your own papers and projects is very easy. However, you
need to guard against plagiarism. Copying other’s ideas
without properly attributing the sources is an academic
offense. It is considered a rule to give credit to the researchers
while making your own significant contributions based from
what has been written. There are three options in presenting
evidence from a source: Paraphrasing, quoting and
summarizing. This lesson will introduce summarizing as a
way of incorporating other sources to your work. Lesson 2
will discuss Grammar : the past tense and past perfect tense.

Objectives:
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
a. summarize the content of a given passage;
b. recall the steps in summarizing.;
c. use past tense and past perfect tense.

Citing Sources Using a Summary

A summary is a shortened form of facts from an original
piece of writing. It is a third of the original text depending on
the purpose of the writer.
Summarizing involves putting the main ideas into your own
words, including only the main points. Once again, it is
necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source.
Summaries are significantly shorter than the original with a
complete overview of the source material.

Course Module
 SUMMARIZING

Steps to Summarize:

1) List the most important details of the article.

2) Use your list of details to identify the main idea of the
Article..
3) Include the 5 Ws
4) Write the summary using your own words and the 5 Ws.
5) Avoid keeping the same idea structure or sentence
structure.
6) Do not inject your opinion into the summary.
7) Consult a thesaurus or dictionary in changing some
words to avoid altering the meaning of the idea.
8) Remember to write the sources of the original material.

Example:

Original Text Summary

Computer is one of the biggest inventions A computer is an essential

man has ever made. Undeniably, it has invention that have catalyzed
revolutionized all aspects of human convenience and efficiency in
endeavors and pursuits. Specifically, in every field of endeavor such as
the field of instruction, computer carries instruction, social networking,
out software programs, designs page film industry, medical science, and
layouts for entire books, stores enormous other fields.
amounts of information , correct spelling
and grammar mistakes, and leafs
through much more information than a
library could. In social networking, it
enables one to chat with another person
on a real – time basis, it facilitates
friendship among the users and sends
and receives greetings pertaining to
different occasions. In the film industry,
the computer generates short or full-
length films and even creates three-
dimensional models. In medical science, it
performs surgical operations, diagnoses
diseases and suggests the cures. In some
field of discipline, the computer does
financial transactions, gives on-line exams
and instant results, identifies flaws in
technique, and even analyzes and predicts
the weather. Indeed, the computer proves
to be one of the most indispensable
inventions of our age and time.
 English for Academic and Professional Purposes
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Understanding Research Skills

In summarizing, you give the most important information

about a published piece of writing in 1 or 2 sentences. It
should be the main idea of the passage.

Distinguishing Two Actions In The Past

Setting the Context
Read the passage and underline the verbs.

Delivering Good News

In my 28 years of experience in the transportation industry, I became very adept at
delivering bad news. My practice started with “solatium” payments to South Koreans
whose livestock had been run over by army trucks and concluded with discontinuance of
credit for delinquent customers in an intermodal ( piggyback) transportation company.
However, I also conveyed the good news to customers when were able to favorably
process a claim for damages to their freight. In that situation, I needed a little down –home
advice from one of our sales representatives.

In my opinion, the primary message should be that our company was the “good guy”
and that we needed to keep the “bad guy”, the customer, repeating the mistakes that
contributed to the damage. Only after I delivered the cautionary lecture, spelling out what
needed to be done to prevent damage in transit, did I write that the claim was going to be
satisfied.

One day, when I talked with a salesman who had grown up in rural Iowa, he asked
why I insisted on “ icing the cake with dog food.” He then explained to me that by stressing the
negative I was negating any positive reaction from the customer. The good news was
delivered, but the customer had a bad taste in his or her mouth.

Even though perfection did not occur after that lesson, I did learn to start with the
good news no matter how great the urge was to deliver a lecture. I worked on including the
cautionary instructions in the form of attachments and even videotapes. I also referred to
specific pages or sections in the letters. I left the lecture to the experts and enjoyed being the
nice guy for a change.
-Bill Hargrave, Instructor
College of Business
State University of West Georgia
(Brantley, C. and Miller, M.(2006)
Course Module Effective Communication for
Colleges, p. 139)
  In telling of things that have happened in the past, it is
sometimes necessary to tell of one thing that happened before
another.

The SIMPLE PAST TENSE describes actions or

situations that began and ended in the past.

USES E XAMPLES

Danica studied Psychology at Philippine

Normal University. When she graduated,
she worked at the airline company.
Past actions
A Chinese naval fleet visited our country
last week.
Michael hurt his feet in a bicycle ride
yesterday.
The program began early this morning.
The cat slept in the couch last night.

Time expressions used: weeks ago, later, in the past, in 1995.

Adverbs of frequency normally come before the verb.
Past tense is formed by adding -d and –ed to the base form of
the action verb (regular verbs).
It is also formed by adding –t, a change or no change in the
spelling for irregular verbs.

The PAST PERFECT TENSE is used to tell about the earlier of

two past happenings.

Examples:

EARLIER LATER

I had caught a fish before Phil baited his hook.

She had already left before I could offer him a ride.
She had worked at the post office before 1999.
 English for Academic and Professional Purposes
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Understanding Research Skills

LATER EARLIER

I knew that you had not seen a rodeo before.

He described sights we had already seen.
I realized that you had already heard the record.

Use had + past participle form of the verb.

Use time signals: already, since, before
Irregular verbs in past participle are formed by adding –en, -t ,
vowel alterations or no change at all.
Examples: -en
Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
eat ate eaten
be/am was/were been
see saw seen
hide hid hidden

Examples: -t
Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
keep kept kept
sleep slept slept
Examples: no change
Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
run ran run
come came come
read read read
Examples: vowel alterations

Base Form Past Tense Past Participle

Teach taught taught
Catch caught caught

Course Module
 Practice:
Think of a series of historical events. Construct 5
sentences using past tense and past perfect tense.
Example: Ormoc Fashflood and Yolanda Tragedy
Sentence: Ormoc had experienced flashflood before it
experienced Yolanda tragedy.

You have learned in this module that summarizing is one of

the ways of citing sources. You summarize if it is a longer
passage and don’t forget to cite the source. You also learned
the two aspects of past tense.

Glossary

Citation – any academic material taken from other sources, incorporating it into
one’s work and commending the author or writer whom the original work was
adapted.
Summary - a shortened form of an original text.

Past participle - are a nonfinite verb form in English that perform, also referred to
as -en participles, passive participles, and perfect participles.

References:
Books and Journals
Brantley, C. and Miller, M. ( 2007) Effective Communication for Colleges.
Singapore. Thomson South Western

Calmorin, L.P. and Calmorin, M. ( 1995) Methods of Research and Thesis Writing.
Manila. Rex Book Store

Celce – Murcia, M. and Larsen Freeman, D. (200). The Grammar Book: An ESL/ EFL
Teacher’s Course. 2nd Edition. Singapore. Heinle .

Dapat, JR, O( 2013) Applied English for Academic and Professional Services.
Manila , Philippines. JFS Publishing

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

Citing and Documenting: Tips on Summarizing

https://web.williams.edu/wp-etc/acad-
resources/survival_guide/CitingDoc/SummarizingAPA.php. Retrieved on 23
April,2017
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Understanding Research Skills

Avoid Plagiarism:Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing.

http://www.mesacc.edu/~paoih30491/ArgumentsQuoteSummarizeParapr.html.
Retrieved on 25 April 2017

Avoiding Plagiarism and Citing Sources - CSE StyleP. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://usu.instructure.com/courses/31801/pages/summarizing?module_item_id=
20535. Retrieved on 19, April 2017

Using Evidence: Summary

http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/evidence/summary

Online Instructional Videos

What is a Summary? – Definition and Concept. study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-

a-summary-definiton-&-concept-quiz.html. Retrieved on 26 July 2017

The Process of Summarizing

academicguides.waldenu.edu/c.php?g=465757&p=4226499. Retrieved on 24 July
2017

Summarizing Sources: Definition and Examples of Summary

http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/c.php?g=465757&p=4226514. Retrieved on
24 July 2017

Summarizing Sources: Incorporating Citations Into Summaries

http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/c.php?g=465757&p=4226523. Retrieved on
24 July 2017

Course Module