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Reading & Writing: Exercise 4 (Summary Writing) : Read The Question Properly

This document provides guidance on how to write a summary. It explains that a summary is a brief statement of the main points without including unnecessary details. To write an effective summary, one should carefully read the question to understand what specifics to focus on, underline key points while reading the passage, organize the points chronologically or using other structures, use connectives to add continuity, write in one's own words using synonyms when possible, and stick to the assigned word limit. Following these steps will help one write a concise yet informative summary.

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Sujata Pawar
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1K views3 pages

Reading & Writing: Exercise 4 (Summary Writing) : Read The Question Properly

This document provides guidance on how to write a summary. It explains that a summary is a brief statement of the main points without including unnecessary details. To write an effective summary, one should carefully read the question to understand what specifics to focus on, underline key points while reading the passage, organize the points chronologically or using other structures, use connectives to add continuity, write in one's own words using synonyms when possible, and stick to the assigned word limit. Following these steps will help one write a concise yet informative summary.

Uploaded by

Sujata Pawar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Reading & Writing: Exercise 4

(Summary writing)
What is a summary? The formal definition is: a brief statement or account of the main points of
something. And that’s exactly what you have to do. Identify the main, relevant points and write them
in your own words in an organized manner.

 Read the question properly.


What exactly do you have to write a summary on. In the question, they could specify
one or more detail. So you need to write the summary on just those details. Leave out
the rest.

w17_qp22. See the emboldened part? That”s what you have to focus on.

 Read the passage.


As you go, underline the points that you need to include in your summary, that are
relevant and important to the question.

 Write the summary.


That’s easier said than done. You have got all your points, now you need to collate
and organise it into one write-up using your own words.

 Write a one-line introduction that tells the examiner what you’re writing


a summary on. Keep it short. In the example above, you could start the
summary by writing : Poon Lim, a ship-wreck victim, managed to survive
an astounding 133 days on an island all alone.

 Start organising the points. You could do it chronologically, advantage-


disadvantage format or problem-solution format- whatever works for the
task at hand. In the example above, writing points in their chronological
order seems to be the right choice since it’s a narrative type of article.
 Use connectives, lots of them, to organise your points and add a
sense of continuity. Some examples are: Firstly/Secondly/Thirdly,
In Addition/Also/Furthermore, Consequently/As a result,
Thus/Hence etc.

 Use your own words. Use synonyms of word in the passage, if possible.
In the example above, the phrase ‘invented ways to find food and
water’ can be changed to ‘came up with a system to obtain food and
water’.

 You don’t have to write a conclusion. If the question asked you to write


the summary on the entire passage, then maybe a conclusion would be
fitting. But in questions like the one above, it is irrelevant to the question.

 Stick to the word limit. For the extended paper you have to write at least
100 word but not more than 120 words. For the core paper you need to
write at least 70 word but not more than 80 words. Don’t write too much;
scrap unnecessary points not relevant to the question; cut short words.

Spend about 15 minutes on this exercise, in the extended paper 2. Reading the passage
should take about 5 minutes and the rest 10 minutes should be used to write your summary.
 

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