Summarising

What makes a good summary?

 Summarising is a common activity in everyday life.

 It is used to describe the main features of the subject.
 Why would you need to know how to summarise for your
essay?
Name a good movie that you watched

 Can you write a summary of the movie in 20 words?

What is needed for a good summary?

 A selection of most important aspects

 Clear description

 Accuracy.
Stages of summarising

 Summarising is a flexible tool.

 It can be used to give a one-sentence outline of an article,

or to provide much more detail- depending on the need.

 A summary focuses on the main ideas and excludes

examples or supporting information.

 Put the following stages of summarising in the right order

(P. 43).
 Stages of summarising

1. Read the original text carefully and check any new or difficult vocabulary.

2. Mark the key points by underlining or highlighting.

3. Make notes of the key points, paraphrasing where possible.

4. Write the summary from your notes, reorganising the structure if needed.

5. Check the summary to ensure it is accurate and nothing important has

been changed or lost.
Which summary is best? (p. 43)
Which summary is best?

 (a), because it contains all key points.

 (c): includes unnecessary examples

For example, such as tomatoes or apples.

 (b): includes information that is not mentioned in the original text.

For example, increase in profits, and fails to describe the machines.

Practice B (p.45)
Practice B (p.45)
1. Falling levels of fertility have generally been found as
countries become richer.
2. In some, number of children born fell below replacement
rate.
3. Two results: smaller populations and larger numbers of
elderly needing assistance.
4. Recent research claims that a new situation may be
developing.
5. Comparison of HDI (human development index: life
expectancy/income/education) with fertility rate found
that most highly rated )=0.9) countries, fertility is rising.