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UNIT 3: Writing a Summary
Lesson 1: WHAT IS SUMMARY? Writing a summary is like picking out what we need from a supermarket. What parts of a text are usually the most important? What do we look for when summarizing? Learning Objectives At the end of the lesson, you should be able to do the following:
• Understand what a summary is and what it
does.
• Identify what details should be included in a
summary. What parts of the text should be included in the summary? Preparing to Write a Summary
Summarizing a text is distilling its essential concepts in a
paragraph or two. Typically, a summary has two goals:
1. to reproduce the key ideas and points of a
text, and;
2. to express these concepts and ideas with precise and
specific language. When reading a text, there are two techniques you can use in order to prepare:
1. Previewing
2. Skimming and scanning
When selecting which parts to include in your summary, take note of:
1. your purpose for summarizing the text
2. your own view on what is essential in the
text Previewing
Set your goals in reading any academic text early on,
especially when you plan to summarize it later on for research or study purposes. This will allow you to be more focused and to pay more attention to the parts of the text that are important for your purposes.
• Before you read a text in earnest, try the previewing
technique first to better orient yourself to what you need from the text you are about to dive into. Steps you can follow for previewing:
1. Don't skip the title! It is usually written to orient the reader
and provide a hint as to what the central concepts of the text will be.
2. Consider the subject matter: Have you read about this
topic before? What prior information about it do you already have, or what can you guess?
3. Who is the author of the text? Is additional information
about the author available in any part of the text? What do you already know about him or her? 4. Where was this text originally published? Who might be the audience for this kind of text? What could the audience expect to find in the text?
5. When was this text originally published? Is there a
connection between the time period it was written in and the field of study it was published in? Were there any important events or significant trends during the time the text was written or published?
6. What seems to be the general progression of ideas in the
chapter titles or headings that section the article? 7. Why has your professor assigned this text? Where does it ft into the course or subject as a whole? What sort of facts and ideas are you expected to remember from this reading?
When reading an academic text,
carefully read its abstract and discussion, and examine its graphs, if any. Skimming and Scanning
• By first slimming through a text, you can get an
idea of its overall logical progression.
• Skimming can also help you determine which
parts of the text need your utmost attention to achieve your purposes for reading the text. 1. Before skimming, make use of the previewing techniques from the previous subsection.
2. Then, carefully read the introductory paragraph.
Try to predict the direction of the coming explanations,
arguments, and examples.
3. Carefully read the first one or two sentences of each
paragraph, as well as the concluding sentence or sentences. 4. In between the opening and closing sentences, keep your eyes moving. Your goal is to take in the overarching concepts and overall picture or pattern of the text.
5. Carefully read the concluding paragraph or
paragraphs. What might the author's overall purpose be? Keep in mind that you may be mistaken, so be ready and willing to modify your answer if needed. 6. Finally, return to the beginning and do a more focused reading of the text. Be more mindful of what you might have missed in your skimming and try to understand them thoroughly. • Skimming is effective in getting a quick grasp of what the paper is about without reading through it carefully.
• Each paragraph in a paper has its own main ideas,
usually as its first or last sentence.
• You can start connecting the dots and guess how the paper would defend its thesis.
