What is summary writing
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This document provides guidance on summary writing skills. It explains that a summary restates the key points of a text in fewer words and without personal opinion. Understanding the source text, selecting relevant information, and condensing it are important skills. When condensing, general terms can replace specific examples, phrases replace ideas, unnecessary words are removed, and sentences are combined. Maintaining the key theme, ideas, and statements while shortening word count is the goal of condensing. The summary should be arranged logically and coherently using connectors to link ideas. Direct speech can be changed to reported speech while keeping important comments and points. The summary is revised to ensure it meets the required length and includes all essential information from the original text.
What is summary writing
- 1. What is Summary Writing? A brief restatement of the important points of a texts Involves putting ideas in your own words No personal opinion involved Considered the highest skill in language acquisition What are the skills involved? A. Understanding the passage Read the passage once through Read the question and understand what is required of you Once you know what is required, read the passage carefully and underline important facts, statements and ideas. B. Selecting relevant information C. Condensing Condensing is the art of reducing the number of words in a sentence or paragraph without losing its main theme, idea and supporting statements. i. Use a general terms to replace a group of items Examples: bicycles, buses, cars, lorries → vehicles : washing detergent, soap powder, a bar of soap → cleaning products ii. Use a phrase or a sentence to replace an idea or opinion Examples a) A new player was sent into the field at half-time to take the place of the injured player. A new player substituted the injured played at half-time. b) He spends his money freely and carelessly during his shopping trips, rarely giving any thought to his future. He is a spendthrift. PARAGRAPH = Theme → Main Idea → Supporting Statements
- 2. iii. Leave out unnecessary words and replace them with a word or phrase Example: Without any delay – immediately Exercise: Replace these phrase with a word 1. To be on time – 2. Put off until a later date – 3. Over and over again – 4. Once a year – 5. Without proper care – iv. Leave out unnecessary details and figures of speech; combine sentences Example: I woke up, went into the bathroom, had a wash, brushed my teeth, picked up my bag and went to school. After I getting up from bed, I freshened up and went to school. Exercise: 1. Describe what Amy did after school in one sentence. After school, I put the clothes into the washing machine. While waiting for the clothes to be washed, I did some ironing. Then, I vacuumed the carpet and polished the dining table. Later, I watered the plants.
- 3. 2. Describe Encik Ramli in one sentence. Encik Ramli is a generous person. He does not hesitate to help the poor. He donates generously to them and other charitable organisations. Whenever a poor student need a scholarship, he or she can always count on Encik Ramli’s generosity. v. Summarise direct speech and dialogue • In narrative essay, there will be a lot of dialogues and direct speech. • Use reported speech and retain only necessary comments and important points of the narration. Example: “I want to know right now what you did to my book!” he shouted He demanded to know what I had done to his book. D. Maintain unity - After you have picked out relevant points and condensed them, arrange the ideas logically. - Link them by using connectors such as although, because, therefore, however, subsequently, then and later. Exercise: Summarise the paragraph below in one sentence using reported speech. “You must put more effort into your preparation for your exam. You shouldn’t spend so much time on the internet. Reduce the number of hours spent watching television and plan your time carefully,” she said.
- 4. E. Revising Tips to SUMMARY WRITING (In Short) Read the entire passage once through ↓ Read the question and determine what is required. ↓ (Material from lines….) ↓ Read the passage again, underlining key words and facts. ↓ Look at the key words and phrases to see if you can change any words or phrases ↓ (considering/ rephrasing/ paraphrasing) ↓ Combine the sentences using a connectors such as ‘as’, ‘though’, ‘because’, ‘since’ and ‘yet’ ↓ Use the first ten words given and write a draft on a piece of rough paper ↓ If you exceed 130 words (or the limit given), see if you can cut any details or rephrase any sentence. Leave out examples and irrelevant details. ↓ Rewrite neatly if you have the time, checking to see if you have included all the important points.