Developing Summarizing Skills I

Definition of a Summary:

-It is a shorter or condensed version of a text and is worded differently
-It's your own brief interpretation of a text in your own words
-You include or exclude what you think is important or unimportant from the actual text
-Your summary is a unique text of your very own

Steps in Summary Writing:

-Read the text
-Outline it
-Check it
-Write it

1. Reading the Text:

Read at least two times for understanding

The First Time:

-to get the general idea through the process of skimming

The Second Time:

-to start outlining-pay attention to meaning in each paragraph/section. reread for understanding;use contextual clues, use a dictionary
-look for the main idea in each paragraph. This is normally in the topic sentence.
-underline the topic sentences
-organize notes based on main ideas
-check with the original text that the meaning is the same.

Third Reading (Optional)

-to verify accuracy of notes
-to check suitability of words used
-gauge general appropriateness

2. Outlining:

Outlining helps make notes.

There are two outlining stages.

First Outlining Stage:

-Number each paragraph
-Write a statement on purpose of the author in writing the text(This will help on what to add and what to weed out)

Some reasons why an author writes:

-to provide information
-to tell a story
-to issue instructions
-to entertain
-to complain
-to persuade
-to put forward an argument
-to stimulate thought and discussion
-to record an event
-to praise or criticize
-to explain
-to describe something

Second Outlining Stage:

This takes place during the second reading stage

Why do you outline?

-to identify and make judgment about importance of ideas and details in the text
-to record main ideas and improtant details in note form
-to organize notes to show ideas and details in an organized order(sequence) and its relationships

How to Do It:

-Underline topic sentences and key words
-Write headings and subheadings if passage is long
-Ask questions on the passage
-Make notes under subheadings-record main and important ideas
-Write down a statement of main idea of the passage
-Omit information not relevant to main ideas
-Combine information from other paragraphs into one
-Combine details from lists,bullet points,tables and charts. Only the essential ones need to be included
-For examination purpose, you may need a few ideas right up to 15 ideas (for long texts).
-Check accuracy of your outline to the original text