Summary Writing

Ice-breaking activity:
Discuss in pairs and guess the correct alternative for the following:
1) To summarize means-
a. To put information in chronological order
b. To recapitulate the main points in selection
c. To introduce new information
d. to write one’s opinion about selection.
2) The type of summary that consists of a paragraph to express the main idea is-
a. outline
b. report
c. synopsis
d. Written summary.

Definition of a Summary:

A summary is a short retelling of a long-written passage, containing the author’s most important
ideas. Summarizing helps improve both your reading and writing skills. To summarize, you must
read a passage closely, finding the main ideas and supporting ideas. Then you must briefly write
down those ideas in a few sentences or a paragraph.

Difference Between Summary and Paraphrase:

The words ‘paraphrasing’ and ‘summarising’ are sometimes used interchangeably, but usually
they are used to mean two different techniques. It is important to understand the difference between
a summary and a paraphrase.

A summary is a description of the main ideas of a text, so it is shorter than the original text. A
journal article might be summarised in a single paragraph, for example, or a whole book
summarised in a few paragraphs. To summarise something – like a TV show or an article – is to
condense it down to the ‘bare bones’.

A paraphrase, in contrast, is rewriting a piece of text in your own words, while retaining the
meaning. It is usually similar in length to the original text. Both paraphrasing and summarising are
important techniques in academic writing. You’ll use paraphrasing and summarising both when
you take notes during your research and when you incorporate evidence from sources into your
own work.

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Summary Paraphrase

Can be very short text Should be about the same length as the original

Communicates only the main ideas, More detailed than summary and can include
leaving out supporting ideas and examples supporting ideas and examples

Uses different words to the original text Uses different words to the original text.

Summary Writing Guidelines:

For some of your Fast-Write homework assignments you’ll be asked to summarize an

article.

Guidelines below will help guide your reading and writing:

1. Complete: A summary should include all the ideas that are essential to the author’s thesis.

2. Concise: A summary should be considerably shorter than the passage. Do not include
unimportant information (length depends upon the purpose and your use of the summary. It could
be one-half, one-third or one-eighth the length of the original.)

3. Accurate: A summary should represent the author’s ideas. Do not distort the author’s views.

4. Objective: A summary should recapitulate the author’s points. Do not include your objections
or criticisms in the summary.

5. Coherent: A summary should make sense to someone who has not read the original. It should
not sound like a list of loosely related sentences that have been strung together in paragraph format.

6. Independent: A summary should be written in your own words. Do not take strings of words
from the source.

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Pre-writing Phase of A Summary:

Before writing a summary, one has to read the given text following some strategies.

1. Preview the text. Gather the information needed to focus and set goals.
2. Read, think about, and understand the text. Review the material to make sure you know it
well. Use a dictionary or context clues to find the meanings of any important words.
3. Read for the thesis, main idea, and evidence. Annotate as you usually do. If necessary, map
or outline part or all of the text to find the thesis, main ideas and evidence.
4. Identify and paraphrase the thesis or topic sentence (which contains the main idea), or
compose one if the topic sentence is implied. The main idea is the most important information or
concept in a text. The statement that you write should mention the underlying meaning of the
article, not just the surface details.
5. Group the details (minor details). Organize your evidence by grouping the article into
sections. Not all information is equal: some of the information is clearly more important than the
rest.
6. Write a word or phrase that can replace a list of items (avoid using the word “things”) or
individual parts of an action. You can do this in the margin. For example: rose, daisy, and lily
become “flowers.”
7. Use basic signal words. ASK YOURSELF: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
(subject) (action) (location) (time) (reason) (procedure)
8. Change the words but never the meaning. A summary uses paraphrased sentences, with only
occasional quotes from the original text.

Writing Phase of the Summary:

1. Begin your summary with a statement of the thesis. Begin with an introductory sentence that
mentions the author, title, and thesis ( the big main idea or the theme of the text).
2. Write the main idea of each section in one well-developed sentence. Make sure that what
you include in your sentences are key points, not minor details.
3. Follow the order of ideas in the original text. After stating the thesis, you should mention the
first main idea that you come across and then major details that back it up. Then you would mention
the second main idea and so on.
4. After writing down all the main ideas sequentially, give an overall concluding sentence

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Things to Remember While Writing a Summary:

● The amount of detail you include, if any, depends on your purpose for writing the
summary. For example, if you are writing a summary of a magazine article for a research
paper, it might be more detailed than if you were writing it to jog your memory for class
discussion.
● Summary should be no more than ¼ the original text. It can be one sentence, one
paragraph or multiple paragraphs depending on the length of the original and your purpose
for writing the summary.
● Do not include unnecessary or material that says the same thing as another part of the
passage.
● Do not plagiarize or bring in your personal opinion. Summarizing is about restating
what the author says. Save your own ideas for another time.
● . Make sure that your summary includes the meaning of the original passage and does
not change the author’s purpose or tone. Identify the main idea and double check that
your summary does not change or add to it.

Template of A Summary:

Sample Reading text for Summary: 1

The Great Wall of China:

The Great Wall of China Walls and wall building have played a very important role in Chinese
culture. These people, from the dim mists of prehistory have been wall-conscious; from the
Neolithic period – when ramparts of pounded earth were used - to the Communist Revolution,
walls were an essential part of any village. Not only towns and villages; the houses and the temples
within them were somehow walled, and the houses also had no windows overlooking the street,
thus giving the feeling of wandering around a huge maze.

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The name for “city” in Chinese (ch’eng) means wall, and over these walled cities, villages, houses
and temples presides over the god of walls and mounts, whose duties were, and still are, to protect
and be responsible for the welfare of the inhabitants. Thus a great and extremely laborious task
such as constructing a wall, which was supposed to run throughout the country, must not have
seemed such an absurdity.

However, it is indeed a common mistake to perceive the Great Wall as a single architectural
structure, and it would also be erroneous to assume that it was built during a single dynasty. For
the building of the wall spanned the various dynasties, and each of these dynasties somehow
contributed to the refurbishing and the construction of a wall, whose foundations had been laid
many centuries ago. It was during the fourth and third century B.C. that each warring state started
building walls to protect their kingdoms, both against one another and against the northern nomads.
Especially three of these states: the Ch’in, the Chao and the Yen, corresponding respectively to
the modern provinces of Shensi, Shanzi and Hopei, over and above building walls that surrounded
their kingdoms, also laid the foundations on which Ch’in Shih Huang Di would build his first
continuous Great Wall.

The role that the Great Wall played in the growth of Chinese economy was an important one.
Throughout the centuries many settlements were established along the new border. The garrison
troops were instructed to reclaim wasteland and to plant crops on it, roads and canals were built,
to mention just a few of the works carried out. All these undertakings greatly helped to increase
the country’s trade and cultural exchanges with many remote areas and also with the southern,
central and western parts of Asia – the formation of the Silk Route. Builders, garrisons, artisans,
farmers and peasants left behind a trail of objects, including inscribed tablets, household articles,
and written work, which have become extremely valuable archaeological evidence to the study of
defence institutions of the Great Wall and the everyday life of these people who lived and died
along the wall.

Sample Summary Following the Suggested Format:

In the text named “The Great Wall of China”, the author has given a brief history of the emergence
and importance of The Great Wall. Firstly, the author mentions that in Chinese culture, walls hold
great importance because people have been using walls for their houses and temples for a long
period of time. He also says that people constructed these walls effortlessly as they believed that
the god of walls and mounts presided over the walled buildings to protect them. Moreover, walls
were also built as a means of protection from enemies. Thus, the Great Wall was not built by a
single dynasty, rather, it took many dynasties to complete the wall. Lastly, he added that this Wall
later contributed in building a strong economic backbone for China.

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Sample Reading text for Summary: 2

Great Britain and the Concept of Marriage

As today's bride and groom celebrate their wedding, they have every excuse for being nervous.
They exchange promises of lifelong fidelity and mutual support. However, all around them, they
can see that many people do not and cannot keep these promises. Their own marriage has a one
in three chance of divorce, if present tendencies continue.

Traditional marriage is facing a crisis, at least in Britain. Not only are there more and more
divorces, but the number of marriages is falling. Living together is more popular than before.
The family is now no longer one man, one woman and their children. Instead, there are more and
more families which include parents, half sisters and brothers, or even only one parent on her / his
own.

Although Britain is still conservative in its attitudes to marriage compared with other countries
such as the USA, Sweden and Denmark, the future will probably see many more people living
together before marriage - and more divorce. Interestingly, it is women rather than men who
apply for divorce. Seven out of ten divorces are given to the wife. Also, one of the main reasons
for divorce, chosen by ten times more women than men, is unreasonable or cruel behaviour.
Perhaps this means that women will tolerate less than they used to.

Task 1:

Following the strategies of writing a summary, write down a summary on the given text. In order
to make the task easier, main ideas from the text have been highlighted.

Space For Doing the Task:

Task 2:
Evaluate the summaries. Which summary is most effective for each original paragraph?

1. Original: The equipment is the first major difference between American football and soccer. In
American football, the players need to wear protective clothing because it can be a dangerous game
to play. The players need to wear helmets to protect their head, mouth guards for their teeth, and
large pads for their shoulders and back. The players use a brown ball that is pointed on the ends.
On the other hand, soccer players do not need to wear helmets and lots of protective pads. The
players just have pads to protect their shins, and the goalie wears gloves. The ball they use in
soccer is round. The ball is usually a bright color like white. Soccer and American football
definitely require different equipment to play them.

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Summary #1: American football and soccer have different clothing, which is the biggest
difference between the two sports when people play them.

Summary #2: The equipment is different.

Summary #3: American football and soccer are different due to the equipment required to play
each one, namely the protective clothing (helmets and pads) and the ball that is used to play.

2. Original: Exercise is important because it improves your mental health. First, exercise is the
healthiest way to deal with stress. When we have too much stress, our mental and emotional health
is affected negatively. Exercise can reduce this impact. Exercise can also influence the balance of
chemicals we have inside our bodies. Exercise releases endorphins into our bodies and that can
help us feel better or not be depressed. These emotional benefits are very helpful. Exercise also
helps us think more clearly because it brings more oxygen to the brain. If you watch how you feel
when you exercise, you will notice that your mood and mental clarity improve.

Summary #1: Exercise improves your mental health.

Summary #2: Due to mental health benefits like reducing stress, balancing chemicals, releasing
endorphins, and helping us think more clearly, exercise is essential.

Summary #3: Exercise improves your mental health. First, exercise is the healthiest way to deal
with stress. Exercise can also influence our chemical balance. Exercise also helps us think more
clearly because it brings more oxygen to the brain.

Summary #4: Exercise is important because your mental health is more important than your
physical health and exercise is effective at improving your mental health.

Checklist for the Content:

Have you captured the main point of the article?
● Have you included the most important details? Make sure that you have included all the
major details or mentioned all of the events, however briefly.
● Have you written down all the main ideas sequentially?

Checklist for the grammar and Spelling Errors:

Read over your summary edit for grammatical and spelling errors.
● Is the verb tense consistent?
● Are all names spelled correctly and capitalized?
● Have you avoided writing run-on sentences and sentence fragments?
● Is there sentence variety?
● Have you avoided writing short, choppy sentences?
● Are appropriate transitional words and phrases to connect ideas?

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Sample Text: 3

Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

Bimol Chowdhury
Ever since the history of mankind, man wanted to express his thoughts and feelings. He found
many ways to convey his emotions to others. Through the voices in various pitches and tones he
began his communication, which was the earliest form of language. Later he made sounds through
the primitive instruments he invented for far away communications. By the change of time man
and his communication skills had also undergone different changes. The word communication is
defined as the conveying of thoughts, expressions, information and knowledge through the
methods of writing, speaking, signs, behavior and visuals.
Today communication is basically done through languages in different forms. Languages are set
or patterns of gestures. Language has different forms including writing, speaking and actions.
Communication based on speech is termed as verbal communication that is practiced by human
beings all over the world. Verbal communication is practiced from childhood onwards by a person.
The non verbal communication includes sign language, writing, eye contact, pictures sounds and
signs. There are several forms of communication pertained to disabled people. The blind people
effectively communicate through the Braille system and large prints. Those who are unable to
speak communicate through sign language. Body language and sign language are considered as
the most effective nonverbal communication after writing and pictures. Body language is
effectively conveyed in direct communication between the people.
The gestures or movement of the body is a language form termed as body language. Body language
is based on the behavior of a person. An illiterate person or a person who can’t speak can
communicate with others through body language. It is an undeniable fact that without proper
communication survival is difficult. Irrespective of all the physical and mental barriers people want
to communicate with, that helps him in the long run of life.
(Adapted from http//: www.techgo.org)

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Sample Text for Summary: 4

STUDENT APATHY

In every school, while there are hardworking students, there are also lazy students who are not
interested in anything about school. They just come to school, sit at the back of the class, talk and
disturb others. There may be some reasons for such behavior such as family, peer influence and
financial problems.

The most common factor which influences the academic performance of students is family. If the
parents are interested in how their child is doing at school, the student will be more interested in
his lessons too. Educated parents generally show more interest in the academic performance of
their children; however, this should be a practice common to all families, not only to the educated
ones. When the parents are not interested in the success or failure of their children, the child will
not care about school or lessons, and will perform poorly.

In schools, the best-known students are the ones who do everything except for studying. They
seem the coolest students at school and everybody admires their reputation. When the parents fail
to show any interest in their children, they are likely to become one of those students who look
cool but display no academic achievement. Because in these ages teenagers do not understand the
importance of useful things, they do trivial things which seem really important among their peer
group. Their only aim is to be well known at school and have a group. Studying lessons, then, is
not one of the ways to become popular at school.

The most important factor for the lack of interest on part of a student is the financial situation of
his family. There are some students, for example, who think even if they pass the university exam,
their families will not be able to find the money needed for their education. Apart from this, some
students have to work after school; as a result, they cannot concentrate on their studies. When the
difficulty of the lessons is added to this list, school becomes a nightmare for these students.

It is possible to rescue these underachieving and academically uninterested students from this fate.
The parents and the students themselves may be warned, or the government can give financial aid
to these students. Maybe it is very difficult to completely solve this problem of student apathy and
lack of motivation, but we can at least ameliorate it.

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