How to Write a Summary

HowtoWriteaSummaryForeignLanguagesDepartmentChinaUniversityofGeosciencesWritingaSummaryWhatisasummaryStepstowriteasummaryPrinciplesofwritingasummaryRulesforwritingasummaryTipsforwritingasummarySamplesummaryConclusionandsuggestionsWhatisasummary?Itisafairlybriefrestatement--INYOUROWNWORDS--ofthecontentsofapassage.Asummaryreviewsthemostimportantpointsofthetext.Asummaryshouldbebrief(short).Asummaryshouldbewrittenasmuchaspossibleinyourownwords.Asummarycontainsonlythemainideasanddoesnotincludemuchexplanationorexamples.Stepstowriteasummary1.Readthepieceforunderstandingfirst.Neversummarizeasyoureadthearticleforthefirsttime.2.Beforeyoubegintowrite,checkthetopicsentencesandkeywords(wordsthatareunderlined,italicized,orcapitalized).Thesewillclueyouinonmainideas.3.Jotdowntheorganizationoftheoriginalandfollowthatpatterninyoursummary.4.Checkyoursummarytobesureyouhavebeenobjective.Youropinionsarenotpartoftheoriginal5.Checkyoursummarytobesurethatyouhaveproperlydocumentedanywordsorphrasesthatyouhavetakenfromtheoriginal.6.Identifyyoursummaryanditssource.Briefly,ReadthepieceforunderstandingcheckthetopicsentencesandkeywordsJotdowntheorganizationoftheoriginalCheckthesummarytobesureofbeingobjectiveChecktobesureofrightwordsorphrasesPrinciplesofwritingasummaryModelyoursummaryonthestructureoftheoriginal.Keepthesizeofyourparagraphsinroughlythesameproportionastheoriginalparagraphs.Useyourownorganizationbaseduponwhatyouthinkthepointoftheessayis.Agoodsummaryofsomethingisacritiqueofitbecauseitmakesexplicitwhathasonlybeenimplicit.TipsforwritingasummaryCrossoutthelessimportantdetails.Underlinetopicsentencesandkeyideas.Takenotesonthosekeyideas--jotdowntheinformationthatclarifiesthetopicsentence,forexample.SomeTips!AneasywaytobeginasummaryIn“[nameofarticle]”[author]states....[themainpointofthearticle]In“ComputerChess”,HansBerlinerstatesthattheCYBER170seriescomputercanperformwellinachesstournament.Personalpronoun:Iftheoriginaluses“I”,replacethiswiththewriter’sactualsurname,“thewriter”,or“s/he”.Iftheoriginaluses“you”,substitute“people”or“they”.Example:[right]Accordingtotheauthorof“SeeingtheForest”,theextentofglobaldeforestationwasdifficulttomeasureuntilsatelliteremotesensingtechniqueswereapplied.Measuringtheextentofglobaldeforestationisimportantbecauseofconcernsaboutglobalwarmingandspeciesextinctions.ThetechniquecomparesoldinfraredLANDSATimageswithnewimages.Theauthorsconcludethemethodisaccurateandcosteffective.[wrong]Thisarticlecoversthetopicofmeasuringtheextentofglobaldeforestation.Thearticlediscussesreasonsforconcern,thetechnique,theresults,andtheproject’scurrentgoal.Reviewa.Askwhattheauthor'spurposeisinwritingthetext.b.Selecttherelevantinformation-themainideas-whatisimportant.Theymaybefoundintopicsentences.Distinguishbetweenmainandsubsidiaryinformation.Deletemostdetailsandexamples,unimportantinformation,anecdotes,examples,illustrations,dataetc.C.Rewritethemainideasincompletesentences.Combineyournotesintoapieceofcontinuouswriting.Useconjunctionsandadverbssuchas'therefore','however','although','since',toshowtheconnectionsbetweentheideas.Reducecomplexsentencestosimplesentences,simplesentencestophrases,phrasestosinglewords.Peoplewhoseprofessionalactivityliesinthefieldofpoliticsarenot,onthewhole,conspicuousfortheirrespectforfactualaccuracy.Politiciansoftenlie.Failuretoassimilateanadequatequantityofsolidfoodoveranextendedperiodoftimeisabsolutelycertaintolead,induecourse,toafatalconclusion.Lackoffoodcausesdeath.TheclimaticconditionsprevailingintheBritishIslesshowapatternofalternatingandunpredictableperiodsofdryandwetweather,accompaniedbyasimilarlyirregularcycleoftemperaturechanges.Britishweatherischangeable.Itisundeniablethatthelargemajorityofnon-nativelearnersofEnglishexperienceanumberofproblemsinattemptingtomasterthephoneticpatternsofthelanguage.ManylearnersfindEnglishpronunciationdifficult.Tea,whetheroftheChinaorIndianvariety,iswellknowntobehighonthelistofthosebeverageswhicharemostfrequentlydrunkbytheinhabitantsoftheBritishIsles.TheBritishdrinkalargeamountoftea.Itisnotuncommontoencountersentenceswhich,thoughtheycontainagreatnumberofwordsandareconstructedinahighlycomplexway,nonethelessturnoutoninspectiontoconveyverylittlemeaningofanykind.Somelongandcomplicatedsentencesmeanverylittle.17Oneofthemostnoticeablephenomenainanybigcity,suchasLondonorParis,isthesteadilyincreasingnumberofpetrol-drivenvehicles,someinprivateownership,othersbelongingtothepublictransportsystem,whichcongesttheroadsandrenderrapidmovementmoredifficultyearbyyear.Bigcitieshavegrowingtrafficproblems.RulesforwritingasummaryTheoriginaltextiscuttoaboutonethirdor1/4.Onlythemainideasarementioned;thatmeansthatnoexamplesorrepetitionsareallowed.Specificstatementsarecombinedtoformgeneralstatements.Directorreportedspeecharechangedintostatements,withtheexceptionofveryimportantquotations.SampleforaSummaryRememberthefollowinghints:1.Readthetextquicklyinordertofindthemainideas(skimming)2.Ifnecessarylookatspecialpassagesofthetextinordertomakeclearth