TECHNICAL WRITING AND PRESENTATION SKILLS
WHAT IS SUMMARY?
In your own words, a summary restates the author's major points. Retain the
key ideas or arguments that are most relevant from the original paragraph and remove
as many of the instances and illustrations as possible. The author's points are made
evident in a decent summary, maybe even more so than in the original work.In most
cases, a summary is substantially shorter than the original text. It leaves out the
specifics and merely covers the main points.
EXAMPLE : The act of summarizing is much like stating the plot of a play. For instance,
if you were asked to summarize the story of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,'you might say: It's
the story of a young prince of Denmark who discovers that his uncle and his mother
have killed his father, the former king.
HOW TO WRITE A SUMMARY?
There are following step to write a summary.
STEP # 1: It may or may not follow the order of the original. You must decide how all of
the ideas fit together. Writing a summary requires more skill than writing a paraphrase.
A paraphrase is a list of sentences; a summary is a group of connected sentences,
revealing how the author's ideas are related.
STEP # 2: Preview the article to get an idea of what it is about. Read the title,
headings, first paragraph, first sentence of the following paragraphs, and the last
paragraph. Then read the whole article carefully. Underline or highlight the main ideas.
STEP # 3: Be selective. Mark only the main ideas. (Try to limit yourself to no more than
20% of the original). Write the main idea of each paragraph in the margin and also
make notes about the purpose of the paragraph (For example, does it provide examples
of a main point or serve as a transition to another point?) Express in one sentence the
main idea of the article.
STEP # 4: Write your first draft, using what you have underlined and written. You can
keep this draft simple by following the order of ideas in the original. Write a shorter
version of your first draft, this time write using your own order on the ideas and make
decisions about what information is essential.
STEP # 5: Keep quotations short. If you are permitted to quote directly, it's usually
better not to quote entire sentences. Summarize a portion of the quotation and quote
only the most important words. Read your summary carefully to make sure that the
meaning of the original article would be clear to someone who has not read it.
STEP # 6: If you are having trouble understanding an article, either because its ideas
are complex or because its organization is confusing, try writing a short paraphrase of
each paragraph. The meaning will probably be clearer after you have worked your way
through the article, so you could then write a shorter version of your paraphrase, trying
to eliminate those ideas that don't seem essential.
FINAL STEP: At this point, you should be ready to write a summary, an even shorter
version of your paraphrase that suggests your understanding of the way the ideas fit
together.
Importance of summary writing:
Summarizing serves the purpose of providing relevant data to people. In other words,
conveying an idea or concept into brief language. Summaries are helpful for many
reasons; they make learning more interesting and fast-paced by highlighting important
information.
Purpose of summary writing:
A summary is a short overview of the main points of a text. The purpose of a summary
is to quickly give the reader or listener an idea of what this material is saying. You may
create summaries of material by other authors, such as articles, plays, films, lectures,
stories, or presentations.
Quality of a summary:
A good summary should be comprehensive, concise, coherent, and independent. These
qualities are explained below: A summary must be comprehensive: You should isolate
all the important points in the original passage and note them down in a list.
Types of summary writing:
● Narrative Summary.
● Informative Summary.
● Executive Summary.
● Abstract.
● Thematic Summary.
● Critical Summary.
● Descriptive Summary.
● Synoptic Summary (or Synthesis)
Rules of Summary Writing:
A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text's title, author, and
main point as you see it. A summary is written in your own words. A summary contains
only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions,
interpretations, deductions, or comments into a summary.
Summary Writing Format:
● When writing a summary, remember that it should be in the form of a
paragraph.
● A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s
title, author, and main point as you see it.
● A summary is written in your own words.
● A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any
of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions, or comments into a
summary.
● Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the
main point.
● Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you
think support and/or defend the main point of the essay as you see it.
● Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put
“quotation marks” around the passage you chose, and put the number of
the paragraph where the passages can be found immediately after the
passage.
● Using source material from the essay is important. Why? Because
defending claims with source material is what you will be asked to do
when writing papers for your college professors.
● Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple
rephrasing of the main point.
