SUMMARIZING
To answer questions such as "What was the movie about?", "What did I miss in class today" you must be able to summarize. The person who asked you these questions does not want to know every detail. You are only required to select the important details and summarize them. Similarly, in your studies in the university you will have various opportunities to summarize the texts you have read.
· You may use summarizing as a useful study technique: you may write down the main points of a writer's article and learn the material you need.
· You may also be assigned to write summaries by your instructors so that they can check whether you have read the assigned passages.
· Most often, summaries are also included in other types of writing and academic papers. In a research paper you revise and summarize information on the topic under study. In an argumentative essay you may summarize texts and research findings that support your thesis.
Here in the prep school our aim is to prepare you for your future studies. Therefore, you should learn how to summarize texts in an acceptable and successful manner.
What is a summary?
The goal of writing a summary of an article, a single chapter or a whole book is to offer as accurately as possible the full sense of the original, but in a more condensed form. A summary restates the author's main point, purpose, intent and supporting details in your own words.
Why summarize?
The process of summarizing enables you to grasp the original text better, and the result shows the reader that you understand it as well. In addition to this, the knowledge you gained by summarizing makes it possible for you to analyze and critique the original text.
How to summarize?
There are several techniques to be used while summarizing a text and they all stress full understanding of a text and require the reader to spot the main or major ideas in it. But before we move any further, here are some useful tips about summarizing:
The Cornell method
Here in this handout we will follow the Cornell method to summarize a factual text. Divide your notepaper into two columns. On the left hand side, write the main points, in the right hand column write down a few details or important explanations about the main point.
Let's assume that you were assigned the news story about the dolphin that lost its tail.
The following chart demonstrates how to fill in the details as you read along. The news story is not told in the chronological order. If you use the outlining method you may not be able to put the story in time order. However, if you write the main points in the left, and add details in the right column, you see that your summary forms itself in a logical and chronological order.
|
Main point |
Explanations |
|
Due to human action got caught in a line of crab trap but cannot swim like other dolphins -it's costly -requires a long time to develop -dolphin cannot leave the pool even with the tail -will require long-term care especially fishermen about fishing without harming other animals
in water |
After you have made your notes as you read on, look at your notes
again and add any important points you remember about the passage you have
read.
To see the
summary written by an intermediate student click here. You will notice how
much shorter the summary is. The original article is 768 words long. The
summary, on the other hand, is only 152 words. To be exact, the text is reduced
to 20% of its original length.
Summarizing an experimental report
Summarizing
such texts requires adequate understanding of the experimental methods and
discussions. In such articles usually the report follows the order:
Suppose you
were assigned the text “Black tea soothes away
stress”.
In this part of
the handout we will try the outlining method to illustrate how it is used. You
can use the Cornell method if you like too.
Read the text
very carefully to understand
The following
table illustrates the notes made by a student. Notice phrases are used instead
of full sentences.
|
Black tea soothes away stress |
|
Method:
Subjected to one of 3 stressful situations and asked to prepare a
verbal response Results:
27% in the fake tea group
Conclusion and discussion: Tea drinkers recover from stress more quickly
than those who drink a fake tea substitute Unclear if ingredients in tea responsible Tea drinking not decrease stress levels but
brings stress hormone levels back to normal more quickly è Important bec. slow
recovery after acute stress lead to chronic illnesses e.g. heart disease |
To see the summary
written based on those notes, click here.
Summarizing argumentative or
theoretical texts
Summarizing
conceptually more complex texts may be different from summarizing factual
texts. In such texts, you have to follow
the author’s main line of reasoning, spot his arguments, identify the
counterarguments he puts forward to refute another argument, differentiate
between main ideas, and evidence provided to support or refute arguments. While
doing these, you will also have to decide what is essential information and
what is detail. All these require very careful critical reading. Do not forget,
in your studies your summary will often lead to a critical essay, i.e. response
or reaction writing.
Make sure that you note:
o The thesis
o The primary assertions, arguments, or findings; and
o The primary means of support for each point
You may use the annotations:
o NBènota bene good or important point
o Impèimportant
o Main idea/main argument/first argument
o Evidence/proof/support
o Write the first draft of your summary
o Introduce in the first paragraph the full title of the piece, the author’s full name and the topic of the reading
o In the body of your summary, clearly explain the important content of the reading
o Check the rough draft of your summary against the source text
As you review your work, make sure that your summary is:
o Comprehensive: You have included in your summary all of the author’s major ideas, assertions and findings
o Accurate: in your choice of words and paraphrasing you did not misrepresent the author’s ideas
o Neutral: you tried to be objective and fair and did not include your own evaluation or comments
o Independent: a person who has not read the source text can understand what you have written
Suppose you were assigned the text “Monkey brain research: The case against”. Following the guidelines outlined above, to see how the student who has read this text highlighted the major arguments and other important points click here. From this critical reading, the same student made the following reader’s notes:
|
Monkey brain research |
|
Thesis: no need for brain
research on monkeys Arg 1: research on primates
cannot predict side-effects on humans Ex: amrinone no harm on primates
but bleeding in humans Ex: Alzheimer’s vaccine no harm on
primates but brain inflammation in humans Arg 2: human and primate brains
are completely differentà can’t understand human brain
by experimenting on monkeys Difference: Ex: human brain 4 times
larger>chimp brain Chimp brain 4 times
larger> macaque brain Ex: biochemical pathways in human
brain Ex” genetic expression Arg 3: real answers in human
tissue All knowledge about human diseases
came from autopsies, pop research and studies on human tissues Conclusion: funding better spent on
research involving DNA arrays, bioinformatics, microdosing, human
stem cells, large clinical studies not animal research |
To see a summary written by a student click here.
Written by Zeliha
Gulcat Feb 2007
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: I
would like to thank Feride Hekimgil for sharing with us her ideas, samples of
student summaries, and texts she uses for summarizing activities in her class.