What is a summary?
A summary is a record in a reader's own words that gives the main points of a piece of writing such as a newspaper article, the chapter of a book.
Is it possible to summarize something you have heard, such as lecture or a movie?
Yes,it is possible to summarize something you have heard.
Summary omits details, and does not include the reader's interpretation of the original text. True or False.
True:
when you read in order to write a summary, you must read in order to decide for yourself what the main points are, in that case you must use your reading skills such as skimming and scanning to understand the central idea of the text
skimming and scanning are recommended for a reader in order to save time and help them to focus on the important facts of the text.
Since people have different backgrounds and read for different purposes, it is possible that different readers will interpret a writer's message in different ways
Even if they agree, they will probably write their summaries in different ways. In other words, there is unlikely to be only one "correct" summary.
When are summaries used?
1. In general terms, writing summaries is a good way of improving one's ability to read because it forces the reader to focus on understanding the passage.
Can summaries be used in a classroom setting?
If you are reading something that is very important for your studies or difficult to understand, writing a summary helps you to make you understand the text.
You can also refer to it later to refresh your memory, for example when you are revising for an exam, or when you are talking about it in class. (It is also a good idea to turn lecture notes into summaries.)
True, having your own summary notes helps you keep in check with the class work up to date.
When writing academic papers people often need to insert summaries of something that they have read or heard. For example, you might want to summarize the the main points of a book that is relevant to your topic.
In such cases, it is extremely important to use your own words, or quotation marks if you are actually quoting, in order to avoid plagiarism.
First steps to writing a summary
As you read, underline all the important points and and all the important facts.You could look for all the topic sentences, also the keywords.
List the main idea of the whole piece, the main supporting ideas, and the main evidence for each idea.
Identifying the main idea while reading the passage helps students to write a better summary.
Use of the same keywords or technical expressions is probably unavoidable. However, be careful to express the ideas in your own way, using your own vocabulary and expressions as much as possible, rather than copying or just rearranging
All the above points are true.
What is a good summary?
It should answer basic questions about the original text such as "Who, where, when what, why and how?
It should not be a paraphrase of the whole text using your own words. A reference should be made to the original piece either in the title ("A Summary of..."), in the first sentence, or in a footnote or end-note.
True.
You should not give your own ideas or criticisms as part of the summary.
However, if you want to comment on a piece of writing it is usual to begin by summarizing it as objectively as possible.
A good summary should not include selected examples, details, or information
which are not relevant to the piece of writing taken as a whole.
