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.
True or false: a summary omits details, and does not include the reader's interpretation of the original text.
True:
True or False: When you read in order to write a summary, you must decide for yourself what the main points are. Sometimes you can use your reading skills such as skimming and scanning to understand the central idea of the text.
True: 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?
Yes. 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.
Why can summaries be helpful 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.
What are some 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.
True or False? List the main idea of the whole piece, the main supporting ideas, and the main evidence for each idea.
True: Identifying the main idea while reading the passage helps students to write a better summary.
What is a good summary?
It should answer basic questions about the original text such as "Who, where, when what, why and how?
True or False: You should give your own ideas or criticisms as part of the summary.
False: Summaries should be objective (no opinions) and explain what the original passage was about.
True or False: A good summary should include selected examples, details, or information
False: Summaries do not include details - just main ideas.
True or False: A good summary may use key words from the original text but should not contain whole phrases or sentences from the original. If you use the words from the piece you are summarizing you must use quotation marks.
True: Quotations should only be made if there is a reason for using the original words, because the choice of words is significant.
True or False: Rearranging the words used in the original, or keeping the same structure but just substituting different words is not enough.
True: You must express the sense of the original using your own words and structures.
True or False? It may be helpful to underline important words / phrases when you are reading, to be included in a summary.
True: As you read, underline all the important points and and all the important evidence.If there is a word or words that are repeated throughout the passage.
True /False If the original uses 'I' replace this with the writer's actual surname, "the writer", or "she/he".
True: If the original uses 'you', substitute "people" or "they".
