1. Summary Writing
Tools
Paraphrasing

2. Summary Skills
• Introduction: Over the years I have noticed that students at
O’ level find the summary question (which appears in Paper II
of the English examinations) a challenge.
• This is not because these students are not able to identify the
relevant points of the question.
• More often than not, they find it difficult to carry out the
following tasks:
• Make appropriate paraphrases (those that do not alter the
meaning of the sentence)
• Condense the meaning of sentences.
• Make appropriate word or phrase substitutions

3. Lesson Agenda
• By the end of these sessions, students should be able to:
• Identify what is a good paraphrase,
• Condense the meaning of sentences and
• Substitute words and phrases appropriately
• Apply these skills in the context of a summary at O’ Level

4. What is a paraphrase?
• Re-writing a sentence into a shorter form while not altering its
original meaning.
• Paraphrasing is important in summary writing because it
reduces the number of words used while not changing the
meaning of the sentence or content.

5. Steps to paraphrasing
• Step 1: Read the main point again to understand the meaning
of the point
• Step 2: Keeping the meaning in mind, substitute phrases and
clauses with single words – (Generalizations)
• Step 3: Check to see if the meaning of the point has changed.
• Step 4: Write the sentence into your summary.

6. What is a paraphrase?
Original passage:
“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a
result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably
only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly
quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. “
Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.”
A good paraphrase:
“In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually
originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material
recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).”

7. Let’s practice
• See worksheet…
• What was your chief challenge in coming up with a
paraphrase?
• How did you ensure that the meaning was not changed?

8. Lesson Recap
• What are paraphrases?
• How do they improve your summary?

9. Condensing The
Sentence
Writing a tighter summary

10. What is condensation?
• In Science…
• “…To reduce to another and denser form, as a gas or vapor to a
liquid or solid state. (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/condense)
• In English…
• a similar process occurs, accept that instead of water vapour, words
and phrases are “reduced” and trimmed of unnecessary repetitions
and sometimes of details to achieve a shorter more concise
interpretation.

11. Why do we need to condense a
sentence?
• Simple…to achieve the following:
• Create a more efficient message
• Reduce the possibility of confusion
• Reduce the number of words used (especially in an exam!)

12. Condensation means…
• Pruning the redundant
• Avoid repetitions:
• “…many uneducated people, who have never attended
school, continue to vote for better schools.
• The hunter shot down a total of 14 birds.
• In spite of the fact that, he was too young, he still managed to enlist
in the armed forces before World War II.
• Professor Lim is a recognised expert in the field of labour economics.

13. Condensation means…
• Reducing Clauses to Phrases
• Original: Smith College, which was founded in 1871, is the
premier all-women's college in the United States
• Shortened: Founded in 1871, Smith College is the premier all-
women‘s college in the United States.
• Original: Citizens who knew what was going on voted him out of
office.
• Shortened: Knowledgeable citizens, voted him out of office.

14. Condensation means…
• Reducing Phrases to words
• Avoid using words such as quite, very, really, etc. Would saying
something is very inadequate add any new meaning to the idea
expressed?
• Original: The Lim family were upset over the pay revisions in the
civil service. They felt that these revisions were quite insufficient
in view of the cost increases in Singapore.
• Shortened: The Lim family were upset over the civil service pay
revisions as they felt that these were insufficient.

15. Condensation means…
• Phrases you can omit…be careful of them!
• These phrases have over time been added to writing so as to make
the article or passage more authoritative…however they really do
not add anything to the piece of writing.
• Examples are:
• All things considered, the pay rise for ministers was necessary.
• As a matter of fact, I just sent him the article today.
• Due to the fact that, their livelihoods have been restored, many
villagers are returning to their original surroundings
• For all intents and purposes, foreign domestic helpers already have
an off day, whenever their employers are not at home.
For more examples visit:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/concise.htm

16. Condensation means…
• Eliminating Cliché's and Euphemisms
• A cliché is an overused expression that has lost its meaning over
time – these should be eliminated from your summary as it does
not add any new meaning to what you are stating. E.g
• The ministers engaged in meaningful dialogue with the residents of
Block 457 over the incident with their water tank.
• A euphemism is an expression that has been doctored so as not
to convey /conceal its original or intended meaning. E.g.
• A spokesman for the RAF told a press conference that the Allies had
launched several day time surgical air-strikes on the villages in the
Temerloh area of Pahang

17. Let’s practice
• Take no more than 20 mins with this exercise…let’s see how
much condensation we can achieve today…

18. Lesson Recap
Steps to writing a Summary
• Step 1: Analyse the question & list the topic to be summarised.
• Step 2: Pick only the relevant points
• Step 3: List the points and double check if they are relevant
• Step 4: Start paraphrasing
• Step 5: Write up draft and carry out a final edit.

19. Lesson recap…
• What is condensation in English?
• What does condensing a sentence mean?
• What are the ways that sentences can be condensed?
• What are Euphemisms and Cliché's