The document discusses skills needed for writing summaries, including paraphrasing sentences without changing meaning, condensing sentences by removing unnecessary words, and making appropriate substitutions. It provides guidance on identifying good paraphrases, condensing sentences, and applying these skills to write summaries for exams. Students will practice paraphrasing, condensing sentences, and identifying challenges in applying these skills to writing concise summaries.
You can find a lot of guides on how to write a summary essay in the web, but took the most important aspects of it and created informative presentation, so check this it and discover how to write a summary essay fast and easy. http://www.summarywriting.net/
This is a small power point presentation that I have developed from a noted handout from Study Skills tutor Jillian Johnstone. I have used it successfully with both Level 3 and level 5 students
You can find a lot of guides on how to write a summary essay in the web, but took the most important aspects of it and created informative presentation, so check this it and discover how to write a summary essay fast and easy. http://www.summarywriting.net/
This is a small power point presentation that I have developed from a noted handout from Study Skills tutor Jillian Johnstone. I have used it successfully with both Level 3 and level 5 students
A summary is a brief summarization of a larger work that gives the reader a comprehensive understanding. To write a summary, a writer will gather the main ideas of an article, essay, television show, or film they've read or watched and condense the central ideas into a brief overview.
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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?
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