Archaeologists study artifacts left by ancient peoples to learn about past technologies. Scientists can group ancient cultures based on the technologies they used, such as Stone Age peoples who made stone tools or Bronze Age peoples who first crafted metal tools. Artifacts provide clues about how technologies were applied to make clothing, tools, and medicines at different points in history.

1. Summary
Writing

2. What is a Summary?
•A summary is the concise and
logical form of the original
passage, written in your very own
words

3. Paraphrase vs. Summary
•A paraphrase contains most or all
points of the original text
•A summary mentions only the
main points of the original text
•A summary is approximately
20-30% in length of the original

4. How to
Write a
Summary

5. •Read the passage carefully
•Identify the author’s main points to
see what is important. Disregard
minor details
•The main points are usually in
•What/where/when/why/who/how of
the matter
•Write a one-sentence summary of
each phase of thought. Do paraphrase.

6. •Put together all summaries into
one
•Eliminate repetition
•Add transitional words to give the
summary coherence
•Check the correctness and
completeness against the original
passage
From Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, by L. Behrens and L. Rosen.

7. Be Aware
•Do not include your opinion,
evaluation, or interpretation
•The summary should be a fair &
objective restatement of the
original passage

8. Sample Summary
Even though we spend a fortune on space
exploration, we still know very little about the
deep sea on our own planet. Water pressure
makes deep-sea exploration very difficult but we
know there are many unknown life forms there
and instruments suggest the presence of huge
creatures. Space exploration is best done by
machines but deep-sea exploration needs to be
done by people, using both ships and
submersibles. Marine exploration can help us
understand the origins of life as well as to develop
new medicines and sources of food and energy.

9. Let’s
Practice

10. Archaeologists learn about the past by
studying things ancient people left
behind. The people can be grouped by
the technology they used: Stone Age
people used stone tools; Bronze Age
people first made metal tools. A painting
or carving may show people in arts.
That's technology. Scraps of material are
clues to how people used technology to
make clothing. And written journals tell
how people used technology to make
medicines from plants.
Source - education.com

11. What’s the Main Point?
•Main points are usually written in
the topic sentence
•A topic sentence is usually the
first sentence of the paragraph
[Usually, not always]
•The rest is details, which explain,
develop or illustrate the main
point

12. Main Point vs. Detail
Main point
Detail Detail
Detail

13. Archaeologists learn about the past by
studying things ancient people left behind
The people can be grouped by the
technology they used
Scraps of And written
Stone Age people
material are journals tell how
used stone tools;
clues to how people used
Bronze Age people
people used technology to
first made metal
technology to make medicines
tools
make clothing from plants

14. Now What?
•Identify the main point
•Put important details together,
and leave out minor ones
•Paraphrase

15. Summary
•Scientists find evidence of how
people used different technologies
at different times in history to
make tools, clothing, and
medicines.

16. Read, Write, Rewrite
•A paragraph must be coherent
•Start with the topic sentence
•Follow with supporting ideas
•Reread and revise so that the
paragraph sounds logical