This document provides guidance on writing summaries for the Unit 1 OCR GCSE examination. It explains that students will be given a non-fiction stimulus of approximately 700-800 words and asked to write a 300-400 word summary in response to a question. Students should aim to cut the word count in half by identifying only the essential information. Annotating the text can help with planning, and the summary should follow a 5 paragraph structure that captures the essence of the stimulus in the first paragraph and then summarizes the key ideas or arguments in the following paragraphs. Quotes and opinions should be avoided, and only information contained in the stimulus should be included.

1. Unit 1 Task 1
Summary writing

2. In the Unit 1 OCR GCSE
examination, you will be given a
page of brief stimulus
information, followed by a
question assessed for reading

3. The stimulus will be a non-fiction
source such as:
•A Newspaper or magazine article
•An extract from a biography or autobiography
•A review of a book, film or event
•The transcript of a speech
•An extract from a travel guide
•A report or advice sheet

4. You will have 35 min to answer
this question –
10 min reading & planning
and
25 min writing

5. You will be expected to either:
Give an account of the ideas or
argument presented in the passage
or
Extract and summarise key information

6. In either case, you will be writing
a summary – the term ‘outline’ is
often used in the question rubric

8. Sometimes the question will ask
you to offer a ‘concise account’
or ask you to ‘concisely explain’

10. It is likely that the stimulus
material will be about 700-800
words long (1 side of A4)
You will be expected to write
300-400 words in the time
available

11. So you should aim to cut the
word count at least in half!

12. The skill of summary writing is
knowing what is the essential
information and what you can
afford to leave out

13. This will depend on what the
question asks you to focus on – so
make sure you read it carefully

14. Once you have understood the
task, you should read the stimulus
material and identify the relevant
information

15. To save time, annotate the text
using one or more highlighters –
this will save you time when
planning your answer

16. It’s all too easy to highlight
everything! Try to extract just the
key information because...

17. There’s nothing worse than bad
highlights!

18. Your plan should follow a
5 paragraph essay plan

19. Paragraph 1
Capture the essence of the
stimulus material – think of this
as a thumbnail sketch

20. Paragraphs 2/3/4/5
Summarise the key ideas or
arguments – directly answering
the task

21. Unlike other writing tasks in the
exam, there is no need for a
formal conclusion but you should
bring your summary to a close by
starting your last paragraph using
one of the following:

22. Finally,...
In the closing lines, the writer...
The author concludes by...
The article ends with...
The writer’s position is brought
to a close by...

23. As a general rule, you can cut out:
•Anecdotes
•Case studies
•Other examples for clarification
•Statistics and detailed facts
•Structured repetition for effect

24. You are expected to write your
summary in your own words
If you quote from the passage or
parrot the phrases used by the
writer you will lose marks

25. The better your vocabulary
bank, the more likely you are to
be able to express yourself
eloquently and economically

26. He was wound up and edgy. He couldn’t
seem to make his mind up because he
was stressed out by the hassles that he
might have to deal with if he made the
wrong choice about which kind of job he
should try and get. (45)
He was anxious and indecisive, being
aware of the possible consequences of a
poor career choice. (16)

27. Your opinion about the passage
content should NOT appear in
your outline

28. Think of yourself as a translator
rather than a critic or commentator

29. ‘’The Simpsons’ for example is a highly
overrated TV show aimed at the brain
dead MTV generation. Like so much media
entertainment today it appeals to the
lowest common denominator and offers
little worthy of serious contemplation.
Great programming must do more than
amuse – it must educate. ’’
Can you spot the trap you could fall into?

30. “The writer clearly has no taste or
appreciation for great popular
cultural texts because he suggests
that ‘The Simpsons’ is.....oops”!

31. “The writer suggests that modern
programming fails to challenge or
educate its audience”.

32. You should also make sure that you
only deal with what is IN the text –
don’t add details or make
unsupported assumptions

33. ‘My cat had the annoying habit of
singing along whenever I played the
piano’

34. ‘My cat had the annoying habit of
singing along whenever I played the
piano’

35. To summarise – a good summary is:

36. Now it’s time to put all of this into
practice!