Techniques in Summary Writing
General Guidelines •
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What is a summary? A summary is a brief statement of the main points of a piece of writing. How to write a summary? In order to write a summary, you must be able to separate the main ideas from the details. Whenever you finish reading the passage, ask yourself these uestions! What is the writer trying to convey? What is the main idea?
"ummary Writing "kills #. Iden Identif tifyi ying ng top topic ic sent senten ence ce A paragraph usually has one main idea. $he main idea in a paragraph is often contained in a topic sentence. $he topic sentence usually occurs in the first sentence but it can sometimes be in the middle or at the end. %. Iden Identif tifyi ying ng main main idea ideass &ou &ou should practice identifying identif ying topic sentences in summary s ummary writing. In longer passages, there will be more than one paragraph and each paragraph -
should have more than one main idea. "ometimes the main idea may not be very clearly stated. $he main ideas may have to be inferred. Identifying main ideas is the basic step in writing good summaries.
'. Identi Identifyi fying ng suppor supportin ting g ideas ideas In addition to main ideas, a summary must also contain important details in -
support of these ideas. (ecognising these details is an important skill.
). linkin linking g main main idea ideass as a coheren coherentt whole whole After selecting, reorgani*ing and rewarding the main points of the original te+t
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of your summary, you should link them. $his is to ensure that they flow logically and smoothly. isted below are some suggestions on how to link main ideas.
-sing connectors Connectors $o show addition $o show comparison $o show result $o show contrast or listing
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Examples besides, moreover, furthermore, again, also likewise, similarly hence, thus, then, conseuently, accordingly however, nevertheless, yet, but, despite firstly, ne+t, finally
// Avoid connectors that are too long. 0+amples! -se 1furthermore2 instead of 1in addition to2. -se 1however2 instead of 1on the other hand2. ii.
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-sing reference words $hese are pronouns like he, she, it, this, that, they, these, those, here and words like the former, the latter, such. -sing grammatical constructions Grammatical constructions such as participles and infinitives help to link ideas and to reduce the length of the sentences. 0+amples: Participle We hiked on. We felt more tired. We hied on, feeling more tired. Infinitive $he $ourism 3inister visited India. He promoted the tourist attractions in 3alaysia. $he $ourism 3inister visited India to promote the tourist attractions in 3alaysia.
"teps in "ummary Writing #. (ead the summary uestion carefully. %. 3ark 4with double strokes5 the beginning and the end of the section to be summarised. '. -nderline6 highlight the main6 key points. ). 7ross out the irrelevant points. 8. 3ake notes of the main ideas. 9. 3ake sure you answer as asked, especially the reuired task or aspects. :. Write a rough draft. ;. ink the facts of the passage with linking words into a cohesive paragraph. <. -se your own words as far as possible. #=. "tick within the word limit. ##. >ote that there may be more than #= content points. 4-sually marks are allotted for #= points5. #%. Write your final copy. #'. 7ount and state the e+act number of words at the end of the summary. 14. on2t forget to include the #= words given.
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