Selecting and summarising information | Year 7 English (Cambridge) PDF Download

Summarizing a Text

Summarizing is a crucial skill in reading and writing. It involves understanding an original piece of material and expressing its main ideas briefly and clearly in your own words. This chapter will guide you on how to summarize effectively and explain how summarizing differs from related concepts like paraphrasing.

What is a Summary?

A summary is a brief statement that presents the most important points of an original material. It helps retell a story or any content using a few statements, making it short and easy to comprehend. A good summary focuses on the big picture and omits minor details, aiming to present the essential ideas of a written piece.

Differences Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing

• Paraphrasing: Restating someone else's work or idea in your own words, maintaining the same level of detail.
• Summarizing: Putting the main ideas of a work into your own words, focusing only on the big picture and main ideas.

Both techniques are used to incorporate sources or other writers' ideas when writing essays or research papers.

Identifying Key Elements in a Text

To summarize effectively, you must recognize the main ideas, key information, and supporting details in a text:

• Main Idea: The central point the author is trying to communicate. It can have one or more essential ideas, often found at the beginning.
• Supporting Details: Information provided to support the main idea.
• Key Information: Important pieces of evidence, reasons, examples, and explanations that support the main idea.

Guidelines for Writing a Summary

• Base on the Original Piece: Use your own words but ensure the summary reflects the original material without misinterpretation.
• Keep it Short and Simple: A summary should be significantly shorter than the original text, citing only the central ideas.
• Use Your Own Words: Retell the most important ideas using your own words to make the summary easier to read and understand.
• Identify Main Ideas and Key Information: Know which details are important and which can be omitted without altering the source material's meaning.
• Maintain Objectivity: Avoid including personal opinions on the ideas in the original text.
• Comprehensive: Identify all important ideas to keep the meaning complete in the shorter version.
• Concise: Avoid repetition of ideas to keep a good flow in your summarized text.
• Coherence: Ensure the summary is clear and organized, not a set of disjointed sentences.

Skills for Summarizing

• Scanning and Skimming: Helps identify key ideas from supporting details.
• Note-Taking: Useful for maintaining a good flow of ideas.
• Graphic Organizers: Assist in structuring the summary clearly.

True or False Activity

Determine whether the following statements about summarizing are true (agree) or false (disagree):

• A summary should have the same length as the original text. (Disagree)
• A good summary is subjective. (Disagree)
• A summary is just another term for a paraphrase. (Disagree)
• A summary does not include the central ideas of the original material. (Disagree)
• A good summary includes the writer's personal opinion about the topic. (Disagree)
• Include personal opinions when summarizing key information. (Disagree)
• Maintain coherence when writing a summary. (Agree)
• Include only the supporting details in your summary. (Disagree)
• Use graphic organizers to maintain the good flow of ideas while drafting. (Agree)
• Include all important ideas from the original text. (Agree)

Conclusion

Summarizing is a valuable skill that requires understanding the main ideas and key details of a text and expressing them concisely. By following the guidelines and practicing the skills outlined, you can create effective summaries that capture the essence of any material.