Guidelines on Summary Writing

Step 1 Understand the Question and Passage


1. Read the question carefully.

2. Ask yourself what are you supposed to summarise?

3. Read the passage carefully to get a general idea or what is the writer talking about?


Step 2 Identify the Main Points


1. Change Summary task into a question.

e.g. Summarise in not more than 60 words the uses of water.

a) Change it into a question - What are the uses of water?

b) As you read, look for answers to the above questions

- anything that answers the question is a point.

- anything that does not answer the question is not a point.

c) With the question in mind, read the text again slowly and carefully to locate main points.

d) Each paragraph usually contains 1 main point

e) Most paragraphs – the main idea can usually be found at the beginning or end of the paragraph

f) Look out for transitional linkers like besides that, moreover, on top of that, furthermore, also, etc. – usually used to indicate new points.


Step 3 Condense the Text

1. Summary must be short and concise.

2. Condensing information means economise on the number of words without changing the original meaning of the passage.

3. How to shorten

a) use a generic word - writers often give examples to illustrate an idea.

The examples can be replaced with one word

e.g. (i) mug, plate, cup, bowl = crockery
(ii) T-shirt, pants, jacket, coat = clothes

b) leave out unnecessary details

e.g. The brave soldier, whose wife died in an automobile accident last year, was awarded the Pingat Panglima Perkasa at the Istana Negara yesterday. The award was for saving the life of a drowning child.

To summarise the paragraph above, you have to decide the following :

* What are the main points?

The soldier was given an award for saving the life of a child.

* What details should be left out?

- the information about his wife

- the venue of the award ceremony

- the name of the award

c) leave out repetitions / redundant sentences

- writers sometimes like to repeat their ideas to stress a point, usually marked by expressions such as in short, in other words, etc.

d) Use Your Own Words

- asked to use your own words as far as possible - does not mean you cannot use words from the passage.

- Sometimes there are words that you just cannot replace with other words

- need to paraphrase or restructure your sentences

- do not change the original meaning of the text

Step 4 Maintain Cohesion

1. After identifying and paraphrasing all your points, link all your points well.

2. Use transitional linkers which help to identify points and link ideas.

3. Use

a) connectors such as in addition, besides, furthermore, on top of that - to show similar ideas.

b) Linkers such as although, however, on the other hand - to show contrast.