ppslides_wk7summarising

7/29/2019 ppslides_wk7summarising

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SUMMARISING

Summarising is an essential skill. It is something

that we do everyday. We are summarising when:

we tell our friend briefly what a movie is

about,

we give someone a gist of what we did that

day,

we inform someone of how we come to a

decision about something, etc.


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SUMMARISING

The ability to summarise information is one of themost important critical thinking skills you can

develop.

Taking large quantities of information, understandingwhat that information means, and condensing it into

a shorter version of the original allows you to have

important information on hand for easy reference

without having to memorise long passages orcomplex statistics.


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SUMMARISING

What is a summary in the academic

context?

A brief restatement in your own words of a

text's main ideas.

A condensation of "an extended idea or

argument into a sentence or more in your

own words.


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SUMMARISING

Why Summarise?

to represent the gist of an author's work .

to avoid unnecessary details when the mainpoint is all you need.

touse own words (unless the text includestechnical terms or words in common usage)

andsum up the main point of a text.


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SUMMARISING

Deciding on the main point of an essay can be

difficult, since authors frequently make

several points in one text.

While all the points made might be important

to demonstrate why the author believes what

he does, they can usually be subsumed into a

more general point that the entire articlemakes.


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SUMMARISING

The following steps help ensure that you find

the main point rather than only the first point

that the author makes.


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SUMMARISING

Steps to summarise written texts (i)

Read the text quickly in order toget a sense of the article's general

focus and content (skimming).

Reread the text in order to ensurethat you've got all the main ideas

(scanning).


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SUMMARISING

Steps to summarisewritten texts (ii)

Underline the importantwords (marking).

Write down key-words, i.e.words that sum up themeaning of the text, but whichneedn't necessarily occur inthe text (making notes).


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SUMMARISING

Steps to summarise written texts (iii)

Sum up the key-words in simplesentences (summing up in simple

form).

Combine the simple sentences by

using conjunctions like "as, though,because, since" etc or participleconstructions or infinitives(summing up in complex form).


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SUMMARISING

Steps to summarise written texts (iv)

Comparethe original text with your text to

find out that you've got the essentialinformation (check).

Edit very carefully for neatness andcorrectness.


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SUMMARISING

The following slides will guide you on the

characteristics of a good summary.


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SUMMARISING

The characteristics of a summary (i)

It containsall the main points of the original.

It maintains and communicate the meaningof the original.

It does not contain your own opinion or views

on the original. It does not include examples or supporting

points.


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SUMMARISING

The characteristics of a summary (ii)

It attributes the original author.

It focuses exclusively on the presentation ofthe writer's main ideas.

It contains the main ideas presented in morethan one paragraph, in a chapter or a text.


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SUMMARISING

The characteristics of a summary (iii)

It combines specific statements into generalstatements.

It changes speeches into statements.

It demonstrates the writers understanding

on a text's subject matter.


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SUMMARISING

The characteristics of a summary (iv)

It tends to be 60% shorter than the original

text i.e. the original is cut to about one third.

It omitsthe original text's examples,

analogies, and details.


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SUMMARISING

Read the following paragraphs.

See what makes a good summary (Article 1).

See what other phrases can be used in citing a text


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SUMMARISING(Article 1)

For nearly 1,400 years Islam, though diverse in

sectarian practice and ethnic tradition, has provided

a unifying faith for peoples stretching from the

Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Starting inthe 1500s, Western ascendancy, which culminated in

the colonization, eroded once glorious Muslim

empires and reduce the influence of Islam. After the

breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World WarI and the decline of European colonial empires

following World War II, Muslim nations adopted


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SUMMARISING

Western ideologies communism, socialism, secular

nationalism, and capitalism. Yet most Muslims

remained poor and powerless. Their governments,

secular regimes often backed y the West, were corruptand repressive (Belt, 2002)

Belt, Don. The World of Islam. National Geographic,

January 2002: 76-85


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A well written summary:

For nearly 1,400 years, Islam has united people

globally. Western interference, through colonization,

and political ideologies, has not improved their lives(Belt, 2002)

Reasons

maintains the original tone properly documented

properly punctuated


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Source: Rychnovsky (1999) Clawing into ControversyOriginal:

In some respects, the increasing frequency ofmountain lion encounters in California has as muchto do with a growing human population as it doeswith rising number of mountain lions. The scenicsolitude of the western ranges is prime cougarhabitat, and it is falling swiftly to the developersspade. Meanwhile, with their ideal habitat already atits carrying capacity, mountain lions are forcingyounger cats into less suitable terrain, includingresidential areas. Add that cougars have generally

grown bolder under a lengthy ban on their beinghunted, an unsettling scenario begins to emerge.

Can you identify the main points? Try to summarize the text.


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SUMMARISING

Summary (Article 2):

According toRychnovsky (1999), contactbetween mountain lions and humans is on

the rise in California because increasingnumbers of lions are competing for a shrinkinghabitat in the face of development. As thelions wild habitat shrinks, older lions forceyounger lions into residential areas. Theselions have lost some of their fear of humansbecause of a ban on hunting.


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SUMMARISING

Here are other ways you could introduce your

summary:

Rychnovsky (1999) statesthat contact

In his/ her book/ article, Rychnovsky (1999)

mentions

Contact between mountain lions and humans is on

the rise in California because increasing numbers oflions are competing for a shrinking habitat in the face

of development, according to Rychnovsky (1999).


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Summaries

Should be written in your own words

Should match the tone of the original text

Should not include any of your opinions

Should make specific reference to the author

and/or title and the page(s) of the text


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SUMMARISING

FOR CLASS:

Bring articles you might want to use in yourterm paper.


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Sources

Summary Skills DLA by Chaffey College Writing Center

Wisc-online (adapted)

http://www3.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/suggest.html EAP LMS notes
http://www3.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/suggest.htmlhttp://www3.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/suggest.html

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