Summarizing Academic Texts PDF - Lesson 3

SUMMARIZING ACADEMIC TEXTS Lesson 3  Let’s test your schema! Answer TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is not. 1. A summary is a brief, clear restatement of the most important points of a text. 2. It is safe to include examples and minor details in summarizing. 3. When writing a su...

SUMMARIZING ACADEMIC TEXTS Lesson 3  Let’s test your schema! Answer TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is not. 1. A summary is a brief, clear restatement of the most important points of a text. 2. It is safe to include examples and minor details in summarizing. 3. When writing a summary, it is okay to include any opinions or background knowledge you have on the topic. 4. Understanding the text is important in summarizing. 5. Revising the main idea of the text is not part of summarizing. WHAT IS A SUMMARY? ❖ also known as abstract or prěcis (pray-see), it is a form of writing that is a product of careful digesting and relating to a shorter form of any long composition ❖ a form of note-taking that consists of stating briefly, sometimes in a sentence, sometimes in a paragraph of your own words, the essential ideas together with some details of the subject that was discussed at greater length in the original form ❖ aims to precisely condense a larger work to present only the key ideas, conveys the gist of what has been read, listened to, or viewed Simply put, to summarize a text is to simplify, condense, or shorten it into its most important ideas using your own words. Why is summarizing a significant critical reading skill? Barrot and Sipacio (2017) argues that summarizing is an important skill because it helps you: ❖deepen your understanding of the text; ❖learn to identify relevant information or key ideas; ❖combine details or examples that support the main idea and key words presented in the text; and, ❖capture the key ideas in the text and put them together clearly and concisely. What is NOT Summarizing? DO NOT: write down everything; write down ideas from the text word-for-word; write down incoherent and irrelevant ideas; write down ideas that are not stated in the text; or write down a summary that has the same length or is longer than the original text TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING ACADEMIC TEXTS Lesson 3 Technique 1: Somebody Wanted But So Then “Somebody Wanted But So Then” is an excellent summarizing strategy for stories. Each word represents a key question related to the story's essential elements: Somebody: Who is the story about? Wanted: What does the main charter want? But: Identify a problem that the main character encountered. So: How does the main character solve the problem? Then: Tell how the story ends. Here is an example of this strategy in action: Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother. But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her grandmother. So: She ran away, crying for help. Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from the wolf. After answering the combine the answers to form a summary: Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she encountered a wolf. He got to her grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old woman. He was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but she realized what he was doing and ran away, crying for help. A woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the wolf.  Technique 2: SAAC Method The SAAC method is another useful technique for summarizing any kind of text (story, article, speech, etc). SAAC is an acronym for "State, Assign, Action, Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a specific element that should be included in the summary. State: name of the article, book, or story Assign: the name of the author Action: what the author is doing (example: tells, explains) Complete: complete the sentence or summary with keywords and important details Here is an example of SAAC in action: State: The Boy Who Cried Wolf Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller) Action: tells Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete sentences: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore his false cries. Then, when a wolf really does attack, they don’t come to help him.  Technique 3: 5 W's, 1 H The 5 W's, 1 H strategy relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. These questions make it easy to identify the main character, the important details, and the main idea. WHO is the story about? WHAT did they do? WHEN did the action take place? WHERE did the story happen? WHY did the main character do what he/she did? HOW did the main character do what he/she did? Try this technique with a familiar fable such as "The Tortoise and the Hare." ✓Who? The tortoise ✓What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won. ✓When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s not important in this case. ✓Where? An old country road ✓Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his speed. ✓How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace. Then, use the answers to the 5 W's and 1 H to write a summary of in complete sentences. Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to a race. Even though he was slower than Hare, Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace when Hare stopped to take a nap. Technique 4: First, Then, Finally The "First Then Finally" technique helps students summarize events in chronological order. The three words represent the beginning, main action, and conclusion of a story, respectively: ❖ FIRST. What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action. ❖ THEN. What key details took place during the event/action? ❖ FINALLY. What were the results of the event/action? Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in their chairs, and slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her, so she jumped up and ran away.  Strategies/ Techniques in Summarizing ❑ Read the work first to understand the author’s intent. This is a crucial step because an incomplete reading could lead to an inaccurate summary. Note: an inaccurate summary is plagiarism! ❑ One of the summarization techniques you can do is to present information through facts, skills and concept in visual formats. You can provide the cause and effects charts, timelines, and Venn diagrams, templates for outlines, use flow charts or infographics.  Strategies/ Techniques in Summarizing ❑ To avoid difficulty, you need first to know the main points and the supporting details. You can exclude any illustrations, examples, or explanations. ❑ You need to analyze the text to save time in thinking what you will do ❑ Think what information you will put in your summary. Be sure to cover the main points and arguments of the document.  Strategies/ Techniques in Summarizing ❑ One of the best things to do in auto summarizing is restating the words into different one. You should avoid using the original words of the author instead; use your own vocabulary but be sure to retain the information. ❑ You will fully understand what the document is when you organize all ideas.  Strategies/ Techniques in Summarizing ❑ One of the things you can do is to write down all information in a coherent and precise form. Keep in mind that a summary is a condensed version of the original paper, so avoid making it long. ❑ Paraphrasing (rephrasing) is one of the skills you can do in writing a summary. With it, do not use the same words with the author.