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YEAR AND SECTION

MODULE 4
 LESSON 4

VARIOUS TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING A

VARIETY OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

What is Summarizing?

According to Buckley (2004), in her popular writing text Fit to Print, summarizing is
reducing text to one-third or one-quarter its original size, clearly articulating the
author’s meaning, and retaining main ideas.

According to Diane Hacker (2008), in A Canadian Writer’s Reference, explains that

summarizing involves stating a work’s thesis and main ideas “simply, briefly, and
accurately”.

From dictionaries, it is defined as taking a lot of information and creating a

condensed version that covers the main points; and to express the most
important facts or ideas about something or someone in a short and clear form.

From the definitions, take a look on the pool of words and phrases

Various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts

1. 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!

2. 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, time lines, and Venn diagrams, templates for outlines, use
flow charts or infographics.
 3. To avoid difficulty, you need first to know the main points and the supporting
details. You can exclude any illustrations, examples or explanations.

4. You need to analyze the text to save time in thinking what you will do.

5. Think what information you will put in your summary. Be sure to cover the main
points and arguments of the document.

6. 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.

7. You will fully understand what the document is when you organize all ideas.

8. 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.

9. You can also decide to represent information through using dimensional

constructions in representing concepts, skills or facts.

10. Paraphrasing is one of the skills you can do in writing a summary. With it, do
not use the same words with the author.
Example 1:
Japanese Rail Tunnel
Due to an increase in traffic between the various island which make up Japan,
and predictions of a continuing growth in train travel, a rail tunnel was built to connect
the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is today the longest
tunnel in the world, with a length of almost 54km. When the tunnel was opened
in 1988, all existing trains went through it. However, newer Japanese bullet trains
have never used the tunnel because of the cost of extending the high speed line
through it. Consequently, the train journey from Tokyo to Sapporo still takes about ten
hours. In contrast, the journey by air takes only three and a half hours. This has
combined with the fall in the cost of flying, has meant that more people travel by plane
than train and the tunnel is not used as much as forecasters had predicted.
 Increase in traffic
 connect Islands (Honshu & Hokkaido )
 Predictions and continuing growth
 The longest rail tunnel
 opened 1988
 54km
 Opened in 1988
 Bullet trains
 Never used tunnel
 Fall in the cost of flying
  Not used

Another 5 Easy Techniques in Summarizing Various Academic Texts 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.

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

This method is particularly helpful for students who are learning the format of a
summary and need reminders to include the title and author's name. However, SAAC
does not include clear guidance about which details to include, which some students
might find tricky. If you use SAAC with your students, remind them of the types
of details that belong in a summary before instructing them to work independently.

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.

Technique 5: Give Me the Gist

When someone asks for "the gist" of a story, they want to know what the story is about.
In other words, they want a summary—not a retelling of every detail. To
introduce the gist method, explain that summarizing is just like giving a friend the gist of
a story, and have your students tell each other about their favorite books or movies in
15 seconds or less. You can use the gist method as a fun, quick way to practice
summarizing on a regular basis.

When summarizing is useful?

Summarizing is useful in many types of writing and at different points in the writing
process. Summarizing is used to support an argument, provide context for a paper’s
thesis, write literature reviews, and annotate a bibliography. The benefit of summarizing
lies in showing the "big picture," which allows the reader to contextualize what you are
saying. In addition to the advantages of summarizing for the reader, as a writer you gain
a better sense of where you are going with your writing, which parts need elaboration,
and whether you have comprehended the information you have collected.

www.umanitoba.ca/student/academiclearning

References

Buckley, J. (2004). Fit to Print: The Canadian Student’s Guide to Essay Writing. (6th
ed.) Toronto: Nelson. Hacker, D. (2008). A Canadian Writer’s Reference. (4th ed.)
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

ACTIVITY 1

LET’S SUMMARIZE!
Directions: Summarize the story “ROMEO AND JULIET”.
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ACTIVITY 2

Try to recall one of the novels or short stories you discussed in one of your
previous classes in English; choose one selection out of the several you tackled
throughout your school life. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, try to rewrite the story
using your own words.

Did you find the retelling of the story difficult? Why or why not?

What strategies did you employ in order to retell the story? Did you find these strategies
helpful? Why or why not?

ACTIVITY 3

Directions. Identify which of the following supports the principle of summarizing. In your
notebook, write the letter of your choice.
1. We use summarizing to:

A. Retell a story
B. Reduce information to essential ideas
C. Get through an article more quickly
D. Understand easily

2. When summarizing, we want to unimportant information.

A.Summarize
B.Highlight
C. Disregard
D. Include
3. The main idea is
A. All the information provided
B. The most important information
C. Nothing to worry about
D. Unimportant information

4. Basic Signal words are Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
A. True
B. False
5. The gives the reader an idea about what the paragraph is going to be about.
A. Concluding sentence
B. Summary
C. Topic sentence
D. Body

ACTIVITY 4

Directions: Read each passage. Highlight or underline necessary information. Write

your summary.

1. The English were not the first Europeans to land their ships on American soil. The
Vikings had discovered North America in the 11th century. Columbus landed in the
Bahamas in 1492 for Spain, and the French began expeditions to the New World in
1524. But the first English presence in North America is important because the thirteen
English colonies that would later be established eventually became the country now
known as the United States of America.
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2. In April of 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh, under the authority of Queen Elizabeth of
England, sent an expedition of seven ships carrying 600 men, half of them soldiers, to
found an English colony in North America. The colony was to be used to establish an
English presence in the New World as well as a base from which English privateers, or
pirates, could attack and plunder Spanish treasure fleets. Raleigh’s cousin, Sir Richard
Grenville, led the expedition.
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3. In July of that year the bulk of the fleet reached a small island off the coast of Virginia
that was called Roanoke. After building a small fort on the north side of the island, the
colonists initiated relations with a Native American tribe that lived on the island, the
Aquascogoc. These natives showed little interest in building relations with the English
colonists, and they soon parted company. After this encounter, however, the English
noticed that one of their silver cups had gone missing, and they attributed its
disappearance to the Aquascogoc. Grenville, the English captain, was furious. He
believed that the Aquascogoc had stolen the silver cup. Whether or not this was true,
angry exchanges followed and soon the English burned the Aquascogoc village. The
English held their fort against the subsequent attacks of the natives.
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4. Despite their success in battle, the colonists had a miserable time because they were
mainly soldiers and adventurers, not farmers. They were hungry. They missed the
comforts of England, such as soft feather beds and dainty foods. Also they had
expected to find gold and silver on the island, and were disappointed when they found
none. Grenville soon tired of these conditions and set out on his ship to plunder Spanish
treasure fleets and return to England. The colony was gradually abandoned.
5. In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched a further expedition of three ships and 150
colonists, led by John White, to Roanoke. This time the expedition included women and
children, including White’s pregnant daughter, Elenora. Shortly after they reached
Roanoke, Elenora delivered a child whom they named Virginia. Virginia was the first
English person born in America. But the English soon ran into more trouble with the
Native Americans. A colonist named George Howe was killed by natives while
searching for crabs alone on the beach. The colonists were scared. They persuaded
White to sail back to England to ask Sir Walter Raleigh for help. White left behind 114
colonists, including his daughter Elenora and granddaughter Virginia.
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ACTIVITY 5

MOVIE SUMMARIZING!

Directions: Think of a movie that you already watched and summarized it in your own
words.

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Title of the Movie
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Director

Summarization:
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ACTIVITY 6

Directions: Following the techniques above, summarize the texts by completing the
sample graphic organizer below. Write your summary in your notebook.

Essay 1: Importance of Education

Education is a process that involves the transfer of knowledge, habits and skills from
one generation to another through teaching, research and training. It can be in a formal
or informal setting. Formal education involves institutionalized learning based on a
curriculum. In today’s society, education and learning play an indispensable role in
shaping the lives of individuals and the society at large. The most effective way of
boosting economic growth, reducing poverty and improving people’s health is by
investing in education.

Human labor is essential for economic growth. A highly educated labor force further
stimulates economic growth. Additionally, a highly educated labor force can easily
adapt to new working environments and conditions. In view of that, it is evident that
education serves as the driving force for innovation of new products and services.
Educated workers exchange ideas in the work place and come up with new ideas that
help in the growth of the economy.

Education reduces poverty in a number of ways. One way is by creating employment

opportunities for educated people. Through employment, one is able to afford a decent
living. Education helps to increase economic security, create income opportunities and
improve livelihoods of the economically disadvantaged by providing sustainable
environmental management mechanisms. Education further alleviates poverty through
skills acquired in the learning process. Skills such as carpentry, plumbing and masonry
are relevant in non-formal economies. One can acquire these skills through technical
and vocational training.
Educated people are health conscious and live longer than their counterparts because
they engage in healthy habits such as eating a balanced diet, exercising
regularly and going for medical checkups. By investing in education, one will also be
investing in their health. Education serves to create room for technological
advancements in the field of medicine and agriculture. Advanced technology used for
conducting surgery has replaced traditional methods. This has seen an improvement in
people’s general health and an increased life expectancy. Most developing
countries have a low life expectancy compared to developed countries. This can be
attributed to high illiteracy levels present in developing countries. This translates to
poor health and poor eating habits.

In conclusion, education is the only means of alleviating poverty, improving

people’s health and increasing economic growth. Improving literacy levels in
marginalized societies will go a long way in improving human living standards.

ACTIVITY 7

Essay 2: Why is Education Important in Our Society?

Introduction
Education is more than just learning from books, and it is a shame that a lot of schools
do not see that it is more than just a curriculum and school score. A good
education can teach a child how to learn so that the child may take up independent
learning as an adult. Education may also teach a child how to reason so that a child
does not grow up to be ignorant.

Persuasive point 1:
The biggest selling point for education in our society is the fact that it helps
people learn “how” to learn. It is not about the knowledge they accumulate, it is the way
a child is taught how to “learn” things. A child may come away from school not knowing
a lot of the course, but if that child has been taught how to learn, then that child may
become an adult that learns everything he or she needs in life. Otherwise, that child
may grow up to be a person that cannot see the obvious because he or she cannot
reason and consciously learn new things.

Persuasive point 2
Education teaches people how to reason, and if they are taught how to reason well,
then they help subdue their own thoughts of ignorance. For example, there are lots of
posts and websites on the Internet about childhood vaccinations and how
dangerous they are. Ignorant people than never learned how to reason will look
at them, believe them and support them. If a person is taught how to reason then he or
she will know how to recognize empirical evidence.

Persuasive point 3
That person would look at all the people in the US that have had childhood
injections (most of them) and then look at all the people with autism. They
would reason that if childhood vaccinations caused autism then most of the people in
the US would have autism. If a person is taught how to reason than that person may
see how people that smoke seem more likely to develop emphysema than people that
do not smoke. They would then reason there is a link between smoking and
emphysema. This sort of reasoning can be taught in schools, and if children are not
taught it then they walk around risking their children’s lives by not vaccinating them, and
walk around smoking because their daddy smoked for years and it never hurt him.

Persuasive point 4 Conclusion

If education is not seen as important, then one day it will just be all about school scores
and hitting the factors of a curriculum. There will be a day when children start to hate
learning because school put them off it for life (this already happens in some cases).
Plus, without education teaching people how to reason things out and teaching them
how to separate what is fact from what is faulty evidence, then our society will become
more and more ignorant until a smarter country simply marches over and takes
our country from under out ignorant noses.

Directions. From the essay #2, complete this organizer with persuasive points for
each of the paragraphs following the thesis statement below.

Thesis statement: I will show you the two best reasons why education is important in
our society.
 QUIZ:
Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which of the following statements in SUMMARIZING is false?

a. The Summary is what the passage is mostly about.

b. The Summary is what all or most of the sentences or paragraphs are about.
c. The Summary is usually found in more than just one sentence of the passage.
d. The Summary is one isolated thought in a passage.

2. Which of the following statements in SUMMARIZING is true?

a. The Summary is a thought that is true but is not in the passage.

b. The Summary is what the passage is mostly about.
c. The Summary is specific, detailed information contained in the passage.
d. The Summary is always found in the first sentence of the passage.

Choose the letter that presents the best summary in each of the following paragraphs:
3. When some people think about Texas, they think of cowboys on the open range-
herding cattle up a dusty trail. However, Texas has much more than open prairie with
large herds of cows. There are the mountains of West Texas, the piney hills of east
Texas, and the emerald waters off the coast of Padre Island. Texas also has
large coastal harbors with numerous sailboats, powerboats, inland lakes, rivers,
swamps of southeast Texas with alligators and other exotic wildlife.
a. There are a lot of cows in Texas.
b. There are many different, varied parts of Texas.
c. Texas is one of the biggest states in the United States.
d. There are alligators in the swampland of southeast Texas.

4. Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat
dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried
chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She
just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni
pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin.

a. Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.

b. Jill loves Mexican food.
c. The Pizza Shop has the best pizza in town.
d. Jill will choose a place by flipping a coin.

5. It started when they got to the bears. Peter felt tired and his stomach hurt.
He dragged himself over to see the elephants, which were eating from a stack of
hay. Normally, the elephants were his favorite. Without much interest, Peter followed his
classmates to the camels, which were busy swatting flies with their tails. Peter knew he
should be having fun at the zoo, but he just felt terrible and all he wanted to do was lie
down and rest. Even the lions and tigers did not interest him now.

a. Peter's favorite animals were the elephants.

b. The camels were swatting flies with their tails.
c. It was really hot at the zoo.
d. Peter didn't enjoy the zoo because he felt really bad.

6. For the walls, Jenny thought she would use a bright yellow paint. She would pick a
border that had mostly bright red and green colors, and maybe a little bit of blue. She
already had found some curtains that were sky blue with streaks of red, blue
and yellow that she thought would go great with the walls. And finally, she had picked a
carpet that was mostly blue with specks of red and yellow. Jenny couldn't wait till she
was done decorating her room. It was really going to look awesome.

a. Jenny likes bright colors.

b. Jenny was going to paint her room.
c. Jenny was picking out colors and materials to decorate her room.
d. Yellow is a good color to paint your walls.
7. Right now, Jason was playing right field. He really wanted to play third base.
Earlier this year, coach had put him in left field and second base in a game, but never at
third base. Once in practice, coach let him play third base, but he kept missing
ground balls. When he did stop one, he made a bad throw to first base. Maybe if he
kept practicing, Jason would be good enough to play third base. That was his dream.

a. Jason really wanted to play third base.

b. Jason was the best player on his team.
c. Jason had trouble catching ground balls.
d. Jason was too lazy to practice.

8. San Francisco is located on the coast of California in an area often called the Bay
Area. The weather is generally very mild, seldom getting really cold or really hot. Its mild
climate is one reason many people live there. It seldom snows in San Francisco and
generally does not get below freezing during the winter. Even in the middle of
summer, temperatures may be in the mid-80s with a cool breeze from the bay keeping
the weather very comfortable.
a. San Francisco has many neat things to do.
b. It seldom snows in California.
c. Many people choose to live in California.
d. The weather in San Francisco is generally very mild.

9. Julie watched the ants as they carried small crumbs down the trail to the anthill. She
thinks ants are very hard working and industrious little creatures. They always seemed
busy, and you never saw an ant just laying around doing nothing. They were carrying
food, building tunnels, or defending the anthill. One thing you could say about ants is
that they sure aren't lazy.

a. Ants carry many things.

b. Some ants may bite you.
c. Ants are hard workers.
d. Some ants help take care of the queen.

10. The first book Chris read in fifth grade was about a lost kitten. Then he read a book
about a family of bears, and then he read about a wild kangaroo in Australia. It seems
every book Chris reads about animals. Last week he found a good book about
snakes and reptiles, and another book about elephants. Today Chris went to the
library, and he checked out a book about dolphins, whales and other animals that live in
the sea.

a. Chris likes kangaroos.

b. Chris is in the fifth grade.
c. Chris reads a lot of books about animals.
d. Dolphins and whales live in the sea.