English for Academic &

Professional Purposes
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Prepared by:

Jennyfer A. Bullecer
Writing a
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Summary
What is a summary?
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- is a record in a reader's own words that gives the main

points of a piece of writing such as a newspaper article,
the chapter of a book, or even a whole book. It is also
possible to summarize something that you have heard,
such as a lecture, or something that you have seen and
heard, such as a movie  Main
idea
 Essential supporting
-also known as an abstract, precis, points
or synopsis, is a shortened version of
a text that highlights its key points
How do we write an effective summary?
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As you collect sources for

your research essay,
you will need to
summarize the research
that you find.
 - The most important tense for a summary
is the simple present tense
- In writing a summary, never forget to
include the author and title of the passage
if it is given.

Observe this!
Sample written summary

The Hamlet by William Shakespeare is the story of a

young prince of Denmark who discovers that his uncle
and his mother have killed his father, the former king. He
plots to get revenge, but in his obsession with revenge he
drives his sweetheart to madness and suicide, kills her
innocent father, and in the final scene poisons and is
poisoned by her brother in a duel, causes his mother's
death, and kills the guilty king, his uncle.
What is the content of the summary?

-This summary contains a number of dramatic

elements: a cast of characters (the prince; his uncle,
mother, and father; his sweetheart; her father, and so
on), a scene (Elsinore Castle in Denmark),
instruments (poisons, swords), and actions
(discovery, dueling, killing)."
-to condense a text to its main points
and to do so in one’s own words
-to include every detail is neither
necessary nor desirable, instead,
extract only those elements which you
think are most important
 Summary Analysis
 Distillation of ideas  Discussion of
or argument of the ideas, techniques
text or meaning of a text
 Reconstruction of
the major points
Does not require you to
critique or respond to the
ideas in a text
 How do we summarize?
-it / it may begin with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author
and main point of the text as you see it
- written in your own words
- contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own
opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary
- Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the main
point
- Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you think
support and/or defend the main point of the essay as you see it
- Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put “quotation
marks” around the passage you chose, and put the number of the paragraph
where the passages can be found immediately after the passage
Sample summary format:
In the essay Santa Ana, author Joan Didion’s main
point is (state main point). According to Didion
“…passage 1…” (para.3). Didion also writes
“…passage 2…” (para.8). Finally, she states
“…passage 3…” (para. 12) Write a last sentence that
“wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of
the main point
 Let’s try this!
Ashleigh turned the school gate, and happily
joined her classmate who were waiting for her.
She met Andrew, her older brother, who handed
her the allowance from their parents. Ashleigh
was glad that the money arrived just in time for
their midterms. She needs to buy some
materials for her requirements in humanities.
 Examples of Paraphrasing
Original text: Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay and they
can consume 75 pounds of food everyday.

Paraphrased: A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia

leaves and hay everyday.

Original text: Any trip to Italy should include a visit to

Tuscany to sample exquisite wines.

Paraphrased: Be sure to include Tuscan wine-tasting

experience visiting Italy.
Original passage:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final paper. Probably only about 10 % of your final
manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter.
Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source materials while taking
notes.
A legitimate Paraphrase

In research papers, students often quote

excessively, failing to keep quoted material
down to a desirable level. Since the problem
usually originates during note taking, it is
essential to minimize the material recorded
verbatim.
 An acceptable Summary
 Students should take just a few notes
in direct quotation from sources to
help minimize the amount of quoted
material in a research paper.
A Plagiarized Version

Students often use direct quotation when

they take notes, resulting too many of them
in the final research. In fact, probably 10 %
of your final copy should consist as directly
quoted material. So it is important to limit the
amount of source materials copied while
taking notes.