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The aim of this presentation is to provide practice on summary writing tostudents attending English Language IV at FFyL- UNT. The practice provided

has een adapted from !avid "ehmeyer #s presentation $%&&&-'(%%) "isc-online.com digital li rary and from Proficiency Masterclass (Gude &

Duckworth, OUP,2002).

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What to take into account:ead the piece to e summari*ed for understanding without

editing. /a+e sure you understand the content including ma0orand minor sections as well as the overlying message eingconveyed. Loo+ closely at topic sentences and +ey wordsrepeated throughout.ead the material and cross out useless information while

underlining what you elieve to e the most important point

even if those points are words or phrases.!ocument words or phrases from the original.1eep the tone and the organi*ation of the original.

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2e o 0ective3 do not include your opinionunless you are as+ed to do so.

4our summary should e %5 to '( 6 of thelength of the original."hen you finish writing it go ac+ to the

original to chec+ for accuracy.

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Lets look at some examples

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First draft: Des ite !estern"style #o$ern%ents, Musli% countries are %ired in o$ertyand radical #o$ern%ents. his des ite the fact that the reli#ion has e'istedfor se$eral centuries. uro ean coloni ation ruined the *sla%ic reli#ion fora lon# ti%e. +ou would find it hard to i%a#ine how %any Musli%s therereally are out there.

Grade oor -easons

Does not follow the infor%ation found in the ori#inal

Mini%i es the historic si#nificance of the reli#ion ( se$eral centuries/)here are ro le%s at sentence le$el.he tone is different

*t is too lon#here is no acknowled#%ent of the source.

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Second draft: 1or nearly ,300 years, *sla% has united eo le #lo ally.!estern interference, throu#h coloni ation and oliticalideolo#ies, has not i% ro$ed Musli%s4 li$es (5elt 67).

Grade !ell"written. -easons

Mantains the tone and or#ani ation of the ori#inal

*t is a ro'i%ately 20 8 of the ori#inal4s len#th *t is ro erly docu%ented and unctuated.

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Lets practice Paragraph 1Now write your summary The Indian tri es of North and 7outh

8merica do not contain all the loodgroups that are found in populationselsewhere. 8 fascinating glimple into

their ancestry is opened y thisune9pected iological ,uir+. For thelood groups are inherited in such a waythat over some population they providesome genetic record of the past. The totala sence of lood group 8 from apopulation implies with virtual

certainty that there was no lood group8 in its ancestry and similarly withlood group 2. 8nd this is in fact thestate of affairs in 8merica $2ronows+y&').

7ource: 2ronows+y ;. he 9scent of Man .2oston: Little 2rown < =ompany %&>?.

The native people of the 8mericas lac+ of

lood types 8 and 2 present in othercommunities. Through their presence it ispossi le to collect genetic evidence onpeople@s history $2ronows+y &').

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Paragraph Now write your summary

In %&'5 the land aristocrcy of Aermanyowned most of the large estates whichoccupied '(.' 6 of the ara le land of thecountry. They had B( 6 of the land otthe east of the El e river. 8ll told theseestates contituted ut (.B 6 of the totalnum er of landholdings in Aermany. 8tthe ase of the pyramid were those whooccupied small holdings : 5&.B 6 of thetotal holdings of Aermany accounted forC.' 6 of the ara le land $Lasswell %>).

7ource: Lasswell D. Politics !ho #ets !hat,!hen, :ow .New 4or+: /eridian %&C(.

In %&'5 most of the fertile land ofAermany was controlled y thelanded no ility $ Lasswell %>).

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Paragraph ! Now write your summaryIn the nineteenth century children frompoor families were e9pected tocontri ute to the family from an earlyage. 2ut various measures since thenhave gradually mar+ed out childhood asa distinct phase of life. For e9ample theshool leaving age was gradually raised.=onse,uently school wor+ has replacedpaid wor+ and the period of children#stotal dependency on their parents hascorrespondingly e9panded Furthermore

until fairly recently children hade9pected physicalpunishment fordiso edience at school $%%%).

7ource: Proficiency Masterclass 9ford'(('.

In the % ((s poor children weresupposed to provide their family.

8fter some time education wasgiven a significant place in childrenGs lives $%%%).