SUMMARISING
Summarising is
similar with paraphrasing, but it is shorter than paraphrasing. Summarising is
also necessary in writing skill. Because it is useful in research writing
process. What is summarising? Summary is a short and concise
representation of the main points, ideas, concepts, facts or statements of a
text written in your own words. When we summarize an author’s words or
ideas, we should provide a citation to the original source of the words,
thoughts, ideas etc. To create/write a good summary, we should read the
article or text a number of times to develop a clear understanding of: the
author’s ideas and intentions, the meaning and details, and the force with
which the ideas are expressed.
There are four
steps of summarising, they are:
1.
Identify the main points of the passage. In some paragraphs, the
main idea is expressed in the topic sentence, yet in others, it may not be
explicitly stated at all. Additionally, a passage may contain one or more
points that are vital to its meaning. These elements must be mentioned in your
summary. However, you will not include all the details, as you do in a paraphrase.
Instead, only choose the most important.
2.
Organize and present these main points in a coherent way. Be
careful not to use the author's words or to follow the sentence structure of
the original passage.
3.
Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning of the source and
that you have accurately represented the main ideas.
4.
Cite appropriately and integrate the summary into the text
effectively. Consult the APA or MLA manual or the Academic Center’s Quick Guides for information on how to cite and the Academic Center handout “Signal the Use of a Source”
for ideas on how to integrate summarized information.
Example Of Summarising:
Original Passage I:
Height connotes status in many parts of the world. Executive
offices are usually on the top floors; the underlings work below. Even being
tall can help a person succeed. Studies have shown that employers are more
willing to hire men over 6 feet tall than shorter men with the same credentials.
Studies of real-world executives and graduates have shown that taller men make
more money. In one study, every extra inch of height brought in an extra $1,300
a year. But being too big can be a disadvantage. A tall, brawny football player
complained that people found him intimidating off the field and assumed he
"had the brains of a Twinkie." (p. 301)
---Locker, K. O. (2003). Business and administrative
communication (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Let’s first identify the main points in the original passage.
- Topic sentence: “Height connotes status in many parts of the world.”
- Main point: “Even being tall can help a person succeed.”
- Main point: “Executive offices are usually on the top”
- Main point: “being too big can be a disadvantage”
Summary A:
Throughout the world, being tall will lead to professional success.
In fact, research shows that employers are more likely to hire taller men and
to pay them more, as compared to shorter men with the same qualifications
(Locker, 2003).
[This summary is too brief. Further, it changes the meaning
slightly, giving the impression that being tall guarantees success.]
Summary B:
In most countries, height suggests status. For instance, higher
executives normally use top floors of office buildings. Further, research shows
that men over six feet tall are more likely to be hired than those shorter than
them but with the same qualifications. Taller men also receive greater incomes,
possibly as much as $1,300 a year more than those only one inch shorter than
them. However, as a tall and muscular football player points out, a
disadvantage to being tall is that some individuals may perceive you as
threatening or even dumb (Locker, 2003).
[This summary is too long. Instead of focusing on the main points,
it includes all of the details that are in the original passage.]
Summary C:
Though height may connote slowness to some people, in the business
world, it is almost universally associated with success. For example, taller
men are more likely to be hired and to have greater salaries. Further, those in
top positions within a company are more likely to work on the top floors of
office buildings (Locker, 2003).
[This summary is the most effective. In addition to including all
of the main points, it leaves out the unimportant details.]
Original Passage II:
. . . [Cleanthes, addressing himself to Demea] . . .Look round the
world: Contemplate the whole and every part of it: You will find it to be
nothing but one great machine, subdivided into an infinite number of lesser
machines, which again admit of subdivisions, to a degree beyond what human
senses and faculties can trace and explain. All these various machines, and
even their most minute parts, are adjusted to each other with accuracy, which
ravishes into admiration all men, who have ever contemplated them. The curious
adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it
much exceeds, the productions of human contrivance; of human design, thought,
wisdom, and intelligence. Since therefore the effects resemble each other, we
are led to infer, by all the rules of analogy, that the causes also resemble;
and that the author of nature is somewhat similar to the mind of man; though
possessed of murch larger faculties, proportioned to the grandeur of the work,
which he has executed. By this argument a posteriori, and by this argument
alone, do we prove at once the existence of a deity, and his similarity to
human mind and intelligence. (p53)
--Hume, D. (1990). Dialogues concerning natural religion.
London: Penguin Books.
This passage is a little more difficult than the previous passage.
The topic sentence in this passage is not the first sentence, where you may
often find the topic sentence of the paragraph or passage; however, you’ll
follow the same procedures for writing a summary of this passage.
- “Topic Sentence” (main point of paragraph): existence of a deity proved by analogy
- Main point: the analogy shows that by a cause-effect relationship a deity is similar to human mind and intelligence
Summary:
Through analogy, Cleanthes argues that a deity comparable to human
intellect exists (Hume, 1990).
You have quite a bit of flexibility with summary. In this example,
we’ve just summarized the main point of the passage; however, we could also
summarize the analogy that Cleanthes makes. What you summarize depends largely
on why you are summarizing the material. The decision of “what to summarize” is
a decision that you have to make since you are familiar with your writing
situation.
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