Academic Writing Skills Barbara Nicolls bnicol01@bucks.ac.uk Semester 1 - session 3 2009/10 bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 What is Summarising? a useful study skill involving: reading a text identifying the most important or most relevant points making a note of these points in your own words using your notes to produce a written summary. bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

How much do you know about Summarising? Try the traffic light test. http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/studyskills/15to18/understand/Summarising/resources/genericcontent_tcm4268849.asp bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 How do you summarise? capture the main idea(s) of a text but express them in a much shorter space; use key words and phrases from the text but do not copy whole sentences; paraphrase, that is, restate things in your own words; paraphrase or leave out quotes leave out specific examples bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

Guidelines for summarising Read Note Write in your own words bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Read Read the original quickly and try to understand its main subject or purpose. Then read it again to understand it in more detail. Work through the text to identify the main points of each paragraph or section. Highlight or underline main points, or points that are relevant to what you are studying. bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Note Make notes in the margin, or on a separate sheet of paper. Draw up a list of the main topics and issues or arrange them in the form of a diagram (e.g. a mind map). bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Write in your own words look at your notes to jog your memory, not the original text. That way you are forced to write your own original sentences and not copy chunks of the text. bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 A sample summary Look at this example. Notice how much shorter the summary is than the original. It just captures the main message and does not include the examples of players' or fans' behaviour. Source: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/studyskills/15to18/understand/Summarising/resources/genericcontent_tcm4268845.asp bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Original At a typical football match we often see players being disrespectful of a referee's decision, committing deliberate fouls or trying to take a free kick from an incorrect but more advantageous position, to try to gain an advantage. No wonder spectators also fight amongst themselves, damage stadiums, or take the law into their own hands by invading the pitch in the hope of affecting the outcome of the match. bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Summary Many footballers behave in unsporting ways to try to win the game so it is not surprising that fans behave badly too. bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

bnicolls - academic writing 09-10 Thank you End of session 3 bnicolls - academic writing 09-10