1. Academic Writing Skills
Barbara Nicolls
Semester 1 - session 3
2009/10
bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

2. 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

3. How much do you know about Summarising? Try the traffic light test.
bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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:
bnicolls - academic writing 09-10

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

11. 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

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