The What, Why

SUMMARIZATION and How of

Summarization
WHAT IS A SUMMARY?
The goal of writing a summary of an article,
a single chapter or a whole book is to offer as
accurately as possible the full sense of the
original, but in a more condensed form.
A summary restates the author's main
point, purpose, intent and supporting details
in your own words.
WHY SUMMARIZE?

The process of summarizing enables you

1.

to grasp the original text better, and the

result shows the reader that you
understand it as well.
2. The knowledge you gained by
summarizing makes it possible for you to
analyze and critique the original text.
WHY SUMMARIZE?

3. Summarizing is a useful study

technique.
4. Summaries are assigned as outputs in
almost all subjects.
5. Summaries are included in other types
of writing and academic papers.
HOW TO SUMMARIZE?

1. Restate, that is repeat the ideas of the

source in different words and phrases.
2. Do not add your own ideas, opinions or
judgment of the arguments.
3. Make it shorter than the source.
HOW TO SUMMARIZE?

4. Maintain good paragraph structure.

A. TOPIC SENTENCE- identifies the title,
author, speaker
B. SUPPORTING SENTENCES – main points;
follow same order as original; paraphrase, no
direct quotes, be objective
C. CONCLUDING SENTENCE – general
statements
TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING

1. SKIMMING AND SCANNING

Skimming means looking at a text or
chapter quickly in order to have a general
idea of the contents. 
Scanning means looking at a text to find
some particular information.
TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
2. OUTLINING-
Outlining is a tool we use in the writing process to
help organize our ideas, visualize our paper’s potential
structure, and to further flesh out and develop points.
It allows the writer to understand how he or she will
connect information to support the thesis statement
and the claims of the paper.
An outline provides the writer with a space to
consider ideas easily without needing to write
complete paragraphs or sentences.
TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING

3. NOTE-TAKING
Note taking (or notetaking) is the
practice of writing down pieces of
information in a systematic way.
Note-taking is the practice of writing
down or otherwise recording key points of
information. 
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
3. NOTE-TAKING
A. The Cornell method: This method is used by dividing the paper in two columns. The first
column is used to enter key or cue words while the second is the notes column (for recording ideas
and facts). There are six steps to Cornell note-taking:
1. Record During the lecture, record as many facts and ideas as possible in the notes column.
2. Reduce After the lecture, read through the notes taken and reduce to key words and phrases, or
questions. The key words and phrases are used as cues to help recall the ideas and facts. The
questions are to add clarity to the facts and ideas.
3. Recite Using only the key words, phrases and questions in the cue word column recite the ideas
and facts in the notes column. It is important that you are not just mechanically repeating, but using
your own words.
4. Reflect Based on the facts and ideas learnt, reflect upon how this fits in with what you already
know, and how this knowledge can be applied.
5. Review On a frequent basis, review your past notes by reciting and reflecting upon them.
6. Recapitulate After you have reduced, recited and reflected upon your note, you
should recapitulate each main idea using complete sentences at the bottom of the key word
column.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
B. The SQ3R Approach
Survey - flip through the chapter or book and note the layout, first and last chapters or
paragraphs, look at the headings used, familiarize yourself with the reading.
Question - Ask questions about the way the reading is structured and think about the
questions you will need to keep in mind while reading. Think about whether or not
you think the book is relevant or if it's current and if it suits the purpose of your study.
Read - read actively but quickly, looking for the main points of the reading - don't take
any notes - you might want to read through twice quickly.
Recall - Write down the main points of the reading and any really important facts, and
opinions that help support the main points. Also record the bibliographic details.
Review - repeat the first three steps over and make sure you haven't missed anything.
At this point you might like to finalize your notes and re-read your notes or write
down how the material you've just covered relates to your question or task.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
C. Using Graphic Organizers
1. Mind maps (i.e. hierarchical trees) can be used to take lecture notes
in real time, but more often to organize concepts into a hierarchical tree.
2. Concept maps allow to visualize more complex relationships
between different concepts. They allow for example to integrate old and
new knowledge and to construct a representation of a complex concept.
3. Charting is method that helps to summarize the most important
concepts found in articles and to identify implicit relations (what
concepts go together and which authors). This concept charting
technique uses a table with columns representing concepts and rows
representing a text.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
4. ORAL SUMMARY
An oral summary, like the written summary, involve a brief synopsis of the text
read and includes the main points of the text.  However, this method is done orally.
Many ways to use the oral summary are similar to the written summary including
summarizing a variety of length of sections including sections, chapter, or whole
units and varying the length of the summary.
A variation of an oral summary is a book talk, in which the presenter shares about a
book and gives students interesting points to make others want to read the book
(Miller & Veatch, 2011).
Oral summarizing can be a higher level thinking activity because it requires
comprehending, analyzing, and synthesizing (Kissner, 2006). 
Oral summaries use exit or generalization questions based form the selection,
lecture or discussion.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
5. JOURNAL/ WRITTEN SUMMARIES
A summary, also known as an abstract, precis, or synopsis,
is a shortened version of a text that highlights its key points.
The word "summary" comes from the Latin, "sum.”
A summary is a condensed version of a longer work.
An abstract is a brief summary that is found at the
beginning of a research article, thesis, etc. This is the main
difference between abstract and summary. An abstract is a
type of summary.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
5. JOURNAL/ WRITTEN SUMMARIES
A summary is very short and just gives the main idea. It’s usually
just one paragraph, like the first paragraph of a newspaper article.
It tells you what the main point is, then the rest of the story goes
on the flesh it out and and support the point made in the first
paragraph. Same thing with a book.
A synopsis goes much further. It highlights all the plot points –
and sub-plot points – and takes you through the entire story. It
usually leaves out character development almost completely, as
well as all the other things that make the story interesting. But it
does include all the plot twists and surprises.
 TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING
5. JOURNAL/ WRITTEN SUMMARIES
A precis is a short version of a passage containing only the main
points and main supporting points.
Characteristics:
•leaves out details, illustrations, and subordinate ideas;
•is shorter than the original passsage by about two thirds;
•is an accurate reflection of the facts and opinions in the original
passage;
•is written in standard English using full sentences and paragraphs
(where necessary).
LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGWO1ldEhtQ (summarization)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_OCOQDH4Pc (techniques)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErSjc1PEGKE (Taking Cornell Notes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Gic5lU-5g (The SQ3R Method)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1wPYHa5nUgm (Skimming and Scanning)