EAPP Week 4

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
BASICS OF SUMMARIZING
What is Summarizing?
Summarizing involves putting the
main idea(s) into your own words, including
only the main point(s). Once again, it is
necessary to attribute summarized ideas to
the original source. Summaries are
significantly shorter than the original and
take a broad overview of the source
material.
As an important skill in critical reading
and writing, summarizing is often used to
determine the essential ideas in a book
chapter, an article, etc. These essential
ideas include the gist or main idea, useful
information, or key words or phrases that helps you meet your reading or writing
purpose. Summarizing is generally done after reading. However, it can be done
as well while reading a text.
Summarizing is an important skill because it helps you:

• deepen your understanding of the text;
• Learn to identify relevant information or key ideas;
• Combine details or examples that support the main ideas/s;
• Concentrate on the gist or main idea and key words presented in the text;
and
• Capture the key ideas in the text and put them together clearly and
concisely.
You are not summarizing when you:
• write down everything;
• write down ideas from the text word-for-word;
• write down incoherent and irrelevant ideas;
• write down ideas that are not stated in the text; or
• write down a summary that has the same length or is longer than the
original text.
GUIDELINES IN SUMMARIZING
1. Clarify your purpose before you read.

2. Read the text and understand the meaning. Do not stop reading until you
understand the message conveyed by the author. Locate the gist or main idea
of the text, which can usually be found either at the beginning, in the middle, or
in the end.
3. Select and underline or circle the key ideas and phrases while reading; another
strategy is to annotate the text.
4. Write all the key ideas and phrases you identified on the margins or on your
notebook in a bullet or an outline form.
5. Without looking at the text, identify the connections of these key ideas and
phrases using a concept maps, graphic organizers or thinking maps.
6. List your ideas in sentences into a paragraph.
7. Combine the sentences into a paragraph. Use appropriate transitional devices
to improve cohesion.
8. Ensure that do not copy a single sentence from the original text.
9.Refrain from adding comments about the text. Stick to the ideas it presents.
10. Edit the draft of your summary by eliminating redundant ideas.
11.Compare your output with the original text to ensure accuracy.
12. Record the details of the original source (author’s name/s, date of publication,
title, publisher, place of publishing, and URL [if online]).
FORMATS IN SUMMARIZING
There are three (3) formats that you may use in writing summaries, the idea
heading, author heading, and date heading.
Idea Heading Format
In this format, the summarized idea comes before the citation.
Example:
• Benchmarking is a useful strategy that has the potential to help public
officials improve the performance of local services (Folz,2004;
Ammons,2001). Once the practice of a particular city is benchmarked, it
can be a guidepost and the basis for the other counterparts to improve its
own.
Author Heading Format

In this format, the summarized idea comes after the citation. The author’s
name/s is/are connected by an appropriate reporting verb.
Example:
• The study of Kabilan and Abidin (2010) shows that the students perceived
FB as an online environment to expedite language learning specifically
English.
• Donmus (2010) asserts that educational games on FB fecundate learning
process and make students’ learning environment more engaging. As
regards literacy, this notion reveals that FB could be used as tool to aid
individuals execute a range of social acts through social literacy
implementation.
• Blackstone and Hardwood (2012) suggest the facilitative strength of FB as it
elicits greater achievement on collaboration among students.
Date Heading Format

In this format, the summarized idea comes after the date when the material
was published.
Example:
• In their 2004 study on the impact of participatory development approach,
Irvin and Stansbury argue that participation can be valuable to the
participants and the government in terms of the process and outcomes of
decision making.
Using Reporting Verbs When Summarizing
A reporting verb is a word used to discuss another person’s writings or
assertions. They are generally used to incorporate the source to the discussion in
the text. To illustrate, see the sample text below. The reporting verbs are italicized.
Example:
Having a syntactically correct sentence is not enough to create meaning. As
Noam Chomsky pointed out, a sentence can be perfect in terms of syntax and
still not make sense. He showed this by coming up with the famous sentence,
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” (Chomsky, 1957).
In summarizing, you are highly encouraged to vary the verbs you use to
make your writing more interesting and to show importance to each of your
sources. You can use either the past or the present tense depending on your
meaning. Using the past tense usually indicates that view the idea to be outdated
and therefore want to negate it. On the other hand, using the present tense
generally indicates that you view the idea to be relevant or agreeable.
Hyland (1999) list a frequency of reporting verbs used according to discipline.

PARAPHRASING
What is Paraphrasing?
• It is simplified version of an original piece.
• Used to rewrite the text in your own words
• Used to avoid PLAGIARISM.
The American Heritage College Dictionary defines a paraphrase as: – “a
restatement of text or passage in another form or words”. Th word paraphrase
derives from the Latin word “paraphrasis” and the Greek word “paraphrazein”
meaning to show or explain.
What is the Difference Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is a restatement of the author’s original thought and
meaning. While summarizing is the condensing of a passage or thought into a
much smaller package.
Examine how the following examples below are paraphrased.
1.
Original: My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.
Paraphrased: I am happy when I see a rainbow in the sky.
2.
Original: A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth’s sweet flowing
breast.
Paraphrased: The roots of the tree are in the ground sipping water.
3.
Original: God sees the truth, but waits.
Paraphrased: The truth will always come out because it is not hidden from God.
4 Steps in Paraphrasing
1. Read the original passage.
2. Read again to understand the meaning of the passage look into the words
which you do not understand.
3. Write your paraphrase version of the original passage.
4. Reread. Review. Rewrite.
The 4 “Musts” for Paraphrasing

A paraphrase must:
1. Be in your own words.
2. Be near or longer than the original passage.
3. Be used to explain a difficult/complex concept or passage.
4. Convey the original meaning.
Techniques in Paraphrasing

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ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Summarizing is an important skill because it helps you:

1. Clarify your purpose before you read.

Author Heading Format

Date Heading Format

Hyland (1999) list a frequency of reporting verbs used according to discipline.

What is the Difference Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing?

The 4 “Musts” for Paraphrasing

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