National 5 English
Reading for Understanding, Analysis & Evaluation
Revision Sheet 4 – Summarising Questions
Use these sheets in order to practise using the methods for answering specific types of question. For each
sheet you should do the following:
 Read the method below this information.
 Look at the worked example.
 Use the method to answer the questions for practice.
Method
The final question in the close reading paper is examining your ability to summarise the writer’s ideas. The question will
look something like this:
Referring to the whole article, in your own words list the key points the writer makes about…
There is a very definite method which you need to employ if you are going to be able to answer this question fully and
quickly.
Before Reading
1.
As soon as the exam begins you should turn to the final question (even before you begin to read the passage) to
see what it is asking you to do. It may ask you to list the key points of the whole article or it may ask you to list
the key points of a section of the article.
While Reading
2.
As you read through the passage you should be preparing for your answer to this final summarising task. To do
this you need to remember the following: the article you read will be constructing an argument about the topic
being discussed. Just like your own piece of persuasive writing therefore, each paragraph should mark one
stage of that argument. Each paragraph should therefore contain one key point that the writer wishes to make.
Each paragraph will contain a topic sentence and some evidence which is used to make this key point. This is
exactly the same structure that you followed in your persuasive essay.
3.
You must read each paragraph of the article and, as you finish a paragraph, ask yourself, “what point is the
writer making about the topic in this paragraph?”. Use the topic sentence and evidence to answer that
question.
4.
Then, in the margin of the article, write down in your own words what that key point is.
5.
Do this for every paragraph as you read through the article.
6.
At the end of reading the article you should have a list of the key points written down the side of the article.
After Reading
7.
When you get to the final question asking you to list the key points which the writer makes about… then you
merely have to go back to the key points which you have written down and transfer those into your answer.
Questions for Practice
1. Referring to lines 27 – 47, summarise in your own words the key evidence the writer uses to show
Dickens’ popularity among black South Africans.
4 marks
Passage is on following pages – Why Dickens was the hero of Soweto.
2. Referring to lines 24 – 63, summarise in your own words the key reasons not to worry about texting.
5 marks
Passage is on the following pages – The gr8 db8
3. Referring to the whole article, list in your own words the key points the writer makes about
superstitions.
4 marks.
Passage is on the following pages – Superstition
4. Referring to the whole article, in your own words list the key points the writer makes about the nature
of fame.
4 marks
Passage is on the following pages – JK Rowling