Video 1: Summarizing Academic Texts
1. Summary is an important skill in academics. What is one way you might use a
summary?
2. What do you need to do in order to write an “accurate summary”?
3. What is the first step in summarizing a passage?
4. “Once you have ______ _________ _______ _______ and identified the ______
_______ of the text, you can begin writing your summary.”
5. True or False: A summary must present the author’s ideas in the exact order the author
presents them.
6. True or False: A summary includes every important detail in the text.
7. Sum the video up in a sentence or two:
Video 2: Examples: annotate & identify the main ideas and key concepts of a passage
Example 1: It is often remarked that science has increasingly removed man from a position at
the center of the universe. Once upon a time the earth was thought to be the center and the
gods were thought to be in close touch with the daily actions of humans. It was not stupid to
imagine the earth was at the center, because, one might think, if the earth were moving
around the sun, and if you threw a ball vertically upward, it would seem the ball should come
down a few feet away from you. Nevertheless, slowly, over many centuries, through the work
of Copernicus, Galileo, and many others, we have mostly come to believe that we live on a
typical planet orbiting a typical star in a typical galaxy, and indeed that no place in the universe
is special. -Gordon Kane, from “Are We the Center of the Universe?”
a. Where is the main idea of the text presented?
b. What is the function of the first sentence?
c. What does the author do in the second part of the last sentence?
d. What should you look for/ find in your passage?
e. How will finding these passages, or points within a passage, help you?
8. Example 2: Next is a paragraph in which no sentence is broad enough to sum up the
main idea, but which contains useful phrases:
Peace is not the same as quiet. Peace means you avoid checking your e-mail every 10
seconds. Peace means you are willing to work offline, screen calls, and forget your todo list for an hour. If this is difficult, turn off your Web browser, or try writing without a
computer all together. - Allegra Goodman, from So, You want to be a writer? Here’s
how.
a. Instead of using quotes, try to do this:
Video 3: Guidelines
9. The summary must be _____. This means you should include all the ideas that are
____________________ to the author’s development of the essay.
10.The summary must be ____________.
a. Eliminate ___________
b. Should be ________________ than the original source.
11.The summary must be ____________________.
a. Act as the ____________________ of the text
b. Use ___________ __________ ___________
c. Remain ______________ to the content. You can’t ___________ the information,
_________ new information, or subtract _____________ _________
12.The summary must refer to the author in ____________- ____________.
a. Always introduce the text with the _______________________________ and
______________________- of the work.
b. ___________ it. We will use MLA style.
13.Pay attention to the way you _________ the information in your summary.
a. May follow the time order or _________ of the text. (simplest form)
14.The most common tense in writing a summary is the ______________________