CSEC ENGLISH A
SUMMARY WRITING
Introduction
What is a summary?
A summary is a record in a reader's own words that
gives the main points of a piece of writing such as a
newspaper article, the chapter of a book, or even a whole
book. It is also possible to summarize something that you
have heard, such as a lecture, or something that you have
seen and heard, such as a movie.
What is a Summary?
What is a summary?
A summary is a shortened version of writing in which
you use your own wording to express the main idea of a
longer piece of information.
N.B.: Summarizing is a real-life skill used by everyone:
news reporters, police officers, you, et cetera.
What does CXC want ?
A straightforward summary is required for CSEC English, a summary involves main points that
must be identified and organised logically within the word limit specified. In cases where the
original is reproduced wholesale, the CXC markers are instructed to interpret this as incompetence.
In other words, some attempt must be made by candidates to use their own words. Summarising is a
real-life skill and should be treated as such by teachers and candidates; it should not be treated as a
deletion exercise or a copying exercise.
How do we summarise?
•When writing a summary, remember that it should be in the form of a paragraph.
•A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author and main point
of the text as you see it.
•A summary is written in your own words.
•A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions,
interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.
•Identify in order the significant sub-claims the author uses to defend the main point.
How do we summarise?
•Copy word-for-word three separate passages from the essay that you think support and/or defend the
main point of the essay as you see it.
•Cite each passage by first signaling the work and the author, put “quotation marks” around the
passage you chose, and put the number of the paragraph where the passages can be found
immediately after the passage.
•Using source material from the essay is important. Why? Because defending claims with source
material is what you will be asked to do when writing papers for your college professors.
•Write a last sentence that “wraps” up your summary; often a simple rephrasing of the main point.
When summarizing note the
following
When learning summarizing skills, three points should be emphasized:
(1) summaries are shorter than original texts,
(2) they contain the main ideas of a text, and
(3) they are written in reported speech and present tense.
How do I distinguish between relevant
and irrelevant details?
The main idea is defined as:
- one or two sentences that say what the author is trying to tell us about something.
- not usually a sentence that comes straight from the reading, but one that you have to come up with
that summarises what the reading (paragraph, long passage, article, story, etc.) is mainly about.
The Five W’s can be useful in helping you locate
the main idea.
The Five W’s
can be useful
in helping you
locate the main
idea.
Irrelevant: MORE FEDS
1.
Minor details
M
2.
Opinions
O
3.
Repetitions
R
4.
Examples
E
5.
Figures of speech
F
6.
Evaluations/conclusions
E
7.
Dialogue/ Quotations
D
8.
Statistical data
S
STEPS – Step 1
Analyse the INSTRUCTIONS to make sure you
understand how to answer.
…what to focus on? Relevant details
… how to write? Continuous prose
… word limit? 120 exact
STEP 2
Read the passage ONCE to
get a general understanding;
TWICE to start making
notes.
STEP 3
Make NOTES of the main ideas in the text.
Identify theme/topic that is mentioned throughout passage (what is extract talking about?)
2. Create a topic sentence that summarises main points
.
1
3. Ask yourself, what is writer trying to tell me about topic?
*list FIVE main points
*use your own wording as far as possible to paraphrase in sentence form what you found (these
become the main points/relevant info.)
*ensure you do not have any MORE FEDS
STEP 3 continued
4. Organise main points sentences logically, which
means they do not have appear in order presented
in passage
STEP 4
ADD TRANSITIONS TO MAKE COHERENT
STEP V
– Read over and proofread
Your range of vocabulary is helpful as you condense a number of words/details
 Change any direct speech into reported speech
 Keep the language: (SC²)
Simple – easy to understand
Clear – easy to see
Concise – brief and to the point
Sample Summary