Teachables: How to write a summary
Summary writing is a big part of the Cambridge Examination models, and it either drives students crazy or it is the most comfortable part of the paper for a (crazy) some.
Forgive me - I am slightly biased on this, as summary writing does not come to easy for me - I am quite verbose, as you can tell. However, I feel that summary writing is quite possibly the most explicitly relevant skill one can learn.
You see summaries just about everywhere - a Netflix synopsis, a book blurb, an event pamphlet, minutes of a meeting your parents are probably made to do. So - there is an art to it, rather than just looking mechanically for points and “rephrasing” them.
Go past the flowery and the figurative
Don’t get me wrong - both words are not bad at all - I love them. However, in the academics of your paper, the goal of the summary is to be a concise and accurate depiction of the factual or perspective-driven information you have read. For that, literal language is the best vehicle. So, identify the figurative elements of the points you have gleaned from the text, and relay them in clean, clear language.
Example:
The man was weird when talking to the person he liked. - subjective
The man was awkward around his crush. - objective
Example:
From: The article that was published was considered to be extending past people’s imagination around the subject of automobiles
To: The article’s content on automobiles challenged people’s perceptions.
See what I did there?
Which leads me to…
Do not be afraid to adjust and reorganize text
It makes me sad when summary writing is seen as just blindly copying and pasting text. Counting words, etc.
I think the integrity of summary writing comes in how you relay the information you have gathered and understood.
From the previous example, notice how reorganized the sentence and added words in bold that enveloped the ideas presented. It is all
About showcasing how well you understanding the text you are reading through how you relay it all back. Think about it - if you hear a juicy story from a friend and then betray that friend and tell another friend, would you say the same exact sentences the first friend said? No, you would relay it back in a tone and a style that fits the context, which leads me to…
Add “texture” to the summary
You do this through your own thoughtful selection of vocabulary, fusing similar points together, and using simplistic connectors to show the relationship between points. Easier than you are thinking it is now.
Vocabulary:
The leader was thought to be a great man in the region, even past his death.
The leader was well respected by citizens throughout.
You can find words within the text to use; let the text guide you in that.
Fusing:
Para 1: …. Bananas are popular
Para 3: …. Bananas are loved
Summary: Bananas are popular and loved (lol)
This shows active thinking on your part - you are not blindly following the chronology of the text - you are vibing with the content and presenting it back coherently.
Connectors:
The woman was friendly to her neighbors. The woman treated her helpers badly.
The woman was friendly to neighbors, but not to her helpers.
That’s all it takes. A little baby but. It showcases how you know there is a contrast, a discrepancy in the two lines of information - a simple word shows that.
Actually understanding the text and its points
So, to do all this, you would need to vibe well with the content at hand.
It is quite interesting to me when students get frustrated with a lower grade, when they do not fully understand what they are writing about.
The point of the examination is to test your comprehension level - your depth of understanding. That is showcased in how you present information through the styles up top.
Going back to the friend analogy, just imagine if you do not fully understand the juicy story, so you try to wing it. Your other friend clocks it, and you get annoyed lol. It’s the same thing. If you are struggling with understanding the content, there are so many ways to build that skill. Book a class with me and see what’s up.
and lastly,
Remember why you are even writing the summary
Like what I mentioned up top, summary writing can exist for a bunch of reasons.
Netflix wants you to be intrigued, but not know everything. Pamphlets want you to be informed, but also excited. Minutes wants to get to the main point of follow-up action.
So, for the Cambridge one, it is mostly about information connected to the angle they give.
It is for someone who has no time to read the entire passage - they are relying on your summary. So, how would you help them?
Perspective like this is important, because it makes the summary actually a tool you can craft well, not some silly end-of-paper question to complete.
