1

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region VII, Central Visayas
DIVISION OF BOHOL

QUARTER : 1 WEEK 3 DAY 1-4 ACTIVITY NO. 1-2

Competency: Uses various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts

Objective: Apply different techniques in summarizing variety of academic texts

Topic: Summarizing Techniques

Materials: Pen, bond paper, news papers,
References: https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/tinelachica04/summarizing
http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/summarize/;
http://info.inquirer.net

Copyrights: For academic use

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Concept Notes:

Summarizing refers to providing an abridged version of the narrative. Summary or a

precis is a synopsis or digest of the essence of an entire text. Some helpful tips in summarizing
are the following:
1. Read the text you are about to summarize over and over again.
2. Identify the main idea of the text you are planning to summarize.
3. Put your feet into the readers’ shoes.
4. Ensure a smooth flow of ideas by using appropriate transitional devices.
5. Limit your summary to a few sentences.
6. Do not forget to proofread your work.
7. You can use the framework below to organize your thoughts for a smooth sailing
summary.

Main Idea

Supporting
Supporting
details
Supporting details
details

Figure 1

Sample paragraph

A tornado is a powerful, twisting windstorm. It begins high in the air, among the winds of
a giant storm cloud. People who have watched a tornado’s howling winds reach down from the
sky have said it’s the most frightening thing they have ever seen.in some parts of the United
States, these windstorms are called twisters or cyclone.

A tornado is a
powerful,
twisting
windstorm

Part of giant storm cloud

1
 2

frightening Twisters or cylone

Sentence Summary…

Tornadoes are frightening, powerful, twisting windstorms sometimes called twisters or

cyclones that start in giant storm clouds.
(https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/tinelachica04/summarizing)

On the other hand, as what the University of Toronto said, summarizing a text, or
distilling its essential concepts into a paragraph or two, is a useful study tool as well as good
writing practice. A summary has two aims: (1) to reproduce the overarching ideas in a text,
identifying the general concepts that run through the entire piece, and (2) to express these
overarching ideas using precise, specific language. When you summarize, you cannot rely on the
language the author has used to develop his or her points, and you must find a way to give an
overview of these points without your own sentences becoming too general. You must also make
decisions about which concepts to leave in and which to omit, taking into consideration your
purposes in summarizing and also your view of what is important in this text. Here are some
methods for summarizing: First, prior to skimming, use some of the previewing techniques.
1. Include the title and identify the author in your first sentence. The first sentence or two
of your summary should contain the author’s thesis, or central concept, stated in your
own words. This is the idea that runs through the entire text–the one you’d mention if
someone asked you: “What is this piece/article about?”
2. When summarizing a longer article, try to see how the various stages in the explanation
or argument are built up in groups of related paragraphs. Divide the article into sections
if it isn’t done in the published form. Then, write a sentence or two to cover the key ideas
in each section.
3. Omit ideas that are not really central to the text. Don’t feel that you must reproduce the
author’s exact progression of thought. On the other hand, be careful not to misrepresent
ideas by omitting important aspects of the author’s discussion). In general, omit minor
details and specific examples.
4. Avoid writing opinions or personal responses in your summaries
5. Be careful not to plagiarize the author’s words. If you do use even a few of the author’s
words, they must appear in quotation marks. To avoid plagiarism, try writing the first
draft of your summary without looking back at the original text.
(http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/summarize/;)