English for Academic

and Professional
Purposes

VARIOUS TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING A

VARIETY OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

DIANE JOYCE M. LORAYNA

Subject Teacher
Let’s
Start!
Why is
summarizing a
significant
critical reading
● deepen your understanding of the
skill?
text;
Barrot and Sipacio (2017) ● learn to identify relevant
argues that summarizing is
an important skill because information or key ideas;
it helps you…
● combine details or examples that
support the main idea and key
words presented in the text; and,
● capture the key ideas in the text
and put them together clearly and
concisely.
● write down everything;
● write down ideas from the What is NOT
text word-for-word;
Summarizing?
● write down incoherent and
irrelevant ideas;
● write down ideas that are not
stated in the text; or
● write down a summary that has
the same length or is longer
than the original text.
Strategies/ Techniques in Summarizing

Separating Identifying
1. Finding General
the Main Key Words
Ideas from
Idea Details/
Examples
 To buy
Venus has a beautiful name and Mercury is the closest planet to
is the second planet from the the Sun and the smallest one in
Sun. It’s hot and has a the Solar System—it’s only a bit
poisonous atmosphere larger than the Moon
Other
Techniques
1. OUTLINING.
 An outline is a map of your essay.
It shows what information each section
or paragraph will contain and in what
order.
I. Main Idea
A. Supporting Details
B. Supporting Details
II. Main Idea
A. Supporting Details
B. Supporting Details
2. Somebody Wanted But So Then.

Each word represents a key question related

to a text’s essential elements:
Somebody—Who is the text about?
Wanted—What did the main character want?
But—What was the problem encountered?
So—How was the problem solved?
Then—How did it end?
3. SAAC Method.

 This method is particularly helpful in

learning the format of a summary. This
includes the title and author’s name.
State— The name of the article, book,
movie
Assign—the name of the author Action—what
the author is doing (ex. Tells, explains)
Complete—complete the sentence or summary
with keywords and important details.
4. 5W’s, 1 H.

This technique relies on six crucial

questions:
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How.
These questions make it easy to identify
the main character, important details and
main idea.
4. 5W’s, 1 H.

Who is the text about?

What did he/she do?
When did it happen?
Why did he/she do it?
How did he/she do what he/she did?
5. First Then Finally.

This technique helps summarize events or steps

in chronological order or in sequence.
First– What happened first?
Then– What key details took place during
the event/action?
Finally– What were the results of the
event/action?
 Writing a summary also depends on certain disciplines and each would require specific
guidelines. Academic writing would require you to adhere to these guidelines and structures.

● Publishing companies, libraries, or movie catalogue—do not give away the actual content
of the material in writing the summaries—it simply piques the interest of the target audience.
(Descriptive Abstracts)

● Research papers—readily present the key ideas and major findings of the study.
(Summative Abstracts)
 General Rule in Writing Precis,
Abstract or Summary

 condense information into around

15% of the original length of the
text
 A 6000-word research article for
an academic journal requires only
200 to 250 words for its abstract
Formats in Summarazing
 1. Idea Heading Format

● In this
format, the
summarized
idea comes
before the
citation.
 2. Author Heading Format
● In this
format, the
summarized
idea comes
after the
citation. The
author’s
name/s
is/are
connected by
an
appropriate
reporting
verb
 3. Date Heading Format

● In this
format, the
summarized
idea comes
after the date
when the
material was
published.
Let’s Practice!
What for you is the importance of
learning to summarize academic
texts?
 Activity

Directions: Summarize your personal experience during the

quarantine period in this time of pandemic into a one-paragraph
only. You may use the technique that you think best fits the nature
of your summary.
