Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Unit I EAPP
Unit I EAPP
STATING THE
MAIN IDEA OF A
TEXT
CONATION
Lesson 2 aims to help you strengthen this
skill. In particular, at the end of the lesson,
you should be able to:
1. identify the topic and main idea of texts, if
expressed;
2. express the main idea in your own words
if it is implicit in the text; and
3. assist others in understanding a learning
material.
THE MAIN IDEA OR THESIS
The main idea is the thesis or main point of an
informational text. It can be expressed anywhere in
a material or paragraph, either at the beginning or
middle, or at the end. If stated at the beginning,
then you can expect the sentences that follow to
support or develop the main idea. This is what you
call deductive order. If the thesis or main idea is
expressed at the end, then the earlier statement are
details/specifics that build up on the main point or
general statement. This text follows the inductive
order.
Consider the words that are repeated
throughout the material that refer to the
same subject-most probably that is the
topic of the material. Writers refer to the
topic by actually repeating the key term,
using synonyms or other names for it, or
using pronouns. For example, for the topic
names like “Pambansang Kamao” or
“People’s Champ” or “Eight –division
Champion,” “Cong. Pacquiao,” “Pacman,”
or “he.”
Next, try to express what is being said
about this key word, preferably one
sentence per idea. Then group the
sentences whose ideas are closely related
and try to express each group’s ideas in
just one sentence. Finally, combine the
ideas and try to come up with one
sentence to summarize them all. This is
the text’s main idea/thesis. Another clue
may be the title.
Determining or inferring the main idea
or thesis does not only apply to
informational texts(although they
constitute the bulk of learning materials in
school) but also to audio-visual materials
such as color, shape, facial expression,
gesture and position and aural details such
as tone, pitch and volume.
LESSON 3
SUMMARIZING AND
PARAPHRASING
CONATION
At the end of this lesson, you should be able
to:
1. Explain the functions of paragraphs in a
longer text in order to write coherent
summaries;
2. Summarize and paraphrase paragraphs;
and
3. Appreciate the value of intellectual
honesty
WRITING A GOOD SUMMARY
• A summary is a short or abbreviated version of
a longer text. To be able to shorten something (to
about a quarter of its original length) and still be
faithful to its content, you should express only
the text’s essential points
• Equallity important, you should try your best to
express these ideas in your own words. Refrain
from copying unless the original wording is so
precise and beautiful that it will lose these
virtues if you used your own words.
• If you must copy a phrase, be sure to enclose
it in quotation marks because its not yours,
otherwise you commit plagiarism.
• Technical scientific terms, such as ecology,
genetics, and biodiversity, should not be
changed.
• Copying a unique phrase from the original
requires the use of quotation marks, after all
it’s the author’s phrasing, not yours. This is
intellectual honesty.
• Mention the source material (lest the
reader is misled into thinking that he or
she is reading your own work) and the
main idea of the text.
• Granting that you have done the two
requirements in the first sentence, then
your succeeding sentences should mention
the major supporting details that the text
uses to develop the thesis.
SUMMARIZING A LONGER
TEXT
To help you summarize a longer material, its
important to know the function of each paragraph in it.
This will help you see the flow and interrelationship of
ideas in the text. For example, the material begins with
a definition and the next paragraph present examples.
So ask yourself how the second paragraph is related to
the first, what its purpose is. Logic should tell you that
the example probably illustrates the definition. If the
third paragraph still presents examples, the consider
paragraphs 2 and 3 to serve the same function: to
illustrate the definition.
The other possible purposes or functions of
paragraphs are to explain, to compare and
contrast, to concede a point, to debate or question
a point, to restate, or to provide proof or evidence,
to transition to another point, to assert a position
to introduce and idea, and to conclude. The
numbers of paragraphs that the writer devotes to a
certain function indicates the importance of the
idea in the material. This should suggest probable
inclusions of the idea in your summary. If several
paragraphs serve the same function, one sentence
can summarize this part of article.
WRITING AN EFFECTIVE
PARAPHRASE
- if a summary is written to presents the
essential ideas of an article, a paraphrase is a
restatement and a restructuring of ideas for
the purpose of clarifying the meaning of the
text. Restatement means that should rephrase
the original using your own words. However,
you don’t just change some words in the
material; you also change the flow of ideas in
the effort to make the original meaning
clearer.
As in writing a summary, as you need to
identify the source material that you’re
paraphrasing and you have to use
quotation marks when you copy from the
original. That way you cant be accused of
plagiarism.
GROUP 6
NOAH CHRISTIAN M. ALIDIO
CHARLES JAVIER DIVINA
JOSEPH B. GANGOSO
CHASTINE KAYE CONTRERAS
PAMELA SUMAYLO
KAREN JOYCE ZOLETA