Task 2: Practice in paraphrasing

2.1 you are now going to practice paraphrasing single sentences. Choose one sentence from the text below on tourism in Goa and use the following steps to paraphrase:

· Ensure you understand the text

· Underline or highlight the key points

· Use synonyms (similar vocabulary) for the main content words

· Change the structure of the sentence i.e. grammar and word order (active-passive; adjectives to adverbs), rewriting in your own words

Variously known as “Pearl of the Orient” and a “Tourist Paradise”, the state of Goa is located on the western coast of India in the coastal belt known as Konkan. The magnificent scenic beauty and the architectural splendours of its temples, churches and old houses have made Goa a firm favourite with travellers around the world. But then, Goa is much more than just beaches and sea. It has soul which goes deep into a unique history, rich culture and some of the prettiest natural scenery that India has to offer.

 

From: Goa Department of Tourism (2005). Retrieved January 12, 2005, from http://www.gotourism.org/About_Goa/goa_intro.htm

Summary writing

Being able to summarize skillfully is a useful tool. It can help you to study and to compete many of your writing assignments. You are often required to do large amounts of reading for college courses. Finding main ideas in what you read and writing these ideas down clearly makes studying more efficient.

Also, you are asked to produce different kinds of writing in college classes. Sometimes teachers will ask you to make reports on outside readings or to include the ideas of other authors in your research papers. In each case, you must know how to summarize.

What is a summary?

It is a shorted version of another author s writing.

It includes only the most important information.

It can be any length depending on the amount of information from the original text.

It is written in your own words

It Includes only the ideas from the original text, not your response to those ideas.

How do I summarize?

Notice the title, if there is one. It will help you know the topic. It may even help you know the main idea.

Read the passage quickly.

Then read it carefully. You will need to read it several times.

Find the main ideas.

Find the most important supporting details.

Put the passage away. (Don t look at it.)

In your own words, give the author’s main idea and main supporting ideas in a few sentences per paragraph.

Summary Problems

A summary has a problem when:

It uses too many of the same words as the original.

It is too short and doesn’t contain main supporting details.

It is too long and contains too many details.

It does not contain all the main ideas.

Its sentences lack clarity.

It contains an opinion.

 

Task 3: What is summary?

Paraphrase

3.1 Complete the definition of a summary below with suitable words for the gaps 1-6.

A summary is a (1) __________ version of a text. It contains the (2) __________points in the text and is written in your(3)__________words. It is a mixture of reducing a (4)________text to a shorter text and selecting relevant information. A good summary shows that you have (5)______ the text. When you summarize someone’s work, you (6) ____ acknowledge it.     ____     (6)________acknowledge it.

You will often summarize ideas in academic writing, but summaries can also be useful when you are looking for information. It is an essential reading skill to preview certain parts of and article or book which provide summaries. These can help you decide how useful the material is for your purposes. The table below lists these parts

3.2 What is meant by the following terms?

(i) ‘table of contents’

(ii) ‘blurb’

(iii) ‘preface’

 

Academic article	Title	Abstract Introduction Conclusion	Headings Topic sentences Diagrams
Book	Title Table of Contents	Blurb Introduction Preface Conclusion	Headings Topic sentences Diagrams
Chapter	Title	Introduction (1st 2/3 parag’s) Conclusion (last 2/3 parag’s)	Headings Topic sentences Diagrams
Essay/report/dissertation	Title Table of Contents (if appropriate)	Abstract (if appropriate) Introduction Conclusion	Section headings Sub-headings Topic sentences Diagrams

Task 4: Practice in summarizing.

4.1 Look at the short sample summary below and discuss with a partner the changes and omissions which have been made in order to produce the summary.

Source: The amphibia, which is the animal class to which our frogs and toads belong, were the first animals to crawl from the sea and inhabit the earth.

Summary: The first animals to leave the sea and live on dry land were the amphibia. (Gillet, 2008)

Source: Gillet, A. (2008) Information on summarizing adapted from http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

Self work task:

Use paraphrasing and summarizing in your own research.

 

 

UNIT 9