Write down general techniques of writing a Summary of a text?

Ans: Summary Making:Summary making is considered an essential as well as an important skill in the academics. Summarizing a text or some study matter is on one hand, very difficult task to do, and a very creative activity on the other hand as well. Other terms related to summary are ‘precis’, ‘abstarct’ and ‘gist’. The summary making process makes the students capable of producing a gist out of a long matter they read or listened. The process leads towards the ability of concluding the actual text in a few passages or a few pages. All this comes with a thorough and consistent practising. The student is needed to begin with simple exercises and proceed then to more complex material for practice for summarizing larger texts.
Benefits of Summary Making Skill
The summary making process is simple and very effective because it helps the students to:
 Make sense of the text and think critically about the meaning
 Condense or reduce information so that the crux of the text is clear
 Focus as you pick out key facts, information and ideas that are relevant to the questions
 Get rid of any unnecessary information or irrelevant to the questions
 Link new information with what is already knows, and so helps to fit it into the existing “store” of knowledge
Principles for Writing Summary
✓ Select a good title; keep it short and simple
✓ The first sentence in summary making process is crucial
✓ Focus on the relevance, the application or the benefits
✓ Avoid technical and scientific terms
✓ Avoid acronyms and abbreviations. If you do use one, explain it.
✓ Be specific, brief and certain in summarizing
✓ Make it easy for the reader to understand
✓ Use short, simple words and sentences. Use plain language; avoid uncommon words. Sentences should be less than 25 words long
✓ Provide context. Give concrete words; paint a picture for the reader
✓ Write in the active voice.
✓ Get to the point and avoid ambiguity
✓ Keep the order and structure of the information
✓ Avoid nominalizations e.g. change instances of ‘utlisation’ to ‘using’.
✓ Avoid report writing phrases – they make no sense to the general public
✓ Make sure your abstract is grammatically correct with correct spelling and punctuation
✓ Don’t put secondary ideas
✓ If you are asked to meet certain requirements e.g. 250 words max and a title –then follow it
✓ Get feedback on your draft from colleagues, supervisors, experts or your professor
Techniques of Summary Writing
1. Develop a central message of the manuscript: Prepare a central message sentence (20-25 words).
2. Define the materials and methods: Briefly state the environment in which you worked, the sampling method you employed, the materials you used, and most importantly, the methods you used to carry out the study.
3. Summarize the question(s) and problem(s): summarize the questions used in the text. What was known before you started the study? What answers were needed to address the problem(s)? List the key points pertaining to the question(s) and problem(s). What did you do to answer the question(s)?
4. Define the principal findings: Your central message sentence probably encapsulates the most important findings.
5. Describe the conclusions: Make brief notes on each of the implications that arise from your study. For this analyze: What are the principal conclusions of your findings? What is new in your work and why does it matter? What are the limitations and the implications of your results? Are there any changes in practice, approaches or techniques that you would recommend?
6. Organize & Group related ideas together: List each key point separately. Key points can be arranged chronologically, by order of importance or by some other pattern. Identify the important details, describe the principal findings, and provide your analysis and conclusions that contribute to each key point.
7. Develop the introduction: Before beginning on the introduction, read through the notes you have made so far in your outline. Read them through and see whether there is a coherent and cohesive story and a unifying theme that runs through the outline.