ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

I. UNIT NO. & TITLE: Unit 1: Reading Academic Texts

II. LESSON NO. & TITLE: Lesson 2: Various Techniques in Summarizing a Variety of Academic texts
III. WEEK NUMBER: Week 2 (September 7-11, 2020)
IV. MODULE NUMBER: Module 2
V. OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, students must be able to:

 Use various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts

VI. ACTIVITY:
Directions: Identify which of the following supports the principle of summarizing. In your notebook, write the letter of your
choice.
1. We use summarizing to:
A. Retell a story
B. Reduce information to essential ideas
C. Get through an article more quickly
D. Understand easily

2. When summarizing, we want to unimportant information.

A. Summarize
B. Highlight
C. Disregard
D. Include

3. The main idea is

A. All the information provided
B. The most important information
C. Nothing to worry about
D. Unimportant information

4. Basic Signal words are Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
A. True
B. False

5. The gives the reader an idea about what the paragraph is going to be about.
A. Concluding sentence
B. Summary
C. Topic sentence
D. Body

VII. DISCUSSION:

What is Summarizing?

According to Buckley (2004), in her popular writing text Fit to Print, summarizing is reducing text to one-third or one-
quarter its original size, clearly articulating the author’s meaning, and retaining main ideas.
According to Diane Hacker (2008), in A Canadian Writer’s Reference, explains that summarizing involves stating a
work’s thesis and main ideas “simply, briefly, and accurately”.
From dictionaries, it is defined as taking a lot of information and creating a condensed version that covers the main
points; and to express the most important facts or ideas about something or someone in a short and clear form.
 From the definitions, take a look on the pool of words and phrases

Various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts

1. Read the work first to understand the author’s intent. This is a crucial step because an incomplete reading could
lead to an inaccurate summary. Note: an inaccurate summary is plagiarism!

2. One of the summarization techniques you can do is to present information through facts, skills and concept in
visual formats. You can provide the cause and effects charts, time lines, and Venn diagrams, templates for outlines,
use flow charts or info graphics.

3. To avoid difficulty, you need first to know the main points and the supporting details. You can exclude any
illustrations, examples or explanations.

4. You need to analyze the text to save time in thinking what you will do.

5. Think what information you will put in your summary. Be sure to cover the main points and arguments of the
document.

6. One of the best things to do in auto summarizing is restating the words into different one. You should avoid using
the original words of the author instead; use your own vocabulary but be sure to retain the information.

7. You will fully understand what the document is when you organize all ideas.

8. One of the things you can do is to write down all information in a coherent and precise form. Keep in mind that a
summary is a condensed version of the original paper, so avoid making it long.

9. You can also decide to represent information through using dimensional constructions in representing concepts,
skills or facts.

10. Paraphrasing is one of the skills you can do in writing a summary. With it, do not use the same words with the
author.

With the tips above, you will no longer worry whenever you need to summarize because it is your one stop solution to
having a fantastic summary that offer nice details to readers. Follow the tips and you will not make mistakes.

Here’s how you start writing your summary.

Example 1:
Japanese Rail Tunnel
Due to an increase in traffic between the various island which make up Japan, and predictions of a continuing growth in
train travel, a rail tunnel was built to connect the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is today
the longest tunnel in the world, with a length of almost 54km. When the tunnel was opened in 1988, all existing trains
went through it. However, newer Japanese bullet trains have never used the tunnel because of the cost of extending the
high speed line through it. Consequently, the train journey from Tokyo to Sapporo still takes about ten hours. In contrast,
the journey by air takes only three and a half hours. This has combined with the fall in the cost of flying, has meant that
more people travel by plane than train and the tunnel is not used as much as forecasters had predicted.

 Increase in traffic
 connect Islands (Honshu & Hokkaido )
 Predictions and continuing growth
 The longest rail tunnel
 opened 1988
 54km
 Opened in 1988
 Bullet trains
 Never used tunnel
 Fall in the cost of flying
 Not used as much as forecasters predicted

Summary
The longest railway tunnel in the world links the islands of Honshu & Hokkaido. This 54km tunnel was inaugurated in
1988 to deal with the predicted increase in rail traffic. However, the fall in the cost of flying and the fact that high
speed trains cannot use the tunnel have resulted in the tunnel being less widely used than expected.

Another 5 Easy Techniques in Summarizing Various Academic Texts

Technique 1: Somebody Wanted But So Then

“Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then” is an excellent summarizing strategy for stories. Each word represents a
key question related to the story's essential elements:

 Somebody: Who is the story about?

 Wanted: What does the main charter want?
 But: Identify a problem that the main character encountered.
 So: How does the main character solve the problem?
 Then: Tell how the story ends.

Here is an example of this strategy in action:

 Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood

 Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother.
 But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her grandmother.
 So: She ran away, crying for help.
 Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from the wolf.

After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary:

Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she encountered a wolf. He got to her
grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old woman. He was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but she
realized what he was doing and ran away, crying for help. A woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the
wolf.

Technique 2: SAAC Method

The SAAC method is another useful technique for summarizing any kind of text (story, article, speech, etc). SAAC is an
acronym for "State, Assign, Action, Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a specific element that should be
included in the summary.

 State: name of the article, book, or story

 Assign: the name of the author
 Action: what the author is doing (example: tells, explains)
 Complete: complete the sentence or summary with keywords and important details

This method is particularly helpful for students who are learning the format of a summary and need reminders to include
the title and author's name. However, SAAC does not include clear guidance about which details to include, which
some students might find tricky. If you use SAAC with your students, remind them of the types of details that belong in
a summary before instructing them to work independently.

Here is an example of SAAC in action:

 State: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

 Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller)
 Action: tells
 Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf

Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete sentences:

The Boy Who Cried Wolf, by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to
the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore his false cries. Then, when a wolf really does attack, they
don’t come to help him.

Technique 3: 5 W's, 1 H

The 5 W's, 1 H strategy relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. These questions make
it easy to identify the main character, the important details, and the main idea.

 Who is the story about?

 What did they do?
 When did the action take place?
 Where did the story happen?
 Why did the main character do what he/she did?
 How did the main character do what he/she did?

Try this technique with a familiar fable such as "The Tortoise and the Hare."

 Who? The tortoise

 What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
 When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s not important in this case.
 Where? An old country road
 Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his speed.
 How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace.

Then, use the answers to the 5 W's and 1 H to write a summary of in complete sentences.

Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to a race. Even though he
was slower than Hare, Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace when Hare stopped to take a nap.

Technique 4: First, Then, Finally

The "First Then Finally" technique helps students summarize events in chronological order. The three words represent
the beginning, main action, and conclusion of a story, respectively:

 First. What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action.
 Then. What key details took place during the event/action?
 Finally. What were the results of the event/action?

Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in their chairs, and slept in
their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her, so she jumped up and ran away.

Technique 5: Give Me the Gist

 When someone asks for "the gist" of a story, they want to know what the story is about. In other words, they want a
summary—not a retelling of every detail. To introduce the gist method, explain that summarizing is just like giving a
friend the gist of a story, and have your students tell each other about their favorite books or movies in 15 seconds or
less. You can use the gist method as a fun, quick way to practice summarizing on a regular basis.

When summarizing is useful?

Summarizing is useful in many types of writing and at different points in the writing process. Summarizing is used to
support an argument, provide context for a paper’s thesis, write literature reviews, and annotate a bibliography. The
benefit of summarizing lies in showing the "big picture," which allows the reader to contextualize what you are saying.
In addition to the advantages of summarizing for the reader, as a writer you gain a better sense of where you are going
with your writing, which parts need elaboration, and whether you have comprehended the information you have
collected.

www.umanitoba.ca/student/academiclearning
References
Buckley, J. (2004). Fit to Print: The Canadian Student’s Guide to Essay Writing. (6th ed.) Toronto:
Nelson. Hacker, D. (2008). A Canadian Writer’s Reference. (4th ed.) Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

VIII. PRACTICE/APPLICATION/SYNTHESIS: See activity no. 1 and answer worksheet no. 2

IX. ASSESSMENT: See activity no. 2 and answer worksheet no. 2

X. REFLECTION: See activity no. 3 and answer worksheet no. 2

XI. FEEDBACK: Teacher’s comments or reactions after submission and checking.

 Worksheet No. 2
Name: Date:
Year & Section: Teacher:

Activity 1: Try to recall one of the novels or short stories you discussed in one of your previous classes in English; choose one
selection out of the several you tackled throughout your school life. Then try to rewrite the story using your own words.
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Activity 2: Following the techniques above, summarize the texts by completing the sample graphic organizer below. Write your
summary in your notebook.

Essay 1: Importance of Education

Education is a process that involves the transfer of knowledge, habits and skills from one generation to another through
teaching, research and training. It can be in a formal or informal setting. Formal education involves institutionalized learning
based on a curriculum. In today’s society, education and learning play an indispensable role in shaping the lives of individuals
and the society at large. The most effective way of boosting economic growth, reducing poverty and improving people’s health is
by investing in education.

Human labor is essential for economic growth. A highly educated labor force further stimulates economic growth.
Additionally, a highly educated labor force can easily adapt to new working environments and conditions. In view of that, it is
evident that education serves as the driving force for innovation of new products and services. Educated workers exchange
ideas in the work place and come up with new ideas that help in the growth of the economy.

Education reduces poverty in a number of ways. One way is by creating employment opportunities for educated people. Through
employment, one is able to afford a decent living. Education helps to increase economic security, create income opportunities
and improve livelihoods of the economically disadvantaged by providing sustainable environmental management mechanisms.
Education further alleviates poverty through skills acquired in the learning process. Skills such as carpentry, plumbing and
masonry are relevant in non-formal economies. One can acquire these skills through technical and vocational training.

Educated people are health conscious and live longer than their counterparts because they engage in healthy habits
such as eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and going for medical checkups. By investing in education, one will also be
investing in their health. Education serves to create room for technological advancements in the field of medicine and agriculture.
Advanced technology used for conducting surgery has replaced traditional methods. This has seen an improvement in people’s
general health and an increased life expectancy. Most developing countries have a low life expectancy compared to developed
countries. This can be attributed to high illiteracy levels present in developing countries. This translates to poor health and poor
eating habits.
 In conclusion, education is the only means of alleviating poverty, improving people’s health and increasing economic

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growth. Improving literacy levels in marginalized societies will go a long way in improving human living standards.
Activity 3: Complete the paragraph with the necessary words or sentences that best describe what you have learned from the
discussion. Follow the format below.

I have learned that summarizing…..

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