How to make a summary (paragraph, whole passage, long passages, and textbook chapter)

By Beatrice S Mikulecky & Linda Jeffries

Another key strategy for learning and remembering the ideas in a text is to summarize what you have read. This means rewriting the important parts in a much shorter form, using some words from the text and some of your own words. Summarizing is especially useful for:

• Reviewing and memorizing information in textbooks for exams;

• Preparing information or ideas from different sources so you can include them in a report or paper.

Summarizing a Passage

When summarizing a passage, the first step is to write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph. Then you can combine the sentences to write a summary of the whole passage.

Step 1. Summarizing a paragraph

• Write a single, complete sentence that is much shorter than the paragraph.

• Include the main idea and supporting facts and ideas.

• In the summary sentence, follow the same pattern of organization as in the paragraph.

• Do not add any facts, ideas, or opinions that are not in the paragraph.

Step 2. Summarizing a whole passage

• Read the passage all the way to the end and mark the overall thesis and the supporting points.

• Determine the overall pattern of organization.

• Write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph.

• Write a short paragraph by combining the summary sentences of the paragraphs (with any necessary changes to connect them).

• The main idea of the summary paragraph should be similar to the thesis of the whole passage and the pattern of organization should be the same as the overall pattern of the passage.

Summarizing Long Passages

When you summarize a long passage (more than four or five paragraphs), you need to add an additional step:

• Read the passage all the way to the end and mark the main points (including the thesis and the supporting points).

• Determine the overall pattern of organization.

• Divide the passage into parts. Each part should match a supporting point and may include several paragraphs. (In textbooks, the chapters are usually already divided into subsections or parts.)

• Write a summary sentence for each part.

• Write a paragraph that combines the summary sentences (with any necessary changes to connect them).

• The main idea of the summary paragraph should be the same as the thesis of the original passage, and the pattern of organization should be the same.

Summarizing a Textbook Chapter

Summarizing a textbook section or chapter is easier in some ways than summarizing an article or essay because the passages are usually already divided up into sections and subsections.

In a textbook, the introduction to a chapter or chapter section usually contains a statement of purpose that functions like a thesis statement, and explains what the passage will be about and how it will be organized. The headings of the chapter or section usually correspond to the topics mentioned in the statement of purpose.

While textbook sections are often organized in a listing pattern, each subsection can have a different pattern of organization. It is easier to understand and summarize the subsections if you first identify their patterns.

Source:

Mikulecky, Beatrice S &Jeffries, Lind. 2007. Advanced reading power: extensive reading, vocabulary building, comprehension skills, reading faster. New York: Longman.

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How to Choose the Right Definition of a Word from Dictionary

By Beatrice S Mikulecky & Linda Jeffries
If you are able to infer the general meaning of a word from the context, you can make better use of the dictionary. In fact, many words have more than one definition and you need to choose the most appropriate one. For example, the word laugh (as a verb) has eleven different definitions in the Longman Advanced American Dictionary. Definitions for the word “get” cover three pages!

Below are guidelines for choosing a definition in the dictionary:
One, determine the part of speech of the unknown word. This is necessary because there may be several dictionary entries for one word as different parts of speech.

Two, look at the words that are used with it. If it is a part of a frequent combination of words, the definition may be listed separately. For example, you will find separately numbered definitions for “sign up” and “sign off”. The same is true of “on sight” and “sight unseen” (both listed in the dictionary under sight).

Three, analyze the context for clues to the general meaning of the word.

Four, think about the topic and the meaning of the sentence in which the word is found.

Five, look at the definitions listed in the dictionary and choose the most appropriate one – the one that best fits the way the word is used in the sentence.

Taken from:
Mickulecky, Beatrice S. & Jeffries, Linda. 2007. Advanced Reading Power. New York: Pearson Longman.

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Features of a Good Intensive Reading Exercise

By I.S.P. Nation
Let us look at what a good reading exercise should do.
1. A good reading exercise directs the learners’ attention to features of the text that can be found in almost any text, or to strategies for dealing with any text, with the aim “to develop in the language learner the ability to comprehend texts, not to guide him to comprehension of a text” (Davies and Widdowson, 1974: 172). To put it another way, when learners study a reading text, we want them to gain knowledge that will help them to understand tomorrow’s reading text. We want them to learn things that apply to all texts. We want them to gain knowledge of the language and ways of dealing with the language rather than an understanding of a particular message. If a reading exercise does not focus on generalisable features of a text, it does not provide much opportunity for any useful, cumulative learning to take place. This requirement is particularly important for teaching reading.

2. A good reading exercise directs the learners’ attention to the reading text. That is, the learners need to read the text or at least part of it in order to do the exercise. It is also important that some reading exercises require the learners to consider parts of the text in relation to their wider context, that is, other parts of the text, and information from outside the text.

3. A good reading exercise provides the teacher and the learners with useful information about the learners’ performance on the exercise. If the learners were not successful on some parts of the exercise, then they should be aware of what they have to learn in order to do the exercise successfully with another text. Also, the teacher can get guidance from the learners’ performance to improve teaching. Good exercises provide useful feedback for the teacher and the learners. Also, if the teacher understands what an exercise is trying to teach, they can judge the value of the exercise according to what they think is important for teaching reading.

4. A good reading exercise is easy to make. Teachers have to choose texts suited to the particular needs of their learners, and if these texts do not have satisfactory exercises, the teachers must make their own. Often teachers may want the learners to work with a textbook that is used in another discipline they are studying, and so they will have to make their own exercises. This should require a minimum of skill and time. If the preparation of language teaching materials becomes the job only of experts, then language teachers will have lost the flexibility needed for successful teaching.

So, a good reading exercise focuses on items or strategies that apply to any text, requires the learners to read the text, provides useful feedback for the learners and the teacher, and is easy to make.

Source: Nation, I.S.P. 2009. Teaching ES/EFL reading and writing. New York: Routledge.

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