English for Academic and

Professional Purposes Quarter 1 –

Module 2:
Reading Academic Text: Summary, Thesis
Statement, & Paraphrase
ii
 What I Need to Know

This learning package is designed for learners to gain decent academic

English. It offers reading strategies for better understanding of academic texts in
diverse fields in summary, thesis statements, and paraphrase. To ease the learning
development, discussion of topic in every lesson is presented from simple to complex.
Vocabulary words and practice exercises are written within the context of learner’s
understanding. Towards the end, learners are hoped to collect information gathered
from various academic texts.

The module is divided into nine (9) lessons, namely:

 Lesson 1 – Techniques in Summarizing
 Lesson 2 – Thesis Statement on Academic Texts
 Lesson 3 – Paraphrase: Why and How

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Use various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts.
2. State the thesis statement of an academic text.
3. Paraphrase/Explain a text using one’s own words.

Lesson
Techniques in Summarizing

When you are working with academic text, most likely you are going to deal
with variety of texts to find facts or evidences that would support or justify your
argument or ideas. This is a common struggle for most students and writers because
it is not merely collecting and copying the works of others, instead, it is a matter of
borrowing the idea of the author and expressing it through your own words. Ideally,
lengthy and complex texts are being compressed to be shorter than the original text
which includes only the most important ideas. This strategy is known as
summarizing. And in this lesson, you will be able to know what is a summary, learn
the ways and techniques to summarize text, recognize a good summary, and gain
insight on the importance of summarizing skills in writing academic text.
What is a Summary?

Summary is a brief statement covering the main points 1 (David D. Guralnik, et

al. 1967). It is the condensation of the most important points of reading or lecture
2 (Forlini, et al. 2010). It is shorter than the original text and contains only the

most essentials which are worth remembering.

Why Summarize?
 It helps to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them.

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 It enables to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and
remembering.
 It teaches how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for more concise
understanding3.
 It helps to avoid committing plagiarism.
Plagiarismis an act of copying and owning a piece of work without the approval or concern of the
real owner or creator. It is the practice of directly copying and then presenting an existing
production without accurate citing or referencing, and/or passing off the product as one’s own,
without permission from the original producer4.

How to Summarize?
Summarizing is identifying the main idea and the important details upon
reading the text and transforming them into your own words. It is like getting the
juices from fresh fruits. Summarizing is done after reading the text and could be
an individual or group activity. In order to form a good summary, the following
techniques and tips could help.

Techniques and Tips in Summarizing

A. Read and analyze the text you are about to summarize and repeat over and over again until
you comprehend it wholly and correctly.

B. Identify the main idea of the text.

C. Grasp the words, phrases, and sentences that are essentials and condense the text.

Ways of Condensation

 Use the synonym or synonymous phrases

e.g. He had a good command of English.

(He knew English well.)

 Change the structure of simple sentences
e.g. My brother has an appreciation for modern art.

(My brother appreciates modern art)

 Turn complex sentences into simple sentences
e.g. Hurry up, if you don’t you will miss the train.

(Hurry up or you will miss the train.)

D. Ensure smooth flow of ideas. Use transition words and connectors.

Transitional Devices

 To add: and, again, and then, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, too,
next, lastly, moreover, in addition
 To compare: whereas, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary,
although, conversely, meanwhile, in contrast

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  To prove: because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously, furthermore, moreover,
besides, indeed, in fact, in addition, in any case, that is

E. Avoid personal ideas and inferences.

F. Make sure not to go far from the idea of the author or the original text when summarizing.
Always retain the original idea of the text.
G. Document the text’s author, title, date of publication, and any important citation information
to avoid plagiarism.
H. Proofread your work. Check the grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization5

Example:

Original Source:

In the mean time, the family of the queen were very much separated from each
other, the children having been left in various places, exposed each to different
privations and dangers. Two or three of them were in London in the hands of their
father's enemies. Mary, the young bride of the Prince of Orange, was in Holland.
Prince Charles, the oldest son, who was now about fourteen years of age, was at
the head of one of his father's armies in the west of England. Of course, such a
boy could not be expected to accomplish any thing as a general, or even to exercise
any real military command. He, however, had his place at the head of a
considerable force, and though there were generals with him to conduct all the
operations, and to direct the soldiery, they were nominally the lieutenants of the
prince, and acted, in all cases, in their young commander's name. Their great
duty was, however, after all, to take care of their charge; and the army which
accompanied Charles was thus rather an escort and a guard, to secure his safety,
than a force from which any aid was to be expected in the recovery of the kingdom.

Reference:

Abbott, Jacob. History of King Charles the Second of England. Project

Gutenberg, 2004. Web. 28 March 2010.

Summary:

The queen’s children were scattered around Europe, with the young Prince
Charles serving as the nominal head of the army in England. The chief role of
the army at this was, in fact, to protect the prince (Abbott, 2004). (Avoiding
Plagiarism and Citing Sources n.d.)
6

11
 Lesson
Thesis Statement on
2 Academic Text

Every text or writing has main idea, main point, or central message. It is a
vital feature especially for writing academic argument or persuasive text in order to
effectively convince the reader. Writings in schools often take the form of persuasion
such as writing an essay, report, or research. In this lesson, you will learn to
familiarize yourself with the description and structure of a thesis statement; know
the difference of explicit thesis statement, implicit thesis statement, and topic
sentence; determine the main idea of the text to produce own thesis statement;
identify a strong thesis statement and locate it in a given paragraph.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

 It is the roadmap for the paper, in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the
rest of the paper
 It is usually a single sentence near the beginning of an academic paper (most often, at the
end of the first paragraph) that presents the argument of the writer12. (The Writing Center n.d.)
 It is a tentative answer to a research question.

A thesis statement is comprised of two parts:

1. The topic/ subject

2. The writer’s opinion on the topic

Examples:

Thesis Statement Topic Writer’s opinion

Libraries are essential resources for Libraries are essential resources for
communities and should be funded communities and should be
more heavily by local municipalities. funded more heavily by local
municipalities

Corporations should provide more Corporations should provide more work from
work from home opportunities and home opportunities and six-
six-hour workdays so that office hour workdays so that office
workers have a better work-life workers have a better work-life
balance and are more likely to be balance and are more likely to
productive when they are in the be productive when they are in
office. the office.13

Locating Explicit and Implicit Thesis Statements

A. Explicit thesis statement

 It is included as a sentence as part of the text. It might be near the beginning of the work,
but not always-some types of academic writing leave the thesis until conclusion.
 Most academic texts have explicit thesis statements.
 This includes who, what, where, when, why, and how

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  Journalism and reporting also rely on explicit thesis statements that appear very early in
the piece- the first paragraph or even the first sentence

B. Implicit thesis statement

 The primary point of the reading is conveyed indirectly, in multiple locations
throughout the work.
 In literature, this is also referred as the theme of the work. Work of literature usually do
not contain a specific sentence that sums up the core concept of the writing. However,
readers should finish the piece with a good understanding of what the work is trying to
convey.
 Academic writing sometimes relies on implicit statements, as well.

Example:

Explicit: Nuclear energy is too dangerous to be used as a source of electrical energy because of its
detrimental effect on the environment.

Implicit: Nuclear energy is too dangerous to be used as a source of electrical energy.

HOW TO MAKE SUCCESSFUL THESIS STATEMENT

 Provide readers with the main claim of your paper. It tells readers what your paper will be
about
 Makes a claim that others may either agree or disagree with
 Create a statement, rather than a question.
 It must be written in your own words. It is not a quote from a source.
 A strong thesis statement must be arguable, focused, and important.
o Arguable- a thesis statement specifies a point of view and could be supported
with evidences.
o Focused- a thesis statement must concentrate to a specific topic from a general or
broader subject.
o Important- a thesis statement must make a relevant and argumentative claim
which could be supported with evidences.14
o
Example:
The sport of baseball.
This is not a complete sentence

The sport of baseball helps young

people to gain valuable social

13
 Lesson

3 Paraphrase: Why & How

You may have already done paraphrasing many times in your daily activity
without realizing it. Your teacher may have asked you to recite or explain a lesson in
your own words or probably, you have experienced to relay a message or story based
on your understanding. Those are essentially, paraphrases. In this lesson you will
be able to understand the goal of paraphrasing academic text, discuss the ways to
paraphrase a work or text, recognize the difference between a summary and a
paraphrase, and demonstrate knowledge and skill in paraphrasing.

There’s nothing more fulfilling than knowing that other writers use and cite
your work as source of information or reference for their material. It gives the idea
that your name and your work will be reprinted and can be exposed to more types of
information sources. However, it is also very disappointing to see your work in other
text material without citing you or your name as the original author. This happens
when a writer plagiarizes a work because he or she has limited knowledge and skill
in summarizing and paraphrasing.
Paraphrase came from the Greek work phrazein which means “tell”16 (Lexico,
US Dictionary n.d.) Paraphrasing involves putting information from a source into
your own words, without changing the meaning of the source you used. You must
acknowledge the source in your essay or report17 (University of New Castle Library
Guide 2020).

Paraphrasing is a fundamental skill in writing academic paper. A person who

knows how to paraphrase correctly, knows how to take the text from other writer
without violating any copyright or entitlement and at the same time, owning the text
to rewrite it into his/her own words. In paraphrasing, you must have full
understanding on the text so that when you restructure the words and phrases, you
could preserve the original message or idea and match it to the context.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

 It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.

 It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
 The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning
of the original18 (Purdue Online Writing Lab 2015)

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Why Paraphrase?
 Use more of another author’s ideas without too many direct quotes
 See that you understand what the original author was saying
 Make sure your reader, truly understands what the original author was saying
 Processing = Understanding
 Paraphrase helps add depth to your paper19

Paraphrase versus Summary

Summary Paraphrase
Repeat the information of the
The summary must be shorter text in the same number of
than the original text words or even longer than the
original text.
Replace the wordings based on
Includes the main points or key understanding about the text.
words only One may cite example relative
to the idea of the text.
Includes text citation Includes text citation

Example:
Original statement:

"Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels (coal, natural
gas and oil), solid waste, trees and wood products, and also as a result of certain
chemical reactions (e.g., manufacture of cement). Carbon dioxide is removed from
the atmosphere (or 'sequestered') when it is absorbed by plants as part of the
biological carbon cycle."
Summarized Statement

Carbon dioxide is produced through burning fossil fuels, solid waste, trees and wood
products, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions which could be absorbed
by the plants as it enters the atmosphere (US Environmental Protection Agency).
Successful Paraphrase:

Remember when you were sitting around the camp fire with your buddies out at
Golden Gardens roasting marshmallows on the shoreline of the Puget Sound? Well,
you may not have been aware, but you were producing carbon dioxide; this is one of
the four main greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels. So when you are
stoking your camp fire next time think about how you are producing carbon dioxide

15
 that enters the atmosphere, but don't worry because later it gets absorbed
by plants (US Environmental Protection Agency)20.

How to Paraphrase

 Read the text carefully. In order to successfully paraphrase a certain text, you have
to fully and completely understand the idea/s that the author wants to convey so you
can think of your own version in delivering the exact message.

 Put the original text aside and write your paraphrase in your own words. You
have to create your own rendition of the text and do not just copy or replace the
words of the original passage. You may cite other concepts, experiences, or
observations which you think are related or similar to the text’s idea or information.
Unlike summarizing, you can elaborate the topic but make sure not to depart from
the original idea of the author.

 Review your paraphrase.

Of course, you should check and evaluate whether your paraphrase
reflects the original work but is in your own words or style. It should be
conceptualized based from the context where the paraphrase will be
used, meaning, it should conforms to other text in the passage. Also,
it must be free from technical error such spelling, capitalization,
punctuations, and grammar.

 Explain why the paraphrased information is important. To do so, ask yourself

the following questions:
o What am I trying to show or prove with this information?
o Why is it important to what I am saying? What is its significance?
o How does this information add to what I am trying to prove in this
paragraph?

 Include an in-text citation in the expected formatting style (APA, MLA, etc.)
Documentation of the source material will serve as future reference for other writer
and more importantly, it protects you from involving to violations such as
plagiarism21.

APA Citation Style Guide (6th Ed.): In-text Citation

This guide contains examples of common citation formats in APA (American
Psychological Association) Style

Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase,
or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper,
there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.
APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of
publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include
the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).
 For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page
numbers, use a paragraph number. More information on citing sources
without pagination is given on the APA Style web page.

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed
to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing, Rossiter, &
Munro, 2002; Krech Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research
described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native
speech. Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social
workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit
from a similar program.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the
author and date if known.
If the author is not known, use the title and the date as the in-
text citation (for long titles just use the first few words).
Your in-text citation should lead your reader to the corresponding
entry in the reference list.
For sources with no date use n.d. (for no date) in place of the year:
(Smith, n.d.).
Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Web page with

author:
In-text
citation:
Role-play can help children learn techniques for coping with bullying
(Kraiser, 2011).
Reference entry:
Kraizer, S. (2011). Preventing bullying. Retrieved
from
http://safechild.org/categoryparents/preventing-
bullying/

General Guidelines
 In-text references should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase
to which they are directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of long
clauses or sentences. In-text references should always precede punctuation
marks. Below are examples of using in-text citation.

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in
comprehending non- native speech is familiarity with the topic
(Gass & Varonis, 1984).
Author's name part of narrative:
Gass and Varonis (1984) found that the most important
element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity
with the topic.
Group as author:
First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015)

Subsequent citation: (APA, 2015)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves

comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984;
Krech Thomas, 2004).
Direct quote: (include page number)

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of
discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire
message” (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 85).
Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the
topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire
message” (p. 85).
Note: For direct quotations of more than 40 words, display the quote as an
indented block of text without quotation marks and include the authors’
names, year, and page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For
example:

Works by Multiple Authors

APA style has specific rules for citing works by multiple authors. Use
the following guidelines to determine how to correctly cite works by multiple
authors in text. See pages 174-176 of the manual.
Note: When using multiple authors' names as part of your narrative,
rather than in parentheses, always spell out the word and. For multiple
authors' names within a parenthetic citation, use &.
 One author: (Field, 2005)

Two authors: (Gass & Varonis, 1984)

Three to five authors:

First citation: (Tremblay, Richer, Lachance, & Cote, 2010)

Subsequent citations: (Tremblay et al., 2010)

Six or more authors: (Norris-Shortle et al., 2006)22.

Source: (University of South Carolina School of Medicine Library

2020)

English for Academic and

Professional Purposes
Quarter 1 – Module 3:
Outlining, Summarizing, and
Writing
English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 3: Reading Academic Text: Outlining, Summarizing, and Writing
First Edition, 2020

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work of
the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or office
wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit. Such
agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
trademarks, etc.) included in this book are owned by their respective copyright holders. Every
effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials from their
respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not represent nor claim ownership
over them.

Published by the Department of Education

Secretary: Leonor Magtolis Briones
Undersecretary: Diosdado M. San Antonio

Development Team of the Module

Writers: Raymund C. Francia, Adelaido P. Pinawin, Ferica C. Aloner, Ma. Christina
R. Beli, Shahani S. Flores, Marilou D. Maas, Guadalupe C. De Jesus
Radgel L. Morales, Winalyn L. Macalinao, Madel D. Malaluan, and
Mikael Sandino T. Andrey
Content Editors: Rejulius M. Villenes & Cheene M. Dino-Aparicio, Phd
Reviewers: Bernardo P. Altamira & Eric A. Molines
Illustrator: Raymund C. Francia
Layout Artist: Raymund C. Francia
Management Team: Name of Regional Director
Name of CLMD Chief
Name of Regional EPS In Charge of LRMS
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Printed in the Philippines by ________________________

Department of Education – Region IV-A, CALABARZON

Office Address: ____________________________________________

____________________________________________
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E-mail Address: ____________________________________________
 Lesson
Outlining Academic Text
1
Writing is one of the most difficult skills to master because it requires you to
learn the other macro skills –reading and listening. Writing an academic paper is not
similar in writing literary texts. Academic writing is technical writing that follows
certain procedures and skills requirements. Some skills are annotating and
paraphrasing a text. Writing an academic paper is similar to reporting what we read
because we only consider the most essential details in telling the story. We do not
tell the story as a whole but only the most essential events. In writing we do the
same. When we read, for example, a newspaper or captivating articles in social media
we do not report the whole article. We write it on our own either through
paraphrasing, outlining, and summarizing using our own words without any value
judgement. The first step in writing a good essay is to write a skeletal overview of
what you are going to write. One of the keys for effective writing is through outlining.

What is an Outline?

Before you begin to write the first draft of your essay, it is best to write an
outline. The plan of writing an outline is your key to produce a good academic paper.
An outline is a general plan of what you are going to write. You can compare making
an outline to those architects who draws plan to build a house. It is best to draw up
plans to ensure that a house is built in a way you want. The same is true in writing
an essay and making an outline (Study Tips for Better Grades, 2020).

An outline makes your essay more organized. Writing an outline makes your
body paragraph stay focused on the ideas in your thesis statement. An outline saves
time for writers. Preparing an outline aids the process of writing. An outline helps
present your ideas in a logical form and shows the relationships among ideas in your
writing.

An outline is a plan for a writing project or speech. Outlines are usually in

the form of a list divided into heading and subheadings that distinguish main points
from supporting details. An outline may be either formal or informal.

In writing your outline, you can begin with a scratch outline –it is a working
outline that usually begins with few phrases and some descriptive details. Doing a
scratch outline keeps the writers add, subtract, and shift key points until it makes
sense to him (Cardenas, 2018).

Terms to Ponder: Thesis Statement, Topic Sentence, and Supporting

Details
A thesis statement is a claim or stand that will be developed in a paper or
text. It is the controlling idea of an essay. It gives the readers an idea of what the
paper is all about. It usually found at the introduction part of an essay.

A strong thesis statement contains an element of uncertainty, risk or

challenge (Ramage, Bean & Johnson, 2006, p. 34). This means that a thesis

1
statement should offer a debatable claim that can be proved or disproved in an
essay/text/paper. The claim should be debatable enough to let the readers agree or
disagree with the writer.

Thesis statement should not merely announce something or state a fact.

For example:

“Women and men are born to perform specific roles.”

(not a good thesis statement)

Why? Because there is nothing to contest in that statement; it is merely stating a

fact: men and women have specific roles to perform.

Thesis statement should have tension that may challenge the readers’ views.

For example:

“Although there seem to be specific roles assigned to women and men, those
roles should never dictate nor limit women and men to do other things that are
beyond their assigned roles.”

(strong thesis statement)

Why? This thesis statement challenges the stereotypical roles assigned to men and
women, and not everyone may agree to it, so this is something that can be explored
in a paper/text/essay.

(Lecture in Academic Writing MSEUF, 2016)

On the other hand, a topic sentence essentially tells the readers what the
rest of the paragraph is about. It is the most important sentence in a paragraph. The
topic sentence helps organize the paragraph by summarizing the information in the
entire paragraph. All sentences after the topic sentence should provide enough
information to prove it by offering facts and by describing it in details –they are called
supporting details. Supporting details contain facts, statements, examples, and
ideas that guide in understanding the topic sentence. Supporting details clarify and
explain topic sentence (Cardenas, 2020).
One of the most important things you can do to bring your writing to life for
your readers is to make sure that you provide numerous examples or supporting
details to explain the big ideas contain in your topic sentence.
For example:

Thesis Statement: Everyone should own a dog because dogs provide

companionship, protection, and great entertainment.

Topic Sentence: Dogs make wonderful pets because they help you to live longer.

In this example, you can relate that the topic sentence is aligned to the thesis
statement. The topic is dogs make wonderful pets and the controlling idea is because
they help you live longer.

Topic Sentence: Teen pregnancy may be prevented by improved education.

2
Topic Sentence: Dogs make wonderful pets because they help you to live longer.

(Your Dictionary.com, 2020)

Every topic sentence will have a topic and a controlling idea. The
controlling idea shows the direction the paragraph will take –called the supporting
details. In the example, the topic is teen pregnancy and the controlling idea is
improved education.

Basic Structure of an Outline

I. Introduction – must contain the thesis statement
II. Body Paragraph no. 1 – must contain topic sentence no. 1 related
to the thesis statement
A. Supporting details –must contain examples and ideas
that support the topic sentence no.1
III. Body Paragraph no. 2 –must contain topic sentence no. 2 related
to thesis statement
A. Supporting details – must contain examples and ideas
that support the topic sentence no.2
IV. Body Paragraph no. 3 – must contain topic sentence no. 3 related
to the thesis statement
i. Supporting details – must contain examples and ideas
that support the topic sentence no. 3
V. Conclusions
In order to achieve an effective outline, it should possess the following
components:
1. Parallelism –each heading and subheading should preserve parallel
structure. If the first heading is a verb, the second heading should be
a verb too.
2. Division –each heading should be divided into two or more parts.
3. Coordination –all the information contained in heading 1 should have
the same significance as the information contained in heading 2. The
same goes with subheading which should be less significant than the
headings.
4. Subordination –the information in the headings should be more
general, while the information in the subheadings should be more
specific.

The Process of Outlining

In a formal outline, Roman numerals can be used to represent
paragraphs. Capital letters can be used to represent the supporting details
for the paragraphs. The main idea or the topic sentence is presented using
the Roman numerals since it marks the beginning of a new paragraph. The
topic sentence for each body paragraph should support the thesis statement.
The topic sentence should agree with the thesis statement; otherwise the

3
essay could be confusing. Under the topic sentence list the supporting details
which include examples or ideas you want to include in each paragraph.
Example of an Outline
I. Introduction –Thesis Statement: A job A. Ask interviewers to repeat
interview can often make a break your questions you do not understand.
chances of getting your dream job. B. Take some time to think about the
There are several things to consider question before you answer.
increasing the possibility of your success C. A notebook to write down key
such as dressing properly, answering words in interview questions is
interview questions thoroughly, and sometimes helpful.
asking good questions at the end of the IV. Body Paragraph no. 3
interview. Topic Sentence: By preparing some
II. Body Paragraph no. 1 thoughtful questions for the end of the
Topic Sentence: The way you dress interview, you can show the panel that
can have a big impact to interview you have prepared the interview and
panel’s first impressions of you. want the job.
A. Men and women should consider A. Research the job and/or company
wearing dark suits. before you go to the interview.
B. Conservative dress will show the B. The interview is your opportunity
interview panel you are serious of to get to know your potential
what you do. employer. Ask question about the
C. Do not carry to many things in the company goals, mission,
interview. A notebook, pens, or expectations of employees, etc.
laptop should be carried in a C. Do not ask questions about
briefcase. benefits or salary during the
D. Hair and nails should be clean and interview. You should try to get
neat. this information before you apply
III. Body Paragraph no. 2 for the job.
Topic Sentence: An interview is an V. Conclusions: Do not underestimate
opportunity for potential employers to get the importance of good interview.
to know you better, so it is important that
you answer each question as completely (Cardenas, 2020)
as possible.

Lesson
Summarizing Academic Text
2
Your skills in writing an outline are a foundation in writing a good summary.
Outlining and summarizing are skills to become a critical writer in the future. You
learn that thesis statement is essential in crafting your whole essay. It is the
controlling idea that guides you in formulating topic sentences and supporting
details. From writing the draft of your paper through phrases and fragments let us
start putting them together into a meaningful paragraph through summarizing.

What is a summary?

Making summaries is common in our everyday life. For instance, if a

classmate asked about the book we have read, we do not tell the whole story instead
we make a summary of the most important event in the book. The same principle is
applied in summarizing academic text.

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 A summary is a condensed version of longer texts conveying the essential
points of the essay or argument. A summary contains not only part of the text but
rather the entire paragraphs, essays, or books (Greene & Lidinsky, 2012).

More so, a summary is different from quotations which involve using the
writer’s exact words. Unlike quotations, summaries and paraphrases are both
useful in restating the author’s ideas in your own words. However, paraphrasing and
summarizing differ in length. A paraphrase text is at the same length as the original
text while a summary can range from 1 -2% to more than 50% shorter than the
original text. In your writing, you might paraphrase some paragraphs but certainly
you would not paraphrase the whole essay (Bailey, 2003).

A summary is a way to present key ideas of a text either from book or essay
to advance your points or arguments while acknowledging the source. Although
summarizing is not an active way to state an argument yet, it provides a common
ground of information for readers. Doing a summary leads you to present your
arguments constructively and effectively (Greene & Lidinsky, 2012).

Generally, a summary is a shortened passage which retains the essential

information of the original. It is a brief restatement of the contents of the passage
using your own words. A summary simply reports back the author’s ideas without
making value judgments.

A good summary can be understood without reference to the original. It is a

faithful reproduction of the original passage without any unnecessary details. It must
be readable and unified as a whole.

In order to make a good summary, you can use synonyms or synonymous

phrases and change the structure of simple sentences. It is necessary to do proper
citation of title, author, source, and date of publication of the materials you would
like to summarize.

How to summarize?

1. Identify the main idea or topic of the essay.

2. Identify essential arguments or points in the essay.
3. Write your summary.
How to find the main idea?

1. Look at the title and gather information from it like the date and place of
publication to help you identify the intended audience of the essay.
2. Determine the type of essay –is it exploratory, argumentative, literary, or
scholarly.
3. Take note of the tone or the attitude expressed in the essay.
4. Identify repeated notions or arguments throughout the essay.
How to identify essential arguments?

1. Read the essay and annotate important details.

2. Underline the topic sentence of each paragraph.
3. Write the sentence in your own words on the side page or another paper.

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 4. Read all the topic sentences you marked or wrote down.
5. Rewrite main ideas or main topic in your own words using complete sentence
and appropriate transition words
6. Do not use the same words, phrases, or sentences of the original essay to
avoid plagiarism.
7. Do not include unimportant details in your summary
8. Make your summary short and concise.

Tips in Summarizing
Your summary should start with the author’s name or title of the
work. Here are the suggested ways to start a summary.

For example the article is “Cats Don’t Dance”

You can say…

In “Cats Don’t Dance,” John Wood explains…..
John Wood, In “In Cats Don’t Dance,” explains…

According to John Wood in “Cats Don’t Dance” …..

As John Wood claims in his ironic story “Cats Don’t Dance” that…

(Kearny, 2020)

Integrate the thesis statement of the essay with the title and author in your
first sentence in the first paragraph of your summary. State it this way:

In “Cats Don’t Dance”, John Wood explains that in spite of the fact that cats are
popular pets that seem to like us; felines are not really good at any activities that
require cooperation with someone else, whether that is dancing or sharing.

(Kearny, 2020)

Remember that your first sentence should summarize the article. The rest of
your summary should cover only the important concepts used to support the thesis
statement. Always restate the ideas using your own words. Do not include
unimportant details in your summary
How to quote the author?

Use the author’s full name, when you mentioned him for the first time. In the
coming paragraphs, use only his surname when needed.
For example:

Francis Gibson claims that….. (Mentioned for the first time)

Gibson compares….. (in the next paragraphs)

As Gibson elaborates ……
Gibson criticizes ….

In conclusion, Gibson clarifies about ……

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________________________________________________________
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Virginia Kearny. How to write a summary of an article. Published April 13, 2020
https://owlcation.com/academia/How-to-Write-a-Summary
8 Stephen Bailey. Academic writing. A practical guide for students. Published in 2003 simultaneously published in the USA and

Canada by Routledge Falmer 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Do not use the author’s title like Dr., professor, Mr. and Mrs. –instead you can
use them to show that your source is credible and reliable. Remember that you are
just reciting the idea of the author and not your own. You can state their status in
this manner.

For example:
In “Global Warming Isn’t Real,” Steven Collins, a professor at the University of
Michigan claims that…

New York Times critic Johan Bachman argues in “Global Warming is the Next
Best Thing for the Earth that …….
How long is a summary?

The length of the summary depends on the length of the essay you are
summarizing. If the essay is 10 -15 pages long then, the summary should be about
5 -7 pages. If the article is shorter, your summary can be 1-2 pages long or it depends
on the instructions of your teacher. Sometimes it can be less than one page.
Summary Template

Part of Summary Contents

Introduction Sentence Insert main idea

Supporting Arguments Insert author’s supporting arguments

Final Point Insert author’s overarching arguments

Lesson
Writing a Precis /Abstract
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Your skills in writing a good summary are a foundation of writing a precis/
abstract. Remember, that summarizing is different from paraphrasing. They both
written using your own words but they differ in length. A summarized text usually
contains 50% of the length of the original text. In writing summaries, it is important
that you know how to use transitional words and phrases to make your ideas
connected and coherent as well. Your skills in outlining, summarizing, and using
transitional words and phrases are needed to write a precis/ abstract. In writing your
abstract it is necessary to consider what disciplines you are writing about –research
paper, thesis, libraries and movies, and other disciplines you might come across. Do
not be afraid to write because nobody was born with that talent. Writing takes time

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to master. In this lesson you will learn how to organize your paper through writing a
precis/ abstract.

What is an abstract?
An abstract is a short summary of a longer work like thesis and research
paper. The abstract contains the aims and outcomes of your research so that your
readers know exactly what your paper is about. Abstract is usually written after you
have completed your research output. Abstract is like the summary of the research
project you have just completed.

An abstract is usually around 150 -250 words; however strict word limits
depends on the university or journal where you are in. There are four things you
need to include in writing your abstract:

1. Your research objectives;

2. Your methods;
3. Your key results;
4. Your conclusion
When to write an abstract?
The abstract, although written to head the article is constructed at the last
part together with the title. The purpose is to include what is all about in the paper
that the author has written about. It is easy to write an abstract if you remember its
basic structure.

Abstract is typically written using five sub –headings –background, aim,

method, results, and conclusions. Sometimes the word objective is replaced by aim
yet the meaning is much the same. Structured abstract contained more information,
easier to read, easier to search, and generally welcomed by readers and by authors.
Remember that abstract is useful to show the initial content of your paper.

The Typical Features of an Abstract

Background. In 1997 four journals published by the British Psychological Society began
publishing structured abstracts.

Aims. The aim of the studies reported here was to assess the effects of these structured
abstracts by comparing them with original versions written in a traditional, unstructured
format.

Method. The authors of the articles accepted for publication in the four journals were
asked to supply copies of their traditional abstracts (written when the paper was
submitted for publication) together with copies of their structured abstracts requested by
the editor when their paper was accepted.
Forty-eight such requests were made, and thirty pairs of abstracts were obtained. The
abstracts were then compared on a number of measures.

Results. Analysis showed that the structured abstracts were significantly more readable,
significantly longer and significantly more informative than the traditional ones. Judges
assessed the contents of the structured abstracts more quickly and with significantly less
difficulty than they did the traditional ones. Almost every respondent expressed positive
attitudes to structured abstracts.

Conclusions. The structured abstracts fared significantly better than the traditional ones
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on every measure used in this enquiry. We recommend, therefore, that editors of other
journals in the social sciences consider adopting structured abstracts.
 (adopted from Hartley, 2008 p. 32 Academic Writing and Publishing)
Background- states facts here on the reason or purpose of the research
Aims – start by clearly defining the purpose of your research. Restate the question
you aim to answer. Identify the problem, state the objective of your research. Use
verbs like investigate, test, analyze and etc. It can be written in the present or past
simple tense but should never refer to the future because the research has been
completed.

Method – indicate the method you used to answer the question. It should be
straightforward description of what you did in two sentences. It usually written in
simple past tense as it refers to completed actions. Do no state the strength and
weaknesses here just give the reader of the overall procedure you have applied.
Results – summarize the main research results. This part of the abstract can be in
the present or simple past tense. Try to highlight only the most important findings
that will allow the reader to understand your conclusions.
Conclusion –state the main conclusion. Provide answer to the problem or question.
The reader should finish with clear understanding of the central point that your
research has proved or argued. Conclusions are usually written in the simple present
tense.

Keywords – if your paper is going to be published, you need to add a list of keywords
at the end of the abstract. These keywords should reference the most important
elements of the research to help potential; readers find your paper.

References

Bailey S. (2003). Academic writing. A practical guide for students. Routledge

Falmer. Taylor & Franics Group.

Cardenas C. (2019). Making an Outline. A plan that builds an essay. Ruth Luman
References.
Greene S. & Lidinsky A. (2012). From inquiry to academic writing. Bedford/St.
Martin’s.

Hartley J. (2008). Academic writing and publishing. A practical handbook.

Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Kearny V. (2020). How to write a summary of an article. Owlcation Academia.

McCombes S. (2019). How to write an abstract?Scribbr.com

Murray R. & Moore S. (2006). The handbook of academic writing. A fresh approach.
Open University Press. McGraw –Hill House.

Swales J.M. & Feak C.B. (2000). Academic writing for graduate students. The
University of Michigan Press.

Your dictionary.com (2020). Identifying thesis statement, main idea, topic sentence,
and supporting details.