Summary

ARTICULATE

To achieve such a focus, a wide word-bank will obviously

enable you to be more sophisticated in your general expression. Learn some key connectives to develop this
fluency and eloquence. The following are also intrinsic to your writing in other exam essays for English/ English
Literature, also for some of your other subjects.

Useful words and phrases:

To add information or build on ideas:

In addition, similarly, as well as, moreover, in the same way, furthermore, equally

To introduce a contrasting idea or point of view:

In contrast, nevertheless, nonetheless, however, rather than, on the other hand, despite, in spite of, whereas,
alternatively, conversely, although

To give order to your ideas:

Firstly, secondly, in summary, in conclusion, finally, overall, essentially

To express cause and effect:

As a result, consequently, therefore, in order to, inevitably, for example, clearly, naturally, in any case

To express passing time:

The following day/night/week/year etc, as soon as, meanwhile, during, subsequently, later, before this, previously,
immediately

NB: There is no need to write a conclusion in a summary, but you might wish to bring it to a close by using a phrase
such as:

The author concludes by; finally; the text ends with; the writer’s position is brought to a close by; in the closing lines,
the writer…
BRIEF/RELEVANT

In the exam you will be given a passage of about 500-600 words in length (roughly one side of A4). You
should aim to write a summary of less than quarter this length: about 100-120 words, but do not do a word
count! You are marked for individual points(10-12) you include that pick up on the question, so you need a
fair amount of these. However, these points must only be included if they are relevant. Do not be side-lined
into adding new details of your own or trying to summarise the whole text or you will end up with something
far too long and rambly!

WELL-STRUCTURED/OWN WORDS

You do not necessarily need to present relevant points in a chronological way, as these are suggested in
the text, but do think carefully about the order you wish to express these in your preparation. This will
avoid repetition and ensure that you include all the information you wish to relay. You might consider
numbering points in a plan and also grouping together the ones that seem to have a connection in some
way. If there are two or three parts to the question, make sure you deal with these in separate paragraphs!
Finally ensure that you use your own words as much as possible. You must not quote under any
circumstances!

How do I start?

It is important to find an approach that suits you for any exam task, but the suggested one below for the
summary has been tried and tested by many ex-students and seems to work well.

· Read the question a few times, highlighting any key words and identifying any distinct parts that
will help you structure your response.

· Read the text carefully, ideally twice: once to get the general gist and secondly to annotate
points asked for in the question.

· Make a quick list of important points and group these in the order you wish to present them;
especially those that are similar. Break down points into smaller ones if this is helpful. (This question
is marked out of 15, so you should be looking for at least 10-12 points to include, maybe more.
Other marks will be given for summary style and whether or not you adhere to this).

· Make another short list of possible connectives you could use to aid fluency- see ‘Useful words
and phrases.’

· Before you start, you might wish to write a memo re excellent summary style at the top- see
next page!
Important tips

In general you need to miss out: anecdotes, statistics, detailed facts, structured repetition for effect,
examples and case studies. For an A/A* you will need to be able to distinguish between a writer’s
ideas/attitudes and the basic facts he is using. Facts are obviously the most important aspect to pick up on
for a summary. However, for this question, you are sometimes asked to give an account of the writer’s
opinions in addition, so be alert to the wording of the task before you start.

Other tips:

· Avoid adding details of your own, expressing your viewpoint, making assumptions, using slang
or abbreviations and DO NOT QUOTE!

· Wherever possible, express ideas in your own way- remember the image of the translator at the
start of this leaflet.

· You are required to write formally for this question and also for the style analysis, writer’s
effects.

· Do not address your reader or use rhetorical devices-save these for essays and speeches!

· Use a variety of punctuation such as full-stop, comma, semi-colon, colon, dash and possibly
brackets, but avoid more ‘colourful’ ones such as question and exclamation marks, ellipsis,
apostrophes for omission (but use them for possession) and speech-marks. The latter punctuation
types are excellent in essays, articles, descriptions, speeches etc, but are too
creative/inappropriate in a summary.

Practice makes one perfect…

Over the next few pages, you will find examples of summary tasks you can try to perfect your approach.
You can also use past papers in and out of lessons and apply the suggestions in this leaflet to any
newspaper, magazine or internet article you find- (as included in the tasks).
In order to obtain a high grade, you must show that you are a discerning reader and can present the key
pieces of information in a well-structured, formal format using clear, sophisticated vocabulary. Make sure
that every sentence you write is relevant to the question, you are using an impersonal style and avoid any
comment of your own. You are summarising what the writer is saying and not analysing. All the best!

Writer’s Effect

This question asks you to analyze the writer’s language choices. You need to select words

which create images and write PEA paragraphs about them (Point, Evidence, Analyze).

1. Read the question.

2. Draw a box/circle around the relevant paragraph for question 2(a) and 2(b)

3. Underline words and phrases you will use – annotate each for any senses, emotions,
atmosphere and IMAGE they create. Make sure they are relevant to the question.

4. Write your response:

5. Introduce the overall impression and write a L-ICE paragraph

i. about one word/phrase.

ii. Write a second L-ICE about another effect choosing a different example to
comment on.
iii. Write a third L-ICE about another effect choosing a different example to comment
on.
iv. Leave a space and start on (b) – come back at the end if you have time to write
another L-ICE paragraph

6. Exactly the same as above BUT on the SECOND paragraph you have been given in the
question.

7. Remember it is ESSENTIAL that you answer both parts of the question Writer’s Effect
Writing Frame.

You may wish to use the following writing frame to structure each paragraph:

The writer creates the impression of… in paragraph…

The word ‘ …’ helps to create this effect. It literally means…

However, it also suggests…

The word has connotations of… The writer uses this word to create an image of

Journal

A Journal is a personal record of things that have happened to the writer.

Success Criteria

-Write in the first person 'I'. Begin only with the prompt given.

-Date at the top left- Wednesday,3Feb,2021.

-Clear paragraphs with topic sentences

-Give a clear sense of the writer's personality and explain their feelings and changing
emotions

-Focus on key moments or incidents in their world

-Provide a sense of time and sequence (use time connectives: finally, afterwards, earlier,
later that day...)

IMPORTANT : More focus on the external, objective and factual.

You capture the voice of the person and their world

-You provide a vivid portrait of what has happened/is happening to them

-You use tenses fluently between past, present and future.

Letter
● Salutation (Dear/Dearest..),
● Introduction+A1
● A2
● A3+ conclusion
● signature (With Love/Yours Truly..)

1. Introduction:
Start with a warm, friendly opening. Ditch the boring ‘How are you
doing?‘. Go for these:
It was good to hear from you.
Sorry for not replying sooner. I have been very busy.
I’m so sorry for taking so long to reply. I have been revising for my
exams.
Congratulations on your award! It’s been an hectic week over here.
So sorry I couldn’t write to you earlier. (This is a good opening,
because it tells the examiner that you know this person well).
Tell them why you’re writing the letter. This will be specified in
the question paper itself. Keep it very short. In the example above,
you could say: I’ve been dying to tell you about this circus that came
to town last Friday!!

2. Body: This is the actual content of your letter. Provide more

details about the topic. Use lots of adjectives and verbs and really
relay your thoughts and emotions. Salutations and Signatures: use
either of this format

Dear Sir or Madam……. Yours faithfully

Dear Ms Weasley………….Yours sincerely

Introduction: Dive straight into the point. Why are you writing?
 · Take care of spelling, punctuation and grammar. It’s a writing
task after all.
· Don’t use abbreviations and slang such as ‘u’ and ‘OMG’! This

is an international exam, not an actual email to your friend!

· Keep the tone very light and warm. An informal letter should be

informal.
· Writing a paragraph for each bullet point (given in the question)

can be a good method of keeping the letter organized.

· Give personal anecdotes. Add details that tell the examiner you

really know each other. In my sample answer above, I used the names
Steve, Margaret and Aunt Marie without giving any explanation for
who they exactly are, because my friend knows who they are!
· Try using time phrases. eg: shortly after that/later/that

afternoon/after dinner etc.

· Keep to the word limit.

Speech
● Salutation (Dear/Dearest..),
● Introduction+A1
● A2
● A3+ conclusion
● signature (With Love/Yours Truly..)

1. Introduction:
Start with a warm, friendly opening. Ditch the boring ‘How are you
doing?‘. Go for these:
It was good to hear from you.
Sorry for not replying sooner. I have been very busy.
I’m so sorry for taking so long to reply. I have been revising for my
exams.
Congratulations on your award! It’s been an hectic week over here.
So sorry I couldn’t write to you earlier. (This is a good opening,
because it tells the examiner that you know this person well).
Tell them why you’re writing the letter. This will be specified in
the question paper itself. Keep it very short. In the example above,
you could say: I’ve been dying to tell you about this circus that came
to town last Friday!!

2. Body: This is the actual content of your letter. Provide more

details about the topic. Use lots of adjectives and verbs and really
relay your thoughts and emotions. Salutations and Signatures: use
either of this format

Dear Sir or Madam……. Yours faithfully

Dear Ms Weasley………….Yours sincerely

Introduction: Dive straight into the point. Why are you writing?

· Take care of spelling, punctuation and grammar. It’s a writing

task after all.
· Don’t use abbreviations and slang such as ‘u’ and ‘OMG’! This

is an international exam, not an actual email to your friend!

· Keep the tone very light and warm. An informal letter should be

informal.
· Writing a paragraph for each bullet point (given in the question)

can be a good method of keeping the letter organized.

· Give personal anecdotes. Add details that tell the examiner you
really know each other. In my sample answer above, I used the names
Steve, Margaret and Aunt Marie without giving any explanation for
who they exactly are, because my friend knows who they are!
· Try using time phrases. eg: shortly after that/later/that

afternoon/after dinner etc.

· Keep to the word limit.
Interview
Report

Newspaper Report/Newspaper Article

Your main goal is to inform.
You cannot put your opinions, because you work for the press, your job is to tell the facts
straight with precise detail.
Your audience will be the general audience, your tone will be formal.
You cannot be biased at all.
Tense will be past tense.
Headline
Should attract the attention of the reader
Should give a clear idea of the topic to be presented
Can use figures of speech
By-Line
Journalist Name
Place Line
Place where incident had happened
First Paragraph
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
How?
These questions must be answered accordingly, which can be found in the passage itself
Use varied sentence structures
Body Paragraphs
You must tell the events in a reverse order, from ending to start.
Be factual
You should quote witnesses
Use the information your collected for all three annotations
Use short paragraphs
Each paragraph should represent each point
Use time connectives (After, later that day, at the same time)
Conclusion
End with a prediction of the future
Future steps taken by a higher authority should be mentioned
Write in a way that the source came from the authority itself

========================================================================
Success Criteria:
- Make points clear in separate paragraphs with topic sentences (use subheadings if you want(If
it’s a newspaper report we can avoid this, only in reports based on findings.)
- Use time connectives (Earlier, Later that day, Afterwards). Reports of an event would give
information about what happened in chronological (time) order. i.e. FROM THE BEGINNING TO
THE END
-Stay objective - No personal opinion required.
-Your report sounds convincing and real with an excellent sense of audience
-You cover the main points of the topic in paragraphs

Introduction: Be clear about the Main Event

-who
-what
-when
-where
-why
-how

Paragraphs 2: Report
-details of what happened
-facts and statistics
-Use topic sentences/sub-headings

Include :
-Eye witness/member of public quote
Example:
One staff member commented that students were 'a delight to teach#39;, with the
staffroom atmosphere described as 'hugely supportive#39; by another.
Para 3-Ending:
-Finish with some points for improvement or your suggested action
[report based on findings]for any similar events.
-This might be things that went well, or recommendations to prevent
further problems
Article