Summarising
التلخيص
A summary is much shorter than the original text. It should communicate the main idea of the text and the main supporting points — written ‘in your own words’. — in a very brief form. The summary should give someone who has not read the original a clear and accurate overview of the text. A formal summary should also include the author, title, year of publication and source of the original. Writing a summary requires a thorough understanding of the content of the text and the ability to paraphrase.
To summarise
Record the author, title, year of publication and source of the text.
Skim the text. Note any sub-headings, or try to divide the text into sections.
Read the text carefully. Use a dictionary if necessary, and be prepared to read very difficult texts more than once.
Pay special attention to the first and last paragraphs. Try to identify the main idea or argument.
Identify the topic sentence in each paragraph. This is frequently the first sentence in the paragraph.
Identify the main support for the topic sentence.
Write the topic sentence of your summary. Include the author’s name, the title of the text, the year of publication and the author’s main idea or argument
Titles of books should appear in italics with maximal or minimal capitalisation
MAXIMAL Good Style: Writing for Science and Technology MINIMAL Good style: Writing for science and technology
Titles of articles, chapters and short stories should appear in single inverted commas with minimal capitalization.
