Essential skills for academic writing

Summarising is a useful way of incorporating other people's research into your writing. For instance, you may wish to introduce ideas as background information before moving to the work you are doing. You may want to

• give an overview of several differing points of view on a topic (as in a literature review);
  
• outline the main points of someone else's work in your own words, without the details or examples;
• provide evidence or findings from a study to support your claims.

(from Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary)

A summary is "a short written or spoken account of something, which gives the important points but not the details". A summary must include important information in a concise manner. Therefore, it should be much shorter than the original text.

A paraphrase is "an account, sentence, or expression that gives the meaning of another account, sentence, or expression, in a different way, [often using different words.]." Therefore, it is is almost as long as the original text.

Study the two examples below. Can you tell which of the two texts in each example is a summary and which is a paraphrase of the original passage? Click on the highlighted text numbers for comments.

Example 1  Original passage (51 words) 

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. (Reference:Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.)

Text 1A

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level, which is usually about 10% of the final length of the paper. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester, 1976).                 

Text 1B

Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester, 1976).

Adapted from: http://owl.purdue.edu

Example 2 Original passage (85 words)

Language is the main means of communication between peoples, but so many different languages have developed that language has often been a barrier rather than an aid to understanding among peoples. For many years, people have dreamed of setting up an international universal language which all people could speak and understand. The arguments in favor of a universal language are simple and obvious. If all peoples spoke the same tongue, cultural and economic ties might be much closer, and good will might increase between countries (Kispert, 2001).                                   

Text 2A

People communicate through language; however, as Kispert (2001) points out, having different languages creates communication barriers. He suggests that a universal language could bring countries together culturally and economically as well as increase good feelings among them.    

Text 2B

Humans communicate through language. Because there are so many different languages, however, people around the world have a difficult time understanding one another. Some people have wished for a universal international language that speakers all over the world could understand. Their reasons are straightforward and clear. A universal language would build cultural and economic bonds. It would also create better feelings among countries (Kispert, 2001).

Adapted from:Oshima, A. and Hogue, A. (2006) 4th ed. Writing academic English. Pearson Education, Inc: NY. p.136.