National Higher School of Artificial Intelligence

Level: First Year Professor : Ms.

Nadji Course: Reading Techniques
S01_Group01&2
Lecture 01
25/09/2022 ( 2 sessions)

Summarizing_Practice
 Summarizing Your Text

What is summarizing? Summarizing reduces a text to its main idea and necessary information. Summarizing
differs from paraphrasing in that summary leaves out details and terms.
Why is summarizing important? Summarizing helps you understand and learn important information by reducing
information to its key ideas. Summaries can be used for annotation and study notes as well as to expand the depth
of your writing.
How is summarizing different from paraphrasing?
To the untrained eye, a summary and a paraphrase may look alike. However, there are differences.
 A summary is shorter than the original text.
 A paraphrase can be shorter or longer than the original.
 A summary eliminates details, examples, and supporting points.
 A paraphrase describes the original text in different words. It does not leave out details.

NOTE: This skill sheet is a general overview of summarizing. If you are completing a summary as a class
assignment, always follow the directions of your classroom instructor.

Write an Accurate Summary

Read the article and organize the information.
1. Preview the text. Gather the information
needed to focus and set goals.
2. Read, think about, and understand the text. Review the material to make sure you know it
well. Use a dictionary or context clues to find the meanings of any important words.
3. Read for the thesis, main idea, and evidence. Annotate as you usually do. If necessary, map or
outline part or all of the text to find the thesis, main ideas and evidence.
4. Identify and paraphrase the thesis or topic sentence (which contains the main idea), or
compose one if the topic sentence is implied. The main idea is the most important information
or concept in a text. The statement that you write should mention the underlying meaning of
the article, not just the surface details.
5. Group the details (minor details). Organize your evidence by grouping the article into sections.
Not all information is equal: some of the information is clearly more important than the rest.
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
#1:
#2:
#3:
6. Within your groups of information, write a word or phrase that can replace a list of items
(avoid using the word “things”) or individual parts of an action. You can do this in the margin.
For example: rose, daisy, and mum becomes “flowers.”
7. Use basic signal words. ASK YOURSELF:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
(subject) (action) (location) (time) (reason) (procedure)

8. Change the words but never the meaning. A summary uses paraphrased sentences, with only
occasional quotes from the original text.
 Write the summary.

1. Begin your summary with statement of the thesis. Begin with an introductory sentence that
mentions the author, title, and thesis.
2. Write the main idea of each section in one well-developed sentence. Make sure that what you
include in your sentences are key points, not minor details.
3. Follow the order of ideas in the original text. After stating the thesis, you should mention the
first main idea that you come across and then major details that back it up. Then you would
mention the second main idea and so on.
4. The amount of detail you include, if any, depends on your purpose for writing the summary.
For example, if you are writing a summary of a magazine article for research paper, it might be
more detailed than if you were writing it to jog your memory for class discussion.
5. Summary should be no more than ¼ the original text. It can be one sentence, one paragraph
or multiple paragraphs depending on the length of the original and your purpose for writing the
summary.
6. Do not include unnecessary or material that says the same thing as another part of the
passage.
7. Do not use phrasing such as “This article is about” or “In this paragraph the author says
…”
8. Do not plagiarize or bring in your personal opinion. Summarizing is about restating what the
author says. Save your own ideas for another time.
9. Make sure that your summary includes the meaning of the original passage and does not
change the author’s purpose or tone. Identify the main idea and double check that your
summary does not change or add to it.
10. Read and revise the content.

Have you captured the main point of the article?

Have you included the most important details?
o Make sure that you have included all the supporting details or mentioned all of
the events, however briefly.
o Group these details as outlined previously; do not omit key information that
was in the original passage.
o Check for an accurate topic sentence and the five Ws and an H.
11. Read over your summary edit for grammatical and spelling errors.
 Is the verb tense consistent?
 Are all names spelled correctly and capitalized?
 Have you avoided writing run-on sentences and sentence fragments?
 Is there sentence variety?
 Have you avoided writing short, choppy sentences? Are there transitional words and
phrases to connect ideas?

Further explanation and activities for Accurate Summarizing can be found in the following texts:
Flemming, Loraine. Reading Keys, 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. (See pages 212-213)
McWhorter, Kathleen T. Reading Across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, 5th ed. San Francisco: Pearson Education, 2012. (pages 213-214)
Spears, Deanne. Improving Reading Skills: Contemporary Readings for College Students, 6th ed. New York: McGraw- Hill, 2010. (See pages 121-123)
Langan, John. Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills, 5th ed. West Berlin, New Jersey: Townsend Press, Inc., 2008. (See pages 114-119)
 Original Article with Highlighting and Annotations

Bats
By Debbie Dean

Thesis: Bats are

In the distant past, many people thought bats had magical powers, but times
have changed. Today, many people believe that bats are rodents, that they
misunderstood and
cannot see, and that they are more likely than other animals to carry rabies. All of
unappreciated.
these beliefs are mistaken. Bats are not rodents, are not blind, and are no more
likely
than dogs and cats to transmit Bats, in fact, are among the least
Main idea: Bats are and least
rabies. appreciated of understood
not rodents with wings animals.
Bats are not rodents with wings, contrary to popular Like all rodents,
#1.Wing bones like arebelief.
mammals, but they have a skeleton similar to the human skeleton.
bats The bones in
human arm s/h ands bat wings are much like those in arms and the human hand, with a thumb and four
#2 Wings are web of fingers. In bats, the bones of the arms and the four fingers of the hands are
skin stretched from body very
long. This bone structure helps support the web of skin that stretches from the
to fingertips. body to the ends of the fingers to form wings.
Althoug bats cannot see colors, they have good vision in both dim and
M.I.: Bats have good light. bright
h Since most bats stay in darkness during the day and do their feeding at night,
vision but are colorblind they do not use their vision to maneuver in the dark but use a process called
and u s e echolocation at echolocatio This process enables emit sounds from their mouths that
night. n.
off and allow
bats to them to avoid the bouncewhen flying. They use this system
objects
#1 Emit s o u nd s that objectsflyingtoinsects to feed on as well. Typically, insect-eating bats emerge at dusk
locate
bounce off objects and fly to streams or ponds where they feed. They catch the insects on their
#2 Locate flying wingtip or tail membrane and fling them into their mouths while flying.
M.I.: The number of species is
insects
about 10 0 0.
There are about 1,000 species of bat, ranging in size from the bumblebee
#1 different s izes which
bat,is about an inch long, to the flying fox, which is sixteen inches long and has
#2 different diets wingspan of five feet. Each type of bat has a specialized diet. For seventy percent
a
Most eat insects of bats, the diet is insects. Other types of bats feed on flowers, pollen, nectar, and
Others: flowers, fruit or on small animals such as birds, mice, lizards, and frogs.
s m . animals
M.I.: Vampire bats drink blood. One species of bat feeds on the blood of large . This is commo
mammals
vampire , which lives only in Latin America and is probably n
the best known
#1 feed on cattle blood
bat
feeding on the
for blood of cattle. Unfortunately, in an attempt to control vampire bat
#2 farmers kill helpful
populations, farmers have unintentionally killed thousands of beneficial fruit-and
bats when trying to kill v.
insect-eating bats as well.
bats
Bats, in fact, perform a number of valuable functions. Their greatest
M.I.: Bats are helpful value is in eliminating insect pests. Insect- eating bats can catch six
economic
#1 eat insects mosquitoes in an hour and eat half their body weight in insects every night. In
hundred
#2 spread s e e d s many tropical rain forests, fruit-eating bats are the main means of spreading the
#3 pollinate plants seeds of tropical fruits. Nectar-feeding bats pollinate a number of tropical plants.
If it were not for bats, we might not have peaches, bananas, mangoes, guavas,
figs, or dates.
M.I.: Survival of bats is unknown. Today, the survival of many bat species is Sixty percent of bats do
uncertain.
survive past infancy. Some are killed by predators suchnot as owls, hawks, snakes
#1 predators
and other meat-eating creatures, but most are victims of pesticides and other
#2 pesticides
human intrusions. In Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, where there were once eight
#3 human disruptions
million bats, there are now a quarter million. At Eagle Creek, Arizona, the bat
#4 population h a s dropped population dropped from thirty million to thirty thousand in six years.
Bats often have been burdened with a bad reputation, perhaps because they
M.I.: Bats look different are not the warm, cuddly sort of animal we love to love. their
but should be accepted However,features should not lead us to overestimate their harm or unusual
physical to
and admired. underestimate
their .
value
 Sample
Summary
The Undervalued Bat

Introduction In the article “Bats,” by Debbie Dean,

• Starts with a summary or we learn that in contrast to some mistaken
overview of the article which
includes the author’s name and the beliefs, bats have sight, are mammals,
title of the article. and are not especially likely to carry
• Finishes with a thesis statement rabies. Bats are relatively misunderstood
that states the main idea of the and unappreciated.
article.
Bats have some interesting physical

Body Paragraphs features. They have similar bone structure

• Each body paragraph begins and

with a topic sentence. skeletons to that of humans, so they
• Each paragraph focuses on a are not winged rodents. They are color
separate main idea and just the most
important details from the article. blind, so they use echolocation if there is

• When the main ideas of two original not sufficient light.

paragraphs are similar, they are Otherwise, their sight is enough.
grouped together in the same Species of bats total about a thousand.
paragraph.
The species come in a variety of sizes
For example: The paragraphs about
bats’ wings and eyesight are and have
combined in one paragraph with the
unique diets. Most eat insects, but
topic sentence, “Bats have
interesting some eat plant products and small
physical features.” animals. However, vampire bats drink
• Details are grouped and blood, which can be harmful to
replaced with a phrase. livestock. Farmers have accidentally
For example: “flowers, pollen,
and killed many helpful bats while trying to
nectar” becomes “plant rid themselves of vampire bats.
products.”
Bats can actually be helpful to humans.
• Transitional words and
phrases connect ideas. They destroy unwanted bugs, spread fruit
seeds, and pollinate plants. However, the
survival of bats is not known because many
are killed by human disruptions and
predators. The bat population has
dropped steadily and may continue to
Concluding Paragraph drop.
• Summarize the main idea and
the underlying meaning of the Hopefully, we will realize that although
article. bats look different than our favorite animals,
we can learn to accept and admire their