Summary Writing Essentials

Summary writing is perhaps one of the more challenging aspects of writing. You have to be precise and use close-to-accurate vocabulary wherever possible. The summary task effectively tests how well you can navigate a text to find specific ideas, facts, and opinions. It can be daunting, but the task isn’t impossible!

I’ve noticed a lot of students lose marks because they tend to overexplain simple concepts or include irrelevant details that aren’t present in the passage, but don’t really pay attention to what the prompt is telling you. But fret not; there’s indeed a way to make this ever-so daunting task less scary. Here are a few simple ways you can make your summaries stand out:

The 3 Steps For Success

First, I thought I’d highlight exactly what the examiners are looking for: your AO1 (Reading) and AO2 (Writing). They are looking for your understanding of information and usage of that information for specific purposes and the organization of those ideas for a deliberate effect.

Targeted Scanning or The Treasure Hunt

You’re going to read through the text and follow your prompt question. If you’ve already read through the text once, great! Now, you’ll have to re-read it to look for exactly what you’re looking for.

For example, if your text is about solar energy, you’ll notice your prompt might be about the benefits or disadvantages of solar energy. Easily enough, this’ll mean that you ignore anything in the text that doesn’t fit these exact criteria.

💡ALWAYS ANNOTATE YOUR POINTS. UNDERLINE, HIGHLIGHT, PUT A STAR NEXT TO IT, PARENTHESIZE IT, doesn’t matter as long as you highlight it to come back to it later!

“In Your Own Words” Rule

You have to keep the original meaning of the text but vary vocabulary and sentence structure. So, for example, instead of saying “The sun provides power”, you could also say “The sun serves as a renewable energy source.”

The sentence now sounds more sophisticated but it keeps the original meaning.

Don’t become obsessed with overexplaining 3 points when you have 10. You have a finite amount of words you’re working with, so remember to stick to that goal! Furthermore, make sure you’re not adding any fluff into your work either—the examiner is PRECISELY looking for your recreation of the same text; it’s unnecessary to add any of your own material.

Your exam board is a stickler for students to use their own vocabulary wherever they can. But the one of the simplest ways to demonstrate your understanding of the material is to change the passive to an active or vice versa.

Precision Over Length

Adding your points into your summary simply makes it too confusing and distracting for readers to follow along your writing. A great way to check if you’ve fallen into that trap is to double-check your points and compare it with your writing.

Have you added extra (or opinionated) material that doesn’t exist? If it doesn’t, great! If it does, make sure you cross it out!

Another great way to incorporate all of your points together is to create compound and/or complex sentences. Use the FANBOYS acronym to decide which points belong together or words and phrases such as “although”, “however”, “despite that”, “moreover”, “furthermore” to continue the point you were making.

💡You can always pair a negative and a positive point, and that adds to your writing & reading score.

Your goal is to be as concise as possible and incorporating connectives is a great way to do that.