Characteristics of an effective summary

Ст. преп. Валеева Л. К., ст. преп. Кислухина М. В.,

К. ф. н., доц. Хлыбова Н. А.

Учебно-методическое пособие

По дисциплине «Английский язык»

ОБУЧЕНИЕ АННОТИРОВАНИЮ ТЕКСТОВ

По направлению «психология»

 

для студентов 2 и 3 курса дневной формы обучения

направления 6.030102 – «Психология»

образовательно-квалификационного уровня «бакалавр»

 

Симферополь 2010

 

Рекомендовано к печати заседанием кафедры от 30.03.10

протокол № 8

 

Рекомендовано к печати научно-методическим советом ТНУ от 28.12.2010 протокол № 2

 

 

PART I

INTRODUCTION

Rendering the text: tasks and specificity

This reference book is intended for students of Faculty of Psychology forming the skill of text rendering. Attention to this kind of work with specialized texts constitutes an essential part in the process of foreign language study. Its main objective is to enable students to render the text through summarizing ideas and developing major points. This complex task demands proper reading skills, high command of language and appropriate knowledge of grammar and paragraph building structure.

The authors of this reference book bring forward the following tasks:

- to form and improve students’ skills in scan and thorough reading in English;

- to highlight the main points of the original text read (both English and Russian) and to provide proper summarizing key data in English;

- to help students to develop and maximize their cognitive power and a habit of critical way of looking at the text under consideration;

- to understand specific information and to express their ideas on the proper scientific level.

Basic notions

An annotation is more than a brief summary of a book, article, or other publication. An abstractis also a summary, but there is a difference between the two. An abstract is simply a summary of a work, whereas the purpose of an annotation is to describe the work in such a way that the reader can decide whether or not to read the work itself. An annotated bibliography helps the reader understand the particular usefulness of each item. The ideal annotated bibliography shows the relationships among individual items and may compare their strengths or shortcomings.

The following points provide guidance for composing and writing annotations. As appropriate each of these issues might be assessed and commented on in the annotation.

1. Qualifications of the author, unless very well known.

2. The scope and main purpose of the publication (e.g., book, article, web site).

3. The intended audience and level of reading difficulty.

4. The author's bias or assumptions, upon which the work's rationale rests.

5. The method of obtaining data or doing research.

6. The author's conclusions.

7. Comparison with other works on the same subject.

8. Materials appended to the work — e.g., maps, charts, photos, etc.

9. The work's importance or usefulness for the study of a subject.

Not all of these points are necessary for every annotation, and they certainly do not have to be noted in the order listed here, but they at least ought to be kept in mind when writing an annotation.

 

The following 6 points provide example guidance for writing an annotation:

1. The authority and the qualifications of the author, unless extremely well known, should be clearly stated. Preferably this is to be done early in the annotation: "John Z.Schmidt, a Pscychology professor at Interstate University, based his research on recently deliborated observations."

2. The scope and main purpose of the text must be explained. This is usually done in one to three short sentences. For example, "He reveals that a few assumptions played a key role in the cognitive process leading up to ... They provided ... that helped ....” Unlike an abstract, which is an abridgement or synopsis, the writer cannot hope to summarize the total content of the work.

3. The relation of other works, if any, in the field is usually worth noting: "Schmidt's conclusions are dramatically different from those in Mark Johnson' Why is the Psyche important?"

4. The major bias or standpoint of the author in relation to the theme should be clarified: "However, Schmidt's case is somewhat weakened by... bias, which was mentioned by two reviewers."

5. The audience and the level of reading difficulty should be indicated: "Schmidt addresses himself to the scholar, but the concluding chapters will be clear to any informed layman."

This is not always present in an annotation but is important if the work is targeted to a specific audience.

6. At this point the annotation might conclude with a summary comment: "This detailed account provides new information that will be of interest to scholars as well as educated adults."

There are, to be sure, other elements in various types of annotations, but if the six points noted are covered, the annotator can at least be certain the strategic territory has been adequately surveyed. By definition annotations are short notes and are normally no more than 150 words. Verbosity is the major sin; brevity and clarity the goal.

 

Summarizing

There are various types of summary you may need to make during your course. Three main types can be distiguished:

1. It may be satisfactory for your needs to summarize a text in only one or two sentences. A shart summary like this may be needed, for example, for the abstract of a short essay or an article you have written.

2. A more detailed summary may be necessary. For example, you may need to summarize the entire content of an article you are reading. This is called global summary.

3. You may need to summarize only some of the information in a text. Such a selective summary may involve the extraction of relevant information from a large body of prose.

In a summary you should not include your own opinion or extra information on the topic which is not in the text you have read. You are summarizing only the writer’s information. Also take care not to include details of secondary importance.

 

Characteristics of an effective summary

 

1. The same order of facts and ideas as the original.

2. Similar wording to the original with occasional phrases exactly the same.

3. Different sentence patterns from the original.

4. Simpler vocabulary than the original, but stylistically and terminologically appropriate.

5. Identification of key points in the original.