INTRODUCTION

Paraphrasing is just one of many aspects of academic writing. Another

important aspect that you need to deal with is SUMMARIZING. Writing
paraphrases and summaries are important tools in academic writing.

In your college classes/As part of your academic work, You might be

asked to write a report or a research paper or an essay and you will find
yourself needing information from material in the library To write a
research paper, you will have to read articles from outside
sources/reading (use information from outside sources (books,
magazines, newspaper articles, or the Internet)) and use information
that you get from these readings in your paper

Academic writing normally requires that you support your ideas and
opinions with facts, statistics, quotations, and similar kinds of
information.

if you use another person’s ideas or words, you must say where you
have taken them from; if you do not, you risk being accused of
plagiarism. This section will cover citation, summarizing, paraphrasing,
synthesizing and writing a list of references as ways of including sources

Citation
There are two ways ( to use information from outside sources. You can
quote it directly or indirectly) in which you can refer to, or cite, another
person’s work:
(1) by direct quotation or (2) by reporting (through summary or
paraphrase).

INTRODUCTION TO A SUMMARY
You already know how to summarize in speaking. You summarize every
day. For example, when you retell a story that you have read or heard,
you are summarizing. When you tell a friend the plot of a movie that you
have seen, you are summarizing.
Making summaries is a common activity in everyday life. If a friend asks
you about a book you are reading, you do not tell her about everything
in the book. Instead, you make a summary of the most interesting and
important aspects. The same principle applies to summarizing in
academic work. When you write a summary, you give your readers an
idea of the content of an article or book and save them the time and
trouble of reading the entire original.

A summary is a shortened version of a text. It contains the main points in

the text and is written in your own words

A summary is a short statement that gives the main information about

something without giving all the details.

What should a summary contain?

A summary should contain your chosen main points from the original
text in a condensed manner. It should be written in your own words and
the source must be acknowledged. It contains the main points in the
text and is written in your own words. It is a mixture of reducing a long
text to a short text and selecting relevant information

The summary may be just one or two sentences, to explain the

main idea of the article. In other words, a summary can range from 1–
2% of the original to more than 50%: summarizing is a flexible tool.

Summaries are always quite a bit shorter than the original texts, perhaps
75 percent shorter. Sometimes, particularly for a book, the summary is
much shorter than the original, perhaps 99 percent shorter

A good summary shows that you have understood the text. Please
remember, though, that even when you summarize someone's work,
you must acknowledge it.

Example
Source: The amphibians, which are the animal class to which our frogs
and toads belong, were the first animals to crawl from the sea and
inhabit the earth.
Summary: The first animals to leave the sea and live on dry land were
the amphibian.
The phrase "which is the animal class to which our frogs and toads
belong" is an example, not a main point, and can be deleted. The rest of
the text is rewritten in your own words.
The climatic conditions prevailing in the British Isles show a pattern of
alternating and unpredictable periods of dry and wet weather,
accompanied by a similarly irregular cycle of temperature changes.
British weather is changeable.

c. It is undeniable that the large majority of non-native learners of

English experience a number of problems in attempting to master the
phonetic patterns of the language.
Many learners find English pronunciation difficult.

WHY DO WE SUMMARIZE?
There are several reasons why you should be including other authors’
words, mainly:
_ To show that you have read and understood specific texts
_ To support the points you are making by referring to other people’s
work.
_ to supply the information needed to allow a user to find a source

HOW TO WRITE A SUMMARY

The following stages may be useful:
1. Read and understand the text carefully.

2. Find the main ideas - what is important.

a. They may be found in topic sentences.
b. Distinguish between main and subsidiary information.
c. Delete most details and examples, unimportant information,
anecdotes, examples, illustrations, data etc.
d. Find alternative words/synonyms for these words/phrases - do not
change specialized vocabulary and common words.
3 Change the structure of the text. This includes:
_ changing adjectives to adverbs and nouns to verbs
_ breaking up long sentences and combining short sentences
_ Simplify the text. Reduce complex sentences to simple sentences,
simple sentences to phrases, phrases to single words.
4. Rewrite the main ideas in complete sentences. Combine your notes
into a piece of continuous writing. Use conjunctions and adverbs such as
'therefore', 'however', 'although', 'since', to show the connections
between the ideas.
5. Check your work.
a. Make sure your purpose is clear.
b. Make sure the meaning is the same.
c. Make sure the style is your own.
d. Remember to acknowledge other people's work.

What are the similarities/differences between a paraphrase

and a summary?
Students are often confused by the difference between a summary and
a paraphrase. That is understandable because summary and paraphrase
are very similar.

Both use the writer's own words.

In both the words and the sentence structure of the original must be
changed

In both people's work is acknowledged.

Summing it up:
Paraphrasing requires you to rewrite or restate in your own words what someone else has
written. The use of your own words helps you to avoid plagiarism. Everything the author
says should be included, even the details. You should not put your own ideas into a
paraphrase. Summary differs from paraphrase in that you must select the main points in a
piece of writing. Unlike a paraphrase, in which everything the writer says must be written
down, a summary includes no unnecessary details

CONCLUSION
Please use these techniques, because they enhance both structure and
content. They help to make you more efficient researchers and writers.
If you practice them regularly, your command of English will improve as
well.