Q1 MODULE 2 SUMMARIZING

What I Need to Know

Introduction

Some people have trouble reading long, complicated paragraphs. Others do not have enough time listening to
winding stories, and prefer hearing the gist instead. This is why the skill of summarizing is important, and this module is
exclusively prepared for you to help you master the language used in academic text from various disciplines. The exercises
and assessments are carefully made to suit your level of understanding. The scope of this module permits it to be used in
many different learning situations. The language used recognizes your diverse vocabulary level.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this module, you are expected to achieve the following objectives:
a. define summary and summarizing;
b. identify the different techniques in summarizing; and
c. summarize various academic texts.

What is it?

Summarizing is stating the essential ideas together in fewer words. This may be in a sentence, sometimes a
paragraph without including your opinion, attitudes and judgments. Summarizing is condensing or shortening the main ideas
of other people. Paragraphs are shortened into one, two, or three sentences. Usually, the summary cuts the selection to at
least 3 times the length of the original text.

From dictionaries, it is defined as taking a lot of information and creating a condensed version that covers the main
points; and to express the most important facts or ideas about something or someone in a short and clear form.

What are the different techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts?

1. Before you start with the summary, read and understand the original text first.
2. To make things easier, you can identify the main points and supporting details of the original text using graphic
organizers, outlines or infographics.
3. Organize all the essential ideas into short, coherent statements.
4. If you find words that you think are complicated, you may change them into your own words in the summary.
5. You may use paraphrasing in your summary, keeping in mind that you retain the ideas of the original text.
If you use these techniques as your guide, summarizing will surely be a piece of cake for you!

Here is an example of a paragraph that needs to be summarized :

“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”
(Lester, 1976).

Can you create your own summary of this paragraph? Just follow the techniques stated above and you’re all set.

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Here is one of the ways the paragraph can be summarized:

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).

Another 5 Easy Techniques in Summarizing Various Academic Texts

Technique 1: Somebody Wanted But So Then

“Somebody Wanted But So Then” is an excellent summarizing strategy for stories. Each word represents a key
question related to the story's essential elements:
• Somebody: Who is the story about?
• Wanted: What does the main charter want?
• But: Identify a problem that the main character encountered.
• So: How does the main character solve the problem?
• Then: Tell how the story ends.

Here is an example of this strategy in action:

• Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood
• Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother.
• But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her grandmother.
• So: She ran away, crying for help.
• Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from the wolf.

After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary:

Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she encountered a wolf. He got to her
grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old woman. He was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but she realized
what he was doing and ran away, crying for help. A woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the wolf.

Technique 2: SAAC Method

The SAAC method is another useful technique for summarizing any kind of text (story, article, speech, etc). SAAC
is an acronym for "State, Assign, Action, Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a specific element that should be
included in the summary.
• State: name of the article, book, or story
• Assign: the name of the author
• Action: what the author is doing (example: tells, explains)
• Complete: complete the sentence or summary with keywords and important details.

This method is particularly helpful for students who are learning the format of a summary and need reminders to
include the title and author's name. However, SAAC does not include clear guidance about which details to include, which
some students might find tricky. If you use SAAC with your students, remind them of the types of details that belong in a
summary before instructing them to work independently.
Here is an example of SAAC in action:
• State: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller)
• Action: tells
• Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf

Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete sentences:
The Boy Who Cried Wolf, by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies
to the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore his false cries. Then, when a wolf really does attack, they
don’t come to help him.

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Technique 3: 5 W's, 1 H

The 5 W's, 1 H strategy relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. These questions
make it easy to identify the main character, the important details, and the main idea.
• Who is the story about?
• What did they do?
• When did the action take place?
• Where did the story happen?
• Why did the main character do what he/she did?
• How did the main character do what he/she did?

Try this technique with a familiar fable such as "The Tortoise and the Hare."
• Who? The tortoise
• What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
• When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s not important in this case.
• Where? An old country road
• Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his speed.
• How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace.

Then, use the answers to the 5 W's and 1 H to write a summary of incomplete sentences.
Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to a race. Even though
he was slower than Hare, Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace when Hare stopped to take a nap.

Technique 4: First, Then, Finally

The "First Then Finally" technique helps students summarize events in chronological order. The three words
represent the beginning, main action, and conclusion of a story, respectively:
• First. What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action.
• Then. What key details took place during the event/action?
• Finally. What were the results of the event/action?

Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in their chairs, and
slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her, so she jumped up and ran away.

Technique 5: Give Me the Gist

When someone asks for "the gist" of a story, they want to know what the story is about. In other words, they want
a summary—not a retelling of every detail. To introduce the gist method, explain that summarizing is just like giving a friend
the gist of a story, and have your students tell each other about their favorite books or movies in 15 seconds or less. You
can use the gist method as a fun, quick way to practice summarizing on a regular basis.

Do you now understand how to create good summaries?

Great! Let’s practice your learnings.

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What’s More

Activity 1: Give Me the Gist

Directions: Write a summary of the following paragraphs.

1. When one hears the term “reality” applied to a television show, one might expect that the events occurred naturally
or, at the least, were not scripted, but this is not always the case. Many reality shows occur in unreal environments,
like rented mansions occupied by film crews. These living environments do not reflect what most people understand
to be “reality.” Worse, there have been accusations that events not captured on film were later restaged by producers.
Worse still, some involved in the production of “reality” television claim that the participants were urged to act out story
lines premeditated by producers. With such accusations floating around, it’s no wonder many people take reality TV
to be about as real as a sitcom.
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2. There are many types of lethal venom in the animal kingdom, but perhaps no stranger carrier than the platypus. The
platypus is one of few venomous mammals. Males carry a venom cocktail in their ankle spurs that paralyzes victims
with excruciating pain. Stranger still, the platypus is the only mammal that uses electroreception. What this means
is that the platypus uses its bill to sense the electricity produced by the muscular movements of its prey. The platypus
neither sees, hears, nor smells its prey while hunting but, rather, pursues it through electroreception. Perhaps most
odd, the platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young. The platypus is an odd
creature indeed.
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Activity 2: Who? What? Where?

Directions: Using the 5W’s and 1H technique, write a summary of the following paragraphs.
1. Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the
audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. By contrast, in musical
theater an actor's dramatic performance is primary, and the music plays a lesser role. The drama in opera is
presented using the primary elements of theater such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the
opera, or libretto, are sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied by a musical ensemble ranging from
a small instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.

Who: _________________________________________________________________________________
What: ________________________________________________________________________________
When: ________________________________________________________________________________
Where: _______________________________________________________________________________
Why: _________________________________________________________________________________
How: _________________________________________________________________________________

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2. For the walls, Jenny thought she would use a bright yellow paint. She would pick a border that had mostly bright
red and green colors, and maybe a little bit of blue. She already had found some curtains that were sky blue with
streaks of red, blue and yellow that she thought would go great with the walls. And finally, she had picked a carpet
that was mostly blue with specks of red and yellow. Jenny couldn't wait till she was done decorating her room. It
was really going to look awesome.
Who: _________________________________________________________________________________
What: ________________________________________________________________________________
When: ________________________________________________________________________________
Where: _______________________________________________________________________________
Why: _________________________________________________________________________________
How: _________________________________________________________________________________

What I Have Learned

Using what you have learned from this module, write a summary of your learnings.

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What I Can Do

Activity 1
Directions: Read the article below, then summarize it using the indicated techniques.

A Narrative Essay On The Effects Of The Enhanced Community-Quarantine

In this article, we are going to share perspectives on the enhanced community quarantine in the Philippines.
As the Philippines faced the coronavirus pandemic, several countermeasures were imposed to curve its spread. As
such, President Duterte imposed an enhanced community quarantine on Luzon.
However, the spread of the virus brought to light some of the worst traits of the Filipino people. Instead of helping
out, people began panic buying. Worse, they tried to profit off of their fellow countrymen by hoarding important supplies
such as alcohol and face masks.
Furthermore, the inconsistencies and incompetence of some politicians and public servants were highlighted.
Clearly, some were not prepared to handle the spread of the virus. This caused a debate online regarding what to do amid
the pandemic and the quarantine in the Philippines. Many argued that criticizing the government would do no help, however,
many would disagree.

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Because of the outcries of netizens online, thousands of people have been helped by the government and got aid.
Moreover, several politicians have listened to the masses and provided the desperate needs of the people.
But hope still remains. The Filipino people is resilient and brave. In light of this global health crisis, and the
community quarantine, the hope is that we would all learn from this.
The majority of the people would want “things to get back to normal”. However, the normal that we had before was
a culture of being apologetic on behalf of politicians and normalizing hate.
After this quarantine, when the dust has settled and the world begins to rebuild from their losses, let us look back
on the pandemic as a reminder that we should move forward for the better.

Write the summary using the SAAC technique.

Write the summary using the First, Then, Finally technique.

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Assessment

Directions: Identify the main point and supporting details of the text below. Then, write a summary based on the essential
ideas you have selected.

Crime and punishment are two categories that are almost always associated with one another.
They have become subjects of numerous scientific research studies and literary works. Numerous
philosophers have reflected on the relationship and proportionality of crime and punishment. These two
categories can be compared as two bowls of the same scale. It is fine when they complement each other,
but if they are skewed, it causes negative consequences. Among all possible punishments, the death
penalty is the most extreme, and likely, the most ineffective and unfair type of punishment for any crime.
However, there are many proponents with opposing viewpoints. First, the death penalty is more costly
than other less severe types of punishments; second, it is against humanity’s moral code as it is still a
form of murder; and finally, justice may not be ensured if the jury holds biases against convicts.
Main Point:

Supporting Details:

Summary:

Prepared by:

SWEETCELLE AIRA J. GARCIA

Teacher II
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References

A. Books
Valdez, P. N. M. (2016). English for the globalized classroom series: English for Academic and Professional
Purposes. Quezon City: The Phoenix Publishing House.
Saqueton, G. and Uychoco, M.T. 2016. English for Academic and Professional Purposes. Quezon City: Rex
Printing Company, Inc.
B. Electronic Files
Department of Education. Curriculum and Instruction Strand. K to 12 Most Essential Learning Competencies with
Corresponding CG Codes.
Department of Education. English for Academic and Professional Purposes. (2016). Teacher’s Guide. First
Edition.
Department of Education. English for Academic and Professional Purposes. (2016). Reader. First Edition.
C. Online Sources
https://philnews.ph/2020/04/06/narrative-essay-on-enhanced-community-quarantine-due-to-covid-19/
https://www.thoughtco.com/summarizing-strategies-for-students-4582332

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