北师大外教主讲考博英语(实用必看)

Exercise # 1
First read the article “Deception: The English Essay”.
After reading this article do the summarizing exercises on the bottom of the handout.
Writing a Summary
The First Sentence: An easy way to begin writing a summary is to refer to the author and what they have written about. A general format for the first sentence is as follows:
Example: In his article “Children and Video Games,” Steve Peterson strongly recommends that parents should not allow their Leabharlann Baiduhildren to play video games.
In the article “Men are different than women”, the author describes 10 important differences between men and women.
In this article, the author explains how the Chinese economy has developed so quickly in the last ten years.
The Rest of the Summary
The first sentence should be followed by the main ideas and supporting ideas in the same order that they appear in the text. Remember that all sentences should be stated in YOUR OWN WORDS. If you absolutely must use a sentence or phrase from the original text, make sure that it is put within quotation marks (" "). Also remember that you are just restating what is expressed in the text; you should NOT be adding any of your own opinions.
4. Reports 5. Shows
6. Insists
7. Explains 8. Describes 9. Suggests
Note: Many of these verbs will often be followed by the word “that”.
Other First Sentence Examples
In his/her/the article {“Article name,”} {Author’s name} + {primary verb} + {main idea}.
The First Sentence
In his/her/the article {“Article name,”} {Author’s name} + {primary verb} + {main idea}.
Longer Summaries
Most summaries will be quite short. But if you are writing a longer summary you can add some phrases like the ones below.
The author goes on to say that ... The article (author) further states that ... (Author’s last name) also believes that… (Author’s last name) concludes that…
Then read it carefully, highlighting or underlining the most significant information.
You will want to especially pay close attention to the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Usually the first sentence is the topic sentence and the last a summary of the paragraph so they will have the most important ideas.
The First Sentence
There are a number of primary verbs that can be used in a summary. Some of the most common are listed here.
1. Claims 2. Recommends 3. Argues
Doctorate Students Writing and Speaking Class
“Summarizing” “Articles”
“Subject-Verb Agreement” “More Summarizing”
Writing a Summary
To write your summary, first scan the document you are summarizing to get an overall impression.