Summary — Finding the Points
Analyse the organisation of ideas in paragraphs and extended texts, and evaluate its impact on meaning.
The most predictable marks you will ever be set. You reduce a passage to a fixed number of points, in your own words, inside a fixed word limit. The method never changes, so it is worth learning once, properly.
Method
Read the limit before you read the passage
Note three things: how many points, how many words, and whether your own words are required.
One point per paragraph
Writers organise by paragraph. Seven points almost always means seven paragraphs carrying one each.
Examples are never points
Statistics, place names, illustrations and figures of speech support a point. Leave them out.
Four words in a row is lifting
If four or more consecutive words match the passage, rewrite them. This is the most common deduction.
Worked example
e.g. Summarise, in your own words, SEVEN reasons the writer gives for the decline. Write 80 to 90 words.
- Read the instruction twice and note the three requirements.Seven points. 80 to 90 words. Own words.
- Number the paragraphs.Then look for one point in each.
- Underline one point per paragraph. Skip examples and repetition.Seven underlinings, in the order they appear.
- Write the points as rough notes. Do not write sentences yet.Notes only. This stops you copying.
- Turn each note into your own words.Changing the wording is where the language marks are.
- Join the notes into full, flowing sentences.Not bullets, unless point form was asked for.
- Count the words and write the total at the end.Going over is a penalty. Leaving out the count is a penalty.
Practice
These are the four ways the marks are usually lost.
1
A passage has eight paragraphs and you need seven points. Which paragraph probably has none?
AnswerThe opening one, which usually introduces the topic rather than making a point. Check it last.
2
Your summary is 104 words and has all seven points. What happens?
AnswerYou lose language marks for going over. Cut the examples first — they were never points.
3
The passage says: a day of job-hunting costs about sixty dollars in fares, which most families cannot absorb. What is the point and what is the example?
AnswerThe point is that looking for work costs more than families can afford. The example is the sixty dollars. Write the point, drop the figure.
4
You have seven correct points but copied three phrases word for word. Which marks are at risk?
AnswerThe language marks. The content may survive, but lifting is the single most common deduction in a summary.