Eas Workshop Session 9 Summarizing Skills

English for Academic Studies (Workshop) Semester 1, 2009/10

Session 9: Summarizing Skills © PolyU HKCC

Circle the letter of the title that best summarises the following selection. Then summarize the paragraphs within 40 words. Domestic violence has become a burgeoning problem in Hong Kong.

It is

unsurprising that local news have frequently reported cases of domestic violence. Victims, in most cases women and children, have frequently endured years of physical and emotional abuses before any intervention is done.

In some cases, the much needed

intervention simply comes too late. It is often felt that more things, like stepping up the penalties and amending the existing law, should be done by the government to reduce the number of domestic violence incidents.

While stricter policies may help deter certain forms of abuses such

as physical and/or sexual abuses, educating the public about the signs and seriousness of spousal abuses is indispensible to the prevention of them. Enabling the abused spouse to recognize abuse at the initial stage is particularly vital. Experiencing excessive fear of one’s partner or having an extremely controlling partner may already be a telling signal of having an unhealthy, and/or even, abusive relationship.

Simultaneously, the public

should be encouraged to listen to those abusive stories and speak up if they ever suspect that someone is being abused by his or her partner.

If more people can notice and

acknowledge the seriousness of domestic violence earlier, fewer people need to suffer at the hands of their abusers. 1. Which title best summarises the above selection? a. Domestic Violence b. Seriousness of Domestic Violence c. Ways of Preventing Domestic Violence 2. Summarize the selection within 40 words: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

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English for Academic Studies (Workshop) Semester 1, 2009/10

Session 9: Summarizing Skills © PolyU HKCC

Since the purpose of writing a summary is to shorten and revise the original materials, we should follow the following steps in drafting a summary: Step 1:

Read the whole selection and pay particular attention to its title, headings, and first and last paragraphs.

Step 2:

Re-read the work and identify areas of importance (main ideas).

Step 3:

Take note of the important points and remove all the unnecessary details.

Step 4:

Draft the summary using synonyms and new sentence structures.

Step 5:

Revise the summary so as to make sure the summary is phrased very differently from the original text.

Exercise C1: Sumamrise the following sentences within 25 words without changing their meaning. 1. Of all the regrets in my life so far, one of my greatest regrets is that I didn't spend enough time to have fun and enjoy my life when I was young and this perhaps explains why I always crave for more adventures and excitement, and why I always emphasize happiness should take precedence over other aspects like career, money, etc. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. I always believe that unhappiness is caused by irrational thoughts and unrealistic expectations.

Some people may experience tremendous pains when their love

terminates prematurely or beyond their expectations.

However, if they can stand

apart and reflect rationally, they will realize that love is by nature short-lived and it will come to end, either through death, divorce, betrayal, etc., sooner or later.

If they

can perceive the truth, it is clear that their pain can be assuaged.

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English for Academic Studies (Workshop) Semester 1, 2009/10

Session 9: Summarizing Skills © PolyU HKCC

____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. Although there is no single formula leading to success, a person’s ability to perceive things differently and thus behave differently from the majority appears to be quite essential.

When people dare to undertake a different course of action, they tend to

leave a stronger impression upon others. ____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Exercise C2: Read the following passage and then write a title and a one-sentence summary within 40 words. Although the Internet has frequently been characterized as a male-dominated domain, recent evidence indicated that the gender gap in the Internet use has been rapidly diminishing.

Nowadays, both men and women appear to have equal access to the cyber

world. Despite the equal accessibility, some differences are still perceivable in terms of the Internet use between the two sexes.

One of the obvious differences lies in the type

of information that males and females search for or spend time on.

While men tend to

spend more time exploring new information such as sports news, weather information, news on stocks markets etc. through the Internet, women use it for sharing information (through blogs and/or Facebook) and/or communicating with others (through email and/or MSN).

Such difference surely reinforces the established stereotypes we find

between the genders, which males are less sensitive to human relations and are more adept at logical analysis and calculations and females are predisposed to connecting, communicating and caring others. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

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