Wenn du deine Zusammenfassung schreibst, halte dir vor Augen, dass du zwei Phasen durchlaufen musst:
- SCHREIBEN des Entwurfs
- ÜBERPRÜFUNG deiner Arbeit
SCHREIBEN des Entwurfs
Der Tipp, den dir alle, die sich damit auskennen, geben würden, ist: „Leg deinen Text beiseite und versuche, deine Zusammenfassung anhand deiner Notizen anzufertigen.“
Beginne deine Zusammenfassung mit den wesentlichen Angaben zum Ausgangsmaterial. Gib genaue Hintergrundinformationen zu dem Text, den du zusammenfasst: Titel, Autor/in, Hauptaussage.
Für diesen ersten Teil deiner Zusammenfassung kannst du auf typische Formulierungen zurückgreifen.
[EXPAND Beispiel: Formulierungen für den ersten Absatz]
Der Artikel/Das Buch „(Titel des Artikel/Buchs)“ von (Name der Autorin/des Autors) wurde im Jahr (Jahreszahl) geschrieben-veröffentlicht-verfasst.Das Buch „Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen“ von J. K. Rowling wurde 1997 erstveröffentlicht.
„(Titel des Artikel/Buchs)“ von (Name der Autorin/des Autors) ist (Informationen und Kommentare zu dem Artikel/Buch).
„Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen“ von J. K. Rowling ist der erste Roman der Harry-Potter-Serie, die gerade bei jungen Lesern extrem beliebt ist.
(Name der Autorin/des Autors)s Artikel/Buch/Stück „(Titel der Vorlage)“ ist ein/e (Betrachtungen zu der Vorlage). William Shakespeares Theaterstück „Romeo und Julia“ ist eine berühmte Tragödie und erzählt die Geschichte des berühmtesten Liebespaares der Weltliteratur.
[/EXPAND]Wenn du einen Text zusammenfasst, bist du verpflichtet, deine Quelle zu nennen.
Nach diesem ersten Absatz, erwähne so kurz wie möglich die wesentlichen Aspekte, Tatsachen oder Ursachen/Gründe, die in dem Text erwähnt oder besprochen werden, den du nun zusammenfassen wirst.
Verwende verschiedenste, vorzugsweise neutrale Verben in der Gegenwart (Präsens), um die Gedanken des Texts vorzustellen.
aussagen, berichten, erklären, besprechen, erörtern, aufzeigen, beachten
[EXPAND Beispiel: Wörter und Wortgruppen zur Verbindung von in deiner Zusammenfassung enthaltenen Gedanke]
daher, da/weil, trotzdem/dennoch, andererseits, wie etwa
[/EXPAND]Verwende beim Schreiben eine Sprache, die typisch ist für Zusammenfassungen. Stelle das Material unparteiisch vor. Dein Publikum darf nicht vergessen, dass es sich nicht um deine eigene Arbeit handelt.
Verwende „Formulierungen zur Erinnerung“ deines Publikums daran, dass nicht du der Autor/die Autorin des vorgestellten Materials bist, sondern dass du ihn nur zusammengefasst hast.
Frames that are suitable when you summarise an article or a fictional work:
(authors‘ last name) suggests (main idea)
According to (authors‘ last name), (main idea)
(authors‘ last name)’s article on (topic) discusses the (main idea)
(authors‘ last name) in his/her work, argues that (main idea)
According to „(Title of the article)“ (main idea) has a major impact on (topic)
In your summary use „cue phrases“ to indicate the degree of importance of the ideas you selected from the original text.
Some words and phrases indicate centrality:
it is important to note that…, significantly, in conclusion…, etc.
Others phrases indicate ideas that should be scored lower:
for example, hardly, impossible, etc.
At this stage it is also essential to develop structured sections (paragraphs): divide your summary in well-defined parts (called sections or paragraphs).
Your first draft must be a complete overview of the text you want to summarise. Avoid including in your draft examples, anecdotes, and other redundant information from the text. Use discourse markers that reflect the organisation and controlling idea from the original, for example: classification, chronological order, cause-effect, comparison-contrast.
Conclude you summary with a final statement. This statement should reflect the meaning of the article/book/text from the author’s standpoint.
For scientific, non-fictional works, be careful not to include your own opinions.
REVISING the work
A first draft of a summary always requires improvements, so it is essential to revise it. Refer back to the original text to make sure your summary reflects fairly the authors‘ ideas and his/her degree of certainty on the subject.
Your summary should clarify the original text, using your own words. During this stage it is recommended to check for logical arrangement of your summary.
It is also essential to adjust length of summary: it must be shorter than the original, but keep in mind that the length depends on the purpose of the summary. If the purpose of your summary is to give a general idea of what is in the original, the summary can be very short, less than 1 percent of the original. This is the case of descriptive summaries of books, plays, movies.
The other extreme is the summary which contains all the necessary information, so the user has no need to read the original e.g. executive summaries. For scientific, non-fictional works or for short literary writings, you can tailor your summary to one third of the original text.
The final revision of your work should include the following two steps.
First verify if you respected the „10 commands“ of summarisation:
You included all major ideas in text.
You logically linked each section in your summary.
You were objective and wrote your summary at third person.
You avoided redundancy and repetition.
You limited the length of your summary.
You respected the rules of paraphrasing and quoting.
You did not reproduce literally sentences from original text.
You did not introduce your ideas or opinions in the summary.
You did not criticise the original source.
You did not „rewrite“ the whole original text.
Then, assess your summary and verify if:
- the meaning is the same in your summary as it is in the original text
- you expressed the text’s ideas in your own words
- your summary is shorter than the original text
- the sources of information you used have been clearly referenced in your summary.
PARAPHRASING and QUOTING
Paraphrasing signifies restating an original wording in „parallel phrases„. It means to express in your own words the author’s wordings. You can paraphrase a word, a sentence, or a group of sentences, and even a short story, as a fairy tale or a fable.
Paraphrasing have similar features with summarising: in both cases you must use your own words to express or describe an author’s ideas.
A simple strategy can help you to develop paraphrasing sections in your summary:
- read carefully the fragment you want to paraphrase
- underline any subject-specific word and try to find substitutes for them
- try to express in a different way the information in groups of words
- put your text out of your sight and write from memory the ideas in text.
You will find below good example of paraphrasing a fable by Aesop, an Ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller.
The fable „The North Wind and the Sun“ by Aesop
„The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: „I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that Traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.“
„So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the Traveller. But the harder he blew the tighter the Traveller wrapped his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair.
Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the Traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.“
The story paraphrased in the a Wikipedia page
„The fable story concerns a competition between the North Wind and the Sun to decide which is the stronger of the two. The challenge was to make a passing Traveller remove his cloak. “
„However hard the Wind blew, the Traveller only wrapped his cloak tighter to keep warm, but when the Sun shone, the Traveller was overcome with the heat and took his cloak off.“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Wind_and_the_Sun
Quoting (or quotation) means to use a particular word, phrase, sentence, or even fragment as it appears in the original text. When you quote from a text, you must to reproduce identically the original wording and to put it in double quotation marks. While paraphrasing is an effective way to describe the author’s ideas, quotation allows you to present the way those ideas are expressed by author of a text.
When you summarise a text, it can be challenging to express the original ideas using your own words, or to develop a very compacted restatement of them. In this case you can use quotation. It is also recommended to use quotation when it is necessary to convey to readers the author’s particular wording or specific language.
Keep in mind that a quotation should not stand by itself in a single sentence, especially if you are summarising a scientific, a non-fictional text, an article, etc.
Another important rule is to use quotation only if you have the acknowledgement of the source in your paper. European copy right regulations only permit you to quote only short fragments from a book or from a text that is not subject to copy right laws.
You will find below an example of quoting from classical authors, who wrote about the moral Aesop’s fable „The North Wind and the Sun“.
The fable „The North Wind and the Sun“
„The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: „I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that Traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.“
„So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the Traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the Traveller wrapped his cloak around him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the Traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.“
The fable moral
While modern authors consider that the fable moral could be: „Kindness effects more then severity„, antique author Avianus has a more political conclusion for this fable: „They cannot win who starts with threats„.
The classical French author La Fontaine, in his poem that retold the fable, concludes: „Gentleness does more than violence„, whilst the English writer Walter Crane interprets fable sense as: „True strength is not bluster„.
