Like Driving a Car: Writing a summary
When students are asked to summarize something they have read they often take one of two paths; quote most of the article in the summary or don’t include enough material to convey the message to the reader.
Summarizing is an important concept both in creating study notes and writing research papers. After several years of post-secondary education it can become like driving a car.
To explain it to my learners I have asked them to imagine telling their friend about a movie they just saw, or something they heard on the news. Your friend will need the key points to be able to have a conversation with you about it, but you wouldn’t recite a movie or news story word for word. For most people these kinds of conversations are like driving a car and in phrasing it this way learners have a reference point for determining what is or is not an important detail to include.
The video clip is Uncle Colm from Derry Girls in illustration of a summary with too much information.
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