Summary composing: aims and features

Reid’s book “The process of paragraph writing” (1994, as cited in Pintos, 2008) describes the major points about writing academic summaries. Among other issues, she presented a list of elements that contribute to compose effective academic texts. In this description, main factors such as key features, text organization and purpose are discussed.
To begin with, a summary gives a brief account of relevant facts about a certain issue; this written report requires clarity of presentation as well as avoidance of repetition. In a coherent piece of writing, there are no confusing or incomplete points.
For example, inadequate use of transitional expressions may hinder logical connections between ideas and the reader would not be able to follow the author’s train of thought. This is what composing implies: coherence and cohesion of ideas.
It has a two-role function: knowledge telling and knowledge transforming (Pintos, 2008). So, writing to convey generation of knowledge and/or thought is one of the requirements of disciplinary fields (Pintos, 2008).
Secondly, there are certain discourse conventions that structure academic texts. Summaries have a three-part component: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Each of them made of well-organized paragraphs.
Paragraphs should contain a topic sentence (stating the controlling idea) and supporting sentences (that provide additional facts). In a summary, the introduction provides information about the author, date, type/ title of the text (source) and the main idea of the topic.
The body develops the main ideas in an orderly way. Concluding discourse markers neatly define the final paragraph, which summarizes the content of the body. It is advisable that the writer’s opinion is not included in the text.
On balance, awareness of academic discourse “may help diminish the negative effects of lack of knowledge of appropriate text structures (…)” (Morra de de la Peña, 1995, p.51, as cited in Pintos, 2008).
Thirdly, purpose in summary varies according to the type of text. There are different types of summaries: outlines, abstracts, comparative summaries, précis, private material summaries and academic summaries (Reid, 1994; Swales & Feak, 1994, as cited in Pintos, 2008).
Since academic summaries express understanding about a certain topic in order to construct knowledge, achievement of this goal requires expert domain of discourse skills. Moreover, analysis of an academic summary reveals the student’s level of expertise in composing. Furthermore, composing is the key to succeed in conveying ideas by means of presenting, arguing and supporting information (Reid, 2001, as cited in Pintos, 2008). It is a skill that requires constant training and development.
In conclusion, writing academic summaries imply a high level of academic competence. Since this can only be achieved within a discourse community writers should integrate to it and socialize with other members to fulfill the purpose of writing.











Reference
Pintos, V. (2008). Unit 3: Academic writing. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=2725