SUMMARY WRITING

the advantagesto Read the following extractcareftilly and then, in not more than 55 words, sumrnarise the shopper of shoppingin malls and plazas. emergedas the new form of shoppingin the In the last few yearsshoppingmalls and plazashave andthere is no doubt that they havecome to hasbeentremendous Their impact on shoppers Caribbean. "speciality shops",eachof which has a wider rangeof to a collectionof now have access stay. Shoppers particularkinds of items thatn would be the casein the traditionaldepartmentstore.For example,shoes store,whereasa shoestorein one of thesemalls or would compriseonly one sectionof a department plazaswould display nothing but shoes. They facilitate one-stopshoppingand they But arethesemalls really in the bestinterestof the shopper? your place meet friends in town than in thesebright and luxurious to what better are clean.Moreover, paying deariy for all this luxury? Don't specialityshopsby their very But, isn't the shopper surroundings? part with money for things he or shedoes not really need?Wouldn't the nature encouragethe shopperto stores? shopperdefinitely fare betterby patronizingthe traditionaldepartment of thesemalis and plazasis that they proviciethe opponunity for Somearguethat the main advantage their in other words, the opporfunityfor more peopleto own and manage more peopleto be entrepreneurs; enablethe country by thesesmall businesses activity generated o.."rn As a result,the econonnic businesses. of living" as a whole to enjoy a better standard Worked Example '#Tt::rn1*ith the first paragraph"sentence I statesthat malls and plazasare "the new form of just because it is new? We also learnin shopping".Is this an advantage?Is somethingan advantage "tremendous". Is this an advantage? plazas hasbeen 2.thatthe "impact" of thesenew malls and sentence of drugs?Having but is this an advantage impact on modern society,. Drugs have had a tremendous you carefully considered the first two sentences, no doubt cameto the conclusionthat neithercontained an advantage of shoppingin shoppingmalls and plazas. to the consumer them a now haveavailable.to 3 implies that consumers What aboutthe rest of the paragraph!Sentence it is "speciality Surely Is this an advantage? items in'the se shops". greatervariety of specifickinds of the word "advantage"is nevermentioned it is consumers have more to choosefrom.,You should.that "for example". What does"for example"cue you for? ....So from 4 beginswith oniy implied. Sentence the first paragraph,we have the first advantage'.greater variety. Paragraph 2 1 asksa question.What is sentenceby sentence.Sentence Let us considerthe secondparagraph, 'but' 'really' in this 2 states that thesemalls and plazas sentsnce? suggested and by the words ". . .Sentence We, lot. Is this an advantage? not have to move around a make shoppingeasieras the shopperdoes convenience. therefore,note our secondadvantage'. cleanliness. Sentence 2 also states that thesemalls and plazasare clqan.Our third advantage then'. 'moreover'. What doesthis*indicate? is fourth ..... Therefore, this our Sentence 3 is introducedby Does this advantage:a goodplace to meetfriends.What about'bright and luxurious surroundings'? 'clean' in luntrious and Therefore, fifth is bright 2?.... our advantage meanthe sameas Sentence surroundings

- rhetoricalquegtions. 4, 5, and 6 are also questions .Sentences Sentenced 4 suggests that, in spiteof the advantage, luxur! may also be a disadvantage. Do you inbludethis in your ,r** ary? .".. Sentince5 'speciality suggests that these shops'encourage consumers to be extravagant.Is this an 'advantage'? 'definitely' Sentence 6 suggests (notethe word which is usedin the Ja-. -uy as 'really' in the fi-rst sentence of the paragraph)that the shoppermight do better buying in the traditional departmentstores.Is ihis an advantage to the shopper of buying in malls and plazas? No doubt you havereaiizedthat what the writer has been dealing with in the last three sentences are possibledisadvantages. Therefore,thesewould be irrelevanthad you includedthem in your summary. Paragraph 3 Sentence1 is in two parts and the first part clearly statesthat a main advantage is that more people can becomeentrepreneurs; the secondpart.{#hhbbegins with another cue phrase,:in other words,. What does that indicate?.... Seltence2 implies that 'as a result' of the economicactivity another advantagewould be a better standard of living in the country. So, we have two advantages in tiris paragraph.Shou'idyou include them in your summary? ". If you did include them they would be irceleiant to the questionyou were askedbecause they are not advantages to the shopperwho buys in shoppingmalls and plazas.ihey are advantages to the country. We havegonethrough the extractparagraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence. Let us summarise, in point form the advantages to the consumer of shoppingin malls and plazaswhich we have identified. ADVANTAGES TO CONSUMER OF SHOPPING IN MALLS AND PLAZAS 1. Greatervariety of rnerchandise; 2. Convenience to shoppers; 3 Cleanliness; . 4 A good placeto meetfriends 5. Bright and luxurioussurroundings. using thesepoints,hereis a sampleof what the summarymight look like. Shoppingmalls and plazas provide the shopper with a greatervariety of particularitems than the traditionaldepartment store.In addition,the shopperhasthe convenience of satisfyingmost of his or her needS on one location.Thesemalls are also clean,bright andluxurious, and a good plice to meetfriends. (52 words) You shouldnotice the following aboutthe surnmary. 1. It is written within the numberof words required. 2. It includesno ideasotherthan thosein the original passage. 3. The ideasare expressed in completesentences and flow smoothlyinto eachother. 4. The style is formal, not conversational.

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RRTI"tr'CITTDIIT, BRTEF GUIDELINES FOR. WRIT] tNG THE SUMMARY E

H.r" u.. somebrief guidelinesto follow when doing the summary.

and extractfrom it a title for your notes. 1. Readthe questioncarefullybeforereadingthe passage to the Shopperof That title shouldreflect the task you are askedto perform e.g. "Advantages you are looking for in what of reminder constant acts as a Shoppingin Malls and Plazas".The title you to pick out only what is relevant. , and thus enables the passage 2. Bearing in mind the specifictask given, readthe extractat leasttwice, carefully;once,to form a generaiimpressionof what it is about, how it is presentedor organizedand what the writer's time, to jot down all the relevant points. attitudeis; the second

go sentence by sentence, points: to pickingout the relevant approach Adopta systematic ' paragraph Thatwayyou arelesslikelyto misspoints. by paragraph.
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the foiiowingsuggestions. you shouid bearin minci Whenjotting downyourpoints whicharesimilarunderone statements/ideas/illustrations a) Try to groupa setof specific
oeneral heqdino'
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for a sentence; or a clause a phrase oneword for several, b) Try to substituie morethanoqt in not appear form, does perhaps in a different idea, c) Checkthat the same your list of points. jotteddownall the information/ideas that thatyou have . Readthepassage a thirdtimeSensure a continuous yourjottings to achieve realrange from it. (Ifnecessary, extracted havebeen should flow of ideas) your own ideas or FROM YOTIRNOTIIS. Do not include Write yourfirst draftof the summary in thepassage. not included material
7. You shoulduse your own words as far as possible.However, you shouldnote that thereis nothing wrong with using specific words from the extract once your summary is clear, conoiseand flows the passage. that you understand smoothly.In this way, you would have demonstrated You shouldbe 8. Checkthe numberof words in your draft againstthe number of words specified. if concerned a) your draft is far in excessof the required number of words, b) your draft is far below the numberof words required. the word limit, you must reducethe no. of words WITHOUT OMITTING 9. If your draft exceeds 'telegraphiclanguage'.For example,a sentence suchas THE IDEAS. Do not use " AIIY OF is not acceptable. "Main advantage of owning a car convenience" 10. If your draft is far below the word limit, the chatGs are you may have left out material that ought to be included.

{:r,drs sentence-constructioir Checkforgrammar.spdling, punctuation, ll Write yourfinal version. Marks are allocatedfor language"