Summary and document synthesis
The rules of the summary and the synthesis, the difference between them, the main idea and the example, rewording and the expected length: picking the exercise and sticking to it.
- 26 cards
- 5 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- The numbers
- Scenarios
A few cards from the deck
Summary: what is it?
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A shortened version of one single text, which keeps the author's order and point of view, within an imposed length, with no opinion and no quotation.
Nothing is added and the order does not change: the reader should recognise the text, only shorter. A summary outside the imposed length is penalised.
An article tells of a three-hour outage at a hosting provider, caused by a configuration error. Which sentence suits a summary?
- A configuration error took the host down for three hours.
- In my opinion, this outage could easily have been avoided.
- The author explains that the outage lasted about three hours.
- “A configuration error is at the origin of this service interruption.”
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A configuration error took the host down for three hours.
The right sentence rewords with no opinion and no quotation marks. The others add an opinion, repeat “the author explains that” (pointless in a summary) or copy the text.
A summary keeps to the imposed length, to within plus or minus ….
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A summary keeps to the imposed length, to within plus or minus 10%.
For a 500-word text to be summarised to a fifth, the target is 100 words: the summary must be between 90 and 110 words.
Document synthesis: what is it?
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A text that gathers, according to a new outline, the ideas of several documents on one subject, setting them against each other, without adding one's opinion.
The outline belongs to the writer, not to the documents. Summarising each document in turn is not a synthesis, because nothing is set against anything.