5 HOW TO WRITE A SUMMARY USEFUL PHRASES

5 HOW TO WRITE A SUMMARY Ø USEFUL PHRASES AND DISTRIBUTION Ø TENSES IN TECHNICAL WRITING Ø FINAL TIPS MARIJA KRZNARIĆ, VIŠI PREDAVAČ 1

A SUMMARY IS. . . �A SHORT PIECE OF WRITING �IT CONTAINS THE MAIN IDEAS IN A DOCUMENT �IT CONTAINS ONLY RELEVANT, CLEAR AND PRECISE DATA CONCERNING THE PAPER �IT GIVES ESSENTIAL, BASIC INFORMATION OF THE ARTICLE IN QUESTION 2

SUMMARIZING • MEANS CONDENSING OR SHORTENING A READING SELECTION OR ARTICLE • HAS THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS IN ALL LANGUAGES 3

A SUMMARY SHOULD. . . ANSWER BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL TEXT SUCH AS: 1. WHO DID WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN? 2. WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA OF THE TEXT? 3. WHAT ARE THE MAIN SUPPORTING POINTS? 4. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PIECES OF EVIDENCE? 4

A SUMMARY SHOULD NOT. . . �BE A PARAPHASE OF THE WHOLE TEXT USING YOUR OWN WORDS �GIVE YOUR OWN IDEAS OR CRITICISM �CONTAIN ENTIRE PHRASES OR SENTENCES FROM THE ORIGINAL TEXT; IF SO, QUOTATION MARKS ARE USED 5

A SUMMARY CONSISTS OF. . . �THE TITLE – AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE, USUALLY WRITTEN IN BLOCK LETTERS �THE INTRODUCTION �THE CONCLUSION 6

THE STYLE IS. . �NEUTRAL AND IMPERSONAL not “I”, but “IT”, or “THEY”, sometimes “WE” �PASSIVE VOICE SIMPLE PRESENT SIMPLE PAST PRESENT PERFECT �SHORT SENTENCES �TECHNICAL WRITING GENERAL LEXIS 7 SPECIFIC LEXIS

INTRODUCTORY PHRASES This paper deals with… This paper discusses… This article gives a short description of… This article shows the relationship between… This paper explains the methods used to. . . The subject of the article is… The aim of this article is … It is the chief aim of this paper to… A general survey is given of… A short description is given of… In this article a method for …is presented/described. . . In this article a new formula for…is derived… In this article some basic concepts…are discussed 8

INSTEAD OF PAPER/ARTICLE. . . • THESIS IS USED IF YOU WRITE THE SUMMARY FOR YOUR FINAL* / DIPLOMA / UNIVERSITY DEGREE • YOU MAY ALSO SAY “THE AUTHOR” * bachelor(’s) thesis after undergraduate or first cycle degree (3 years) – B. Sc. master(’s) thesis after second cycle degree (2 years) – M. Sc. 9

TWO POSSIBLE SCHEME DISTRIBUTION OF SUMMARIES: 1. THIS ARTICLE/PAPER SHOWS RELATIONS BETWEEN. . . AND THE. . IN ADDITION A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF. . . IS GIVEN. SOME DATA RELATED TO. . ARE ALSO OFFERED. FINALLY, THE NECESSARY STEPS FOR. . . ARE DEFINED. 2. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE / PAPER / REPORT THE AUTHOR GIVES FUNDAMENTALS OF. . THEN THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP EXISTING / WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN. . IS SHOWN 10 IN THE CONCLUSION, THE AUTHOR UNDERLINES THE IMPORTANCE OF. .

WRITING A SUMMARY IS. . . • LIKE WRITING HINTS OR A CRIB/CHEAT SHEET BEFORE AN EXAMINATION BUT • YOU HAVE TO MAKE SENTENCES OUT OF THEM WHICH WOULD HAVE THE CORRECT WORD ORDER OR SENTENCE SCHEME, I. E. SUBJECT, PREDICATE and OBJECT 11

WHEN WRITING A SUMMARY. . . �YOU MUST TELL THE READER IN YOUR OWN WORDS WHAT THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT AND THE PURPOSE IS TO ALLOW THE READERS TO JUDGE WHETHER IT WOULD SERVE THEIR PURPOSES TO READ THE ENTIRE REPORT OR NOT �IT USUALLY CONSISTS OF 100 TO 200 WORDS. 12

TENSES USED IN TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC WRITING THE SIMPLE PRESENT FOR DESCRIBING PROCESSES OR PROCEDURES OR WHEN MAKING GENERAL STATEMENTS OF FACTS THE PAST SIMPLE WHEN REPORTING A PARTICULAR PROCEDURE AND ONE PARTICULAR OCCASION IN THE PAST IS BEING REFERRED TO THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO REFER TO THINGS RELATING TO YOUR WORK THAT HAVE HAPPENED, OR BEEN SAID, RECENTLY MODALS (CAN, MUST, COULD, MIGHT, SHOULD) ARE USED TO 13 AVOID THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR

THE SIMPLE PRESENT �An electric current (produce) chemical reaction. IS PRODUCED �The unit of electromotive force (name) after Alessandro Volta. by a IS NAMED �During the last two years of study, increasing IS PLACED emphasis (place) on practical training. �A number of programs called „service providers“ (use) IS USED by Microsoft Exchange. �A lot of emphasis (give) services. IS GIVEN 14 to theory of Web

THE PAST SIMPLE �The survey (conduct) students. WAS CONDUCTED by a group of �Then, the results (present) WERE PRESENTED beginning of the fourth semester. at the �That particular current (cause) WAS CAUSED by the movement of extremely small electrically charged particles. �The World Wide Web (invent) Berners-Lee. 15 WAS INVENTED by Tim

THE PRESENT PERFECT �The mathematical relationship between currents and magnetic fields (work) has been worked out over the years. �It (make) has been made possible to measure the amount of electric current flowing through a circuit. �In the last few years the Web (turn) has been turned into writing and publishing medium like nothing ever seen before. �The results of his laboratory experiments (approve, not) have not been approved yet. 16

MODALS CAN / COULD / MUST / MIGHT /SHOULD + BE + PAST PARTICIPLE �It should be made clear that …. . �It cannot be assumed that… �It can be concluded that …. 17

CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER: � 1. The castle in the 15 th century. (build) was built � 2. All these houses have been neglected � 3. The children are taken for decades. (neglect) to school by bus every day. (take) � 4. I can assure you that this box has never been opened � 5. The streets in our town are swept � 6. He was arrested twice a week. (sweep) for something he didn’t do. (arrest) � 7. That building has been left unoccupied since 1990. (leave) � 8. There were too many students so the class groups. (split) � 9. Nothing can be done . (never, open) was split into two about it now. (do) � 10. Batteries must not be thrown 18 in the communal waste. (throw)

SUPPLY THE CORRECT PASSIVE FORM: 1. We have to wait; our passports (take) HAVE BEEN TAKEN by the security officer. 2. I don’t think this apartment (clean) WAS CLEANED yesterday. 3. Look, the fire can (see) BE SEEN from here! 4. Lots of personal things (forget) ARE FORGOTTEN on trams every day. 5. I (wake) WAS WAKED/WOKEN up by the alarm clock at 5 a. m. 6. The prisoner (shoot) WAS SHOT in a cross fire. 7. His English can easily (understand) BE UNDERSTOOD. 8. No one (tell) WAS TOLD the reason for the delay of the aircraft, so we have to wait. 9. Part-time workers (pay) ARE PAID on Fridays. 10. That castle (visit) HAS BEEN VISITED by many tourists since it (re-build) WAS RE-BUILT. 11. Peter (not, see) HASN’T BEEN SEEN in his home town for two years. 19

TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING SUMMARIES 1 The article summarizes the function and purpose of electrical controlling and protecting devices, such as switches, circuit breakers and fuses. Circuit breakers are predominantly used in electrical power engineering. The author discusses the requirements that must be taken into consideration when selecting a circuit breaker for the given application. Five requirements are mentioned, such as maximum voltage stress, rated current, sufficient interrupting capacity and so on. 20

2 The author discusses the main characteristics of electricity supply that affect the generation, and transmission of electricity. Although electricity cannot be stored, it can be controlled so that the generator output as closely as possible equals the connected load. Because of the continuous increase in demand for power, networks must be evolved to meet this demand. When dealing with electricity supply, the distribution and nature of the fuel should also be taken into consideration. Finally, the author discusses in detail the line diagram in which three-phase circuits are represented by single lines. 21

3 This article deals with the development of transmission and processing of messages. The information theory is based on the work of Shannon whose papers were published in 1948. Fundamental to his work is the application of probability theory to communication concepts. Different representation of information and their transformations are mentioned. A theoretical model of a communication model is proposed. At the end, the capacity of the system is also mentioned. 22

FINAL TIPS 1 Write with precision, clarity and economy. Every sentence should convey the exact truth as simply as possible. 2 Ask yourself: “Who will read your text? “ - scientists - students - private people “What are readers intentions? “ - detailed information of the topic - detailed information about selected chapters - short overview with a few details 23

3 Irrelevant material disturbs the flow of reading, so - focus on the topic - stick to the facts - do not digress - do not include all of your results, data, and analyses 4 Long sentences are hard to read and waste time, so - break them down into smaller sentences - use paragraphs; only one main idea in a paragraph, do not use too many citations - avoid meaningless phrases, e. g. instead of: ” Therefore, take a look at Figure 1, where you can see…”, just mention: (Fig. 1) 24

5 Use the appropriate tense; it is better to use passive than active voice; future tense should be avoided 6 If you think you are done, there are still several things to consider about, so - read your text again a few days later - ask some of your colleagues or good friends to read your text critically NB “The best English is that which gives the sense in the fewest short words. ” 25

CHECK YOUR SPELLING Even a slight misspelling can cause confusion of meaning, not to mention embarrassment, e. g. instead of important imp. . . . He gave an IMPOTENT speech on non-renewable energy sources. instead of piece peace or piss Your spell-checker is satisfied with all of them: “Are you? ” Check your spell-checker! 26

BE CAREFUL ABOUT GOOGLE TRANSLATIONS Konačno je došao na usmeni. GOOGLE: Finally came to verbal. Finally arrived an oral. 27

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS, GUYS? 28

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION THERE IS MORE Let’s see some Google translations 29