SUMMARY WRITING

Suggested procedure

Reading the source text Headings to pgs. Grouping pgs. (text segmentation) Turning notes into full sentences

Technicalities: layout + spell/grammar check

Requirements for a good summary Introduction: (usually one sentence or one paragraph) covers

the main topic + the sourcee.g. The Economist of 16 June 2007 reports on the problem of ......

This is further related to …

Concision (as brief as possible, danger: loss of clarity) Clarity (clear words/sentences/overall structure; topic

sentences, paragraphing, connectors) Objectivity(only the author’s ideas, no personal views) Accuracy (true and precise information on essential

ideas) Completeness(all key ideas, not necessarily in the same

order ) Coherence and cohesion(the text runs smoothly; sentences

and paragraphs are logically linked) Rephrasing* sentences (avoid copying, rewrite in your own

words if possible)

Is this a coherent text? The Economist (7Oct 2006) reports on battles for

natural resources that are being supplemented by the battles for talent. W.Churchill observed that “the empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” Human resources managers point out in some surveys that “attracting and retaining” talent is their number one goal. The hunt for talent has gone global. Companies are moving better jobs offshore and governments have progressed from relaxing immigration laws to luring highly qualified people. Only talent does not guarantee good management. Components like experience, ethical codes and internal controls are also needed. In Enron, talent was promoted faster than other components.

Better if paragraphed?? The Economist (7Oct 2006) reports on battles for

natural resources that are being supplemented by the battles for talent. W.Churchill observed that “the empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” Human resources managers point out in some surveys that “attracting and retaining” talent is their number one goal.

The hunt for talent has gone global. Companies are moving better jobs offshore and governments have progressed from relaxing immigration laws to luring highly qualified people.

Only talent does not guarantee good management. Components like experience, ethical codes and internal controls are also needed. In Enron, talent was promoted faster than other components.

Cohesion The Economist (7Oct 2006) reports on battles for natural

resources that are being supplemented by the battles for talent. This is in line with the opinion of W.Churchill who said that “the empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” Also, human resources managers point out in some surveys that “attracting and retaining” talent is their number one goal.

Indeed, the hunt for talent has gone global. Companies are moving better jobs offshore and governments have progressed from relaxing immigration laws to luring highly qualified people.

However, talent only does not guarantee good management. Components like experience, ethical codes and internal controls are also needed.This is proved by the case of Enron where talent was promoted faster than the other components.

ASSESSMENT(proper spelling and layout are taken for granted)

CRITERIA

Intro: 2 Accur:3 (approx.) Conc: 3 (approx.) Comp:3 (approx.) Clar: 3 (approx.) Obj: 2 (approx.) Reph: 2 (approx.) Coh: 2 (approx.)

Tot: 20

GRADING SCALE:

18.5-20= 5 (excellent)16.5-18= 4 (v.good)12.5-16= 3 (good)10.5-12= 2 (sufficient)0-10 = 1 (fail)

George Orwell’s six elementary rules for good writing (aimed for native speakers of English)

Avoid clichés (e.g. metaphor much used in print) Use short words if possible. Long words tend to obscure

the meaning, or reveal the lack of it).

e.g. participate → take part approximately → about

Cut out unnecessary words Use the active if possible (avoid the passive) (!) Prefer everyday English words to foreign or scientific

ones Break all these rules if necessary

(Politics and the English Language, 1946)

Clear thinking is the key to clear writing (Economist Style Guide) Dear Sir or Madam At times, just one sentence in The Economist can give us hours of

enjoyment, such as “Yet German diplomats in Belgrade failed to persuade their government that it was wrong to think that the threat of international recognition of Croatia and Slovenia would itself deter Serbia.”

During my many years as a reader of your newspaper I have distilled two lessons about the use of our language. Firstly, it is usually easier to write a double negative than it is to intepret it. Secondly, unless the description of an event which is considered to be not without consequence includes a double... negative, then it cannot be disproven that the writer has neglected to eliminate other interpretations of the event which are not satisfactory in light of other possibly not unrelated events which might not have occurred at all.

For these reasons, I have not neglected your timely reminder that I ought not to let my subscription lapse- It certainly cannot be said that I am an unhappy reader.

Yours faithfully Willard Dunning

Bolognese Sauce The Economist, 25 April 2009

NOTES Before Bologna vs. today (pgs. 1,2) Reasons for success (3, 4) Some criticism, too (5) EU vs. US