Chapter 9 Summarizing Information and Research Findings

1. Chapter 9Summarizing Information and Research Findings

2. Learning Objectives • Understand the role of summaries in workplace communication • Differentiate among four special types of summaries: closing summaries, informative abstracts, descriptive abstracts, and executive abstracts • Consider ethical issues when writing summaries

3. Learning Objectives (continued) • Understand the role digital media plays in the length and content of a summary • Plan, write, and evaluate a summary of a long document

4. Summaries A summary is a restatement of the main ideas in a longer document. The purpose of a summary is to provide only an overview and the essential facts. It should do three things for readers: • Describe, in short form, what the original document is all about. • Help readers decide whether to read the entire document, parts of it, or none of it. • Give readers a framework for understanding the full document that will follow if they do plan to read it.

5. What Readers Expect From a Summary Readers expect the following from a summary: • Accuracy. It should reflect the content, emphasis, and line of reasoning of the original document. • Completeness. Though shorter, it should represent all of the main ideas of the original document. • Readability. It should be clear, straightforward, and easy to understand. • Conciseness. It should be readable in a few minutes at most. • Nontechnical style. It should be simplified from the original, but not distorted.

6. Guidelines for Summarizing When summarizing a longer document, follow these guidelines: • Read the entire original. • Reread the original, underlining essential material. • Edit the underlined information. • Rewrite in your own words. • Edit your own version. • Check your version against the original. • Rewrite your edited version. • Document your source.

7. Special Types of Summaries There are four special types of summaries:

8. Special Types of Summaries (continued) • A closing summary appears at the beginning of a long report’s conclusion section and helps readers review and remember the preceding major findings. • An informative abstractappears just after the title page of a long report and encapsulates what the full version says: the need or issue that prompted the report, the research methods used, the main facts and findings, and the conclusions and recommendations.

9. Special Types of Summaries (continued) • A descriptive abstract appears at the beginning of a long report and merely describes the report in the briefest and most general manner possible; it doesn’t give the report’s main points. • An executive abstractfalls at the beginning of a long report and essentially “replaces” the entire report. Aimed at decision makers rather than technical audiences, its purpose is to motivate readers to act on the information.

10. Ethical and Global Considerations In Summarizing Information Consider the following ethical pitfalls and global considerations when summarizing information: • A summary may fail to communicate the full story of the original document, which is a form of distortion. • A summary may change the message of the original document, which is a form of distortion. • A summary may change the original writer’s intent, which is a form of distortion and plagiarism. • A summary may leave out material highly relevant to global or diverse readers. Don’t assume “common knowledge.”

11. Review Questions 1. What is the definition and purpose of a summary? 2. What are the five things readers expect from a summary? 3. What is the first step you should take when writing a summary? 4. What is a closing summary? 5. What is an informative abstract? 6. What is a descriptive abstract?

12. Review Questions (continued) 7. What is an executive abstract? 8. What are four pitfalls of writing summaries in terms of ethical and global considerations?