Lesson Eight
Summarizing Information; Writing an Abstract
Dr. Nancy Hoagland

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

  1. summarize secondary research in a manner to avoid plagiarism
  2. describe the characteristics of an effective executive summary
  3. write an executive summary
  4. distinguish between an informative abstract and a descriptive abstract
  5. write an appropriate abstract of an Internet source for your class project

 

(Transcript)

||  Readings/ Tasks||
|| Focus Questions  || Lecture || 

 

Readings /Tasks

Readings:

  • Read Markel, Chapter 12 Drafting and Revising Front and Back Matter, "The Abstract," pp. 269-273.
  • Read Course Guide, Unit 6 Summarizing Information, pp. 6-1 - 6-21

Tasks:

  • Submit Assignment 3: Progress Report.. For more information, see the Assignment Sheet for Assignment 3: Progress Report and the Evaluation Sheet for Assignment 3: Progress Report. If you want feedback on a rough draft of this assignment, you can send me a copy as an e-mail attachment before submitting it to me for a grade. Also, if you need an extension on the deadline, please let me know.
  • Make 1 conference post under the conference topic for Lesson 8: Summarizing Information; Writing an Abstract.
    • Writing an Abstract of an Internet Source (10% of the Course Participation Grade)

 

Focus Questions

  1. Why is it important to summarize the contents of a secondary research source in your own words or to use direct quotations for language copied from the original source?
  2. What is the purpose of an executive summary? What are the characteristics of an effective executive summary?
  3. What is an abstract of a document? How is it used?
  4. What is the difference between an informative abstract and a descriptive abstract?
  5. How do you determine the appropriate kind of abstract to write for a given document?

Lecture Notes

NOTE: Lecture notes are intended as a guide to each week's reading assignment from Markel's Technical Communication, 7th ed.. In the notes, I will identify the topics that I consider important in a reading assignment. I will also try to relate the reading assignment to the writing assignments for the course. Questions on the final exam will be based on the objectives, focus questions, lectures notes, and assigned reading for each lesson.

Introduction

In Lesson Eight, the focus is on summarizing information. Summarizing is an important skill used in several different ways when writing a formal report. Some examples are summarizing secondary research sources for use in your formal report, writing an executive summary, and writing an abstract.

In the conference topic for this week, you are asked to write an abstract of an Internet source for your class project. This abstract should be posted in response to the conference topic. You will receive a grade on the abstract that will count 10% of the Course Participation Grade.

REMINDER: Assignment 3: Progress Report for the Class Project is due this week. See the Syllabus, Course Projects for details.


Summarizing Secondary Research in a Formal Report

You probably will need to summarize the content of secondary research for use in the text of your report. You must be extremely careful to write such a summary in your own words or to use quotation marks to identify specific language taken from the original source. You must also document the use of material, no matter whether the ideas are written in your own words or in the exact words of the original. By documentation, I mean you must use in-text citations and a list of works cited.

If you need a review of how to summarize, paraphrase, or quote from a secondary research source, see Chapter 5: Academic Integrity & Documentation from the UMUC Online Guide to Writing and Research.


Chapter 12 Drafting and Revising Front and Back Matter, "The Executive Summary"

Markel defines the executive summary as "a brief condensation of the document addressed to managers, who rely on it to cope with the tremendous amount of paperwork they must read every day" (274). Markel says that for a report of 20 pages, the executive summary should be about one page long. He says that the executive summary should present two major kinds of information: background and major findings and implications.

Markel includes six suggestions for writing an executive summary:

  1. "Use specific evidence in describing the background"
  2. "Be specific in describing the research."
  3. "Describe the methods briefly"
  4. "Describe the findings in accordance with your readers' needs."
  5. "Ask an outside reader to review your draft."
  6. "Decide how to integrate the executive summary within the body of the document." - Such as highlighting it in the table of contents." (277)

If you would like help in analyzing the executive summary of a formal report, see the Interactive Sample document for Chapter 12 from TechComm Web.


Chapter 12 Drafting and Revising Front and Back Matter, "The Abstract"

Markel defines an abstract as "a brief technical summary of the document, usually no more than 200 words" (269). The purpose of an abstract is to communicative the content of a document to a reader with a technical background. The abstract permits use of technical language for a technical reader, whereas the executive summary uses less technical language for a general reader.

Markel classifies abstracts as descriptive or informative. The descriptive abstract "describes the kinds of information contained in the document" (272). It is usually briefer than the informative abstract. On the other hand, the informative abstract gives enough background information to identify the subject and presents a brief summary of the major points contained in the document. Markel says that when you do not know which kind of abstract to write, you should write an informative abstract (272). I agree except in certain instances. When the content of the document is a manual, for example, the document seems to require a descriptive abstract rather than an informative abstract. For good examples of the difference between the two kinds of abstracts, see pages 272-272 in Markel, Technical Communication, 7th ed. NOTE: You should plan to write an informative abstract of the report of your class project to include in your formal report.

 

For additional information on conducting a research project, see Module 2: Planning and Executing a Project.

 

Material for this course was originally written and developed by Michelle Didier, Edward Harris, James Gillin, Pat Kirby, Marj Crane,Danielle Bujosa, Andrew Joyce, Ed Brandmark, Traicy Garey, and Sharon Biederman.

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