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Full stops in essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Full stops in essays (a full stop is sometimes called a ‘period’) are used at the end of complete sentences – like this one.

2. The only common exception to this rule occurs when the sentence is a question or an exclamation (both of which should be avoided in academic essays).

Is this question really necessary?
What a mess!

Notice that both these marks of punctuation have their own built-in full stop.

3. The stop is also used following abbreviations:

ibid.     No. 1     ff.     e.g.

4. The stop is not necessary following common titles which are shortened forms of a word (technically, contractions):

Dr     Mr     St     Mme

5. Full stops are not necessary after the initial capital letters commonly used as abbreviations for the titles of organisations and countries:

NATO     BBC     UNESCO     USA

6. They are not used where the initial letters of a standard work of reference is used as an abbreviated title:

OED [Oxford English Dictionary]
DNB [Dictionary of National Biography]
PMLA [Papers of the Modern Languages Association]

7. No full stop is required if a sentence ends with a title or an abbreviation which contains its own punctuation:

He is the editor of Which?

She gave her address as ‘The Manor, Wilts.’

8. Full stops should not be used after titles, headings, or sub-headings.

Introduction
The Turn of the Screw
Industrial Policy Report

9. The stop is normally placed inside quotation marks but outside a parenthesis:

“What joy we had that particular day.”
Profits declined (despite increased sales).

10. However, if the quotation is part of another statement, or the parenthesis is a complete sentence, the full stop goes inside:

Mrs Higginbottam whispered “They’re coming”.

There was an earthquake in Osaka. (Another had occurred in Tokyo the year previously.)

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Generalizing in essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. You should avoid generalizing in essays. It works against the spirit of academic inquiry, and leads away from precision and accuracy. Instead, it leads towards sloppy thinking and the sort of empty prejudice which fills tabloid newspapers.

2. Generalizing often arises from attempts to avoid the first person mode, or from misguided efforts to appear rather grandiose in style.

‘Encountering Katherine Mansfield’s well-sculpted prose, the reader immediately feels that …’

3. As a substitute for ‘I feel …’ this is both clumsy and unacceptable. It suggests that all readers will respond in the same way and that there is only one possible response to the subject in question.

4. Try to avoid this expression and all its variations, such as ‘the reader becomes involved with…’ and ‘the reader’s attention is gained … ‘.

5. Another common form of generalizing arises when a specific example is discussed as if it were a general truth. It might be tempting to say ‘Thus Marx’s work shows us that …’ However, this suggests that you have read everything Marx ever wrote – which is probably not the case.

6. Variations of this approach occur in phrases such as ‘Women in the nineteenth century were all …’ and ‘The French have always been a nation which finds it impossible to …’.

7. Whatever the conclusions to these two statements, they are making claims about every woman in the nineteenth century and the entire population of France. Neither statement is likely to be true, because there will be so many exceptions.

8. The solution to this problem (in both cases) is to be more accurate and precise. This is a matter of clear thinking rather than written style – but it is at this point that the two subjects intersect.

9. If you wish to make such a claim but do not have exact numbers or percentages – then you should be more cautious and modest. You could at least say ‘Many women in the nineteenth century were …’ and ‘Many French people seem to …’.

10. Keep in mind that most essay assignments are asking you to deal with the specific details of your subject. You will gain more credit for claims which are modest yet accurately supported, than ones which are grandiose but unproven.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Generating ideas for essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Generating ideas is a useful preliminary stage when faced with an essay writing task. Start by ‘brainstorming’ the subject or the topic(s) concerned. This is often a good way to produce material for planning your answer.

2. Keep in mind that it is a preliminary stage in the essay writing process. It is designed to supply you with ideas, topics, and material for preparing the essay.

3. Take a sheet of blank paper and write in the middle of it the subject, topic(s), or the question concerned. Then, write down everything that comes into your mind which is connected with the question or the subject. Do this without editing or questioning your thoughts in any way.

4. This should be done in note form, single words, or with very brief reminders. Do not try to write out grammatically complete sentences.

5. Give your thoughts a chance to flow freely. Use one-word triggers,
abbreviations, or even symbols. Write down even trivial or vaguely associated items. They might help you to make connections with other items which are more centrally important to the subject.

6. When you have finished doing this, your task will be to make some sense of the topics or the ideas you have produced. You will need to put this material in some sort of order. This process is often known as categorizing.

7. Prior to that stage however you might first look over what you have written down. Eliminate anything which is not connected to the subject in question.

8. Be as rigorous as possible at this stage. Keep asking yourself “Are these arguments or topics directly relevant to what the question is asking for?”

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Grades in essay results

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. There are two systems of essay grades commonly used in further and higher education [in the UK]. One is the numerical percentages system of grades (from 0 up to 100) and the other is the alphabetical letter system (from A to E, F, and G).

2. Older, traditional universities sometimes employ a similar system, but using the initial letters of the Greek alphabet – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.

3. Those using the English and Greek letter system often employ the further refinement of a plus and minus system to provide a greater degree of discrimination. In this system, the grades Beta-plus (B+) and Alpha-minus (A-) represent incremental grades between Beta and Alpha.

4. Although these systems are in widespread use, there might be minor local variations. An example of the other common [sixteen-point] marking scheme is given below. See also the section on assessment.

5. In numerical percentages especially, there is sometimes a sense of fuzziness about the distinctions between one grade and the next. It is also quite common not to award percentages over eighty.

6. The percentage and letter grades, corresponding to the standard university degree classification, are as follows:

CLASS PERCENT LETTER
First class (I) 70% or over A
Upper second (II.i) 60-69% B
Lower second (II.ii) 50-59% C
Third class (III) 40-49% D
Pass/Fail 34-39% E
Fail Below 34% F

7. For most courses, the boundary between a pass and a fail will be forty percent. Below this there can be different levels of failure. A tutor might award thirty-five to record a near miss. This could permit a student to re-submit a piece of work or maybe to re-sit an examination. The band of marks between thirty and forty is sometimes called a ‘compensatory pass’.

8. A mark as low as twenty-five suggests a basic misunderstanding or a serious lack of achievement. Below this, there are further possible degrees of failure. These marks may sometimes be designated as E, F, and G in the letter grading system – though some institutions stop registering grades at D.

9. Low marks for individual pieces of work might nevertheless be significant depending on the system for calculating an overall course grade. One single low essay grade on a course might bring down an average score – or it might be disregarded as an aberration if all other grades were high.

10. Above forty percent there is a band of ten marks which designate a ‘bare pass’. The question has been considered, but that is all. The answer might be weak and hesitant, either in the arrangement of its ideas or in the quality of its arguments and evidence. The manner of expression might also be shaky. This band corresponds to the D grade in the letter system or a third (III) or pass mark in the traditional university system.

11. Work which scrapes through the pass mark will usually suffer from a number of weaknesses. The answers might have been very short, the focus of the argument might have wandered on and off the required subject. It might lack coherence and structure, and the expression may have been hesitant or clumsy. In work of this calibre there is often no indication that the student knows which is the more and which the less relevant part of the argument.

12. The higher the grade awarded to an essay, the greater must be the proportion of material it contains which is directly related to the question. Conversely, there should be as little as possible which is not relevant. The success of the work, in almost all cases, is directly related to the ability to focus single-mindedly on the question topic(s).

13. Next comes the band between fifty and sixty percent. Grades at this level represent a greater degree of competence, both in terms of handling the issues and the manner in which they are expressed. There may be a greater degree of fluency in the written style, and the generation of ideas. More supporting evidence may have been offered, or examples discussed. However, there will still be weak patches, and possibly mistakes or omissions which dilute the overall effect of the essay. This band corresponds to the C grade or the lower second (II.ii) in the other grading systems.

14. Grades between fifty and sixty are perfectly respectable. They represent rising degrees of competence in handling the issues raised by the question. These grades reflect an average ability in the subject at this level – yet they often seem to cause more problems than any other grades. Many students imagine that such results represent a humiliating failure to succeed, when in fact they demonstrate competence and success – albeit at a moderate level.

15. In the next band, between sixty and seventy, there will be a rise in the quality of written expression, argument and evidence. There will also be far less extraneous material and usually a greater degree of self-confidence in the writing. The essay will demonstrate an ability to focus attention on the question. This is a standard which shows a well informed and firm grasp of the issues involved, and the intellectual capability to deal with them. This band corresponds to the B grade or the upper second (II.i) in the other systems.

16. Students often want to know (quite rightly) what constitutes the difference in quality between two results, one of which might score 59 and the other 62 percent. This is a gap of only three marks, but enough to make the distinction between a lower and upper second level pass. The answer is that the better work probably has a stronger sense of focus and structure, presents more concrete evidence, or makes a closer engagement with the details of the question.

17. The regions beyond seventy or seventy-five are normally reserved for work which is clearly outstanding in its quality, intellectual breadth, and fluency of articulation. Answers pitched at this level are likely to be very confidently presented, and they will demonstrate a breadth of knowledge and reading in the subject which make it especially praiseworthy. Marks in this band are often awarded to work which not only answers the question but say something insightful or original about it as well. This band corresponds to the A grade or first class award (I) in the other systems.

18. Keep in mind however that essay questions do not require you to be dazzlingly original. Your tutors will be perfectly happy to award good grades to work which shows that you have studied the course material and answered the question.

19. Most institutions use similar standards of assessment, even though many of them do not make the criteria explicit. Here is one which does.

SIXTEEN-POINT MARKING SCHEME
Grade Degree     Guide to interpretation
90/85 1 Outstanding work
78 1 Work of exceptional merit, in terms of coherence, clarity of presentation, comprehensive coverage and critical analytic discourse.
73 1 Excellent command of relevant material, clearly expressed, with a high level of perception and critical insight.
68/63 2.i Based on wide reading and critical analysis of material. Work is logically structured, is expressed clearly, offers broad coverage of the topic, and is accurate in points of detail.
58/53 2.ii Work is satisfactory in structure and expression, and is based on a fair range of reading. The student has thought through the subject, tackled most relevant issues with reasonable accuracy, and has attained an acceptable level of understanding.
48 3 Work has some merits, but is deficient in one or more significant respects. For example, structure and expression are poor; certain issues are misunderstood; factual errors creep in; insufficient reading; lack of evidence of independent thought.
43 Pass Work is deficient in several respects or badly deficient in one of them, but nontheless has some recognisable merit.
33 Fail Some awareness of the dimensions of the question/issue, but the communication of knowledge and understanding is limited and/or error-prone. Alternatively, the communication of knowledge and understanding is of a related subject, which represents a misreading or misunderstanding of the question/issue as set.
25 Fail Sufficient knowledge to indicate a minimal level of understanding, but knowledge based unacceptably weak.
15 Fail No coherent response to the question/issue, but a few relevant points made.
8 Fail Virtually no relevant response to the question or issue.
0 Fail No relevant response to the question or issue.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Grammar checkers for essay writing

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Grammar checkers will help you to avoid some of the most common stylistic pitfalls. These include over-long sentences, cloudy grammar, unrelated clauses, bad punctuation, and dangling participles [which can be very painful].

2. These programs are generally designed to encourage clear, plain prose. This is a good model to follow for most forms of writing. Be prepared to split up over-long sentences or to simplify the syntax of chained clauses.

3. Most checkers give you the option to adjust settings for different types of writing. For instance, they will allow you to select a formal style, in which any mistakes in conventional grammar are corrected. Alternatively, you might choose an informal style as acceptable [not a good idea]. You could even choose to accept more jargon if you were writing for a specialist readership.

4. For academic writing, you should choose a formal writing style. This will throw up queries on anything which is shaky or unorthodox. It will also put a limit of something like twenty or thirty words on sentence length.

5. The checker will present alternate choices of words for what it regards as ‘mistakes’. Do not blindly accept them. The near-synonyms offered may be drawn from different contexts. If necessary, take the trouble to look up the meanings of these words in a dictionary.

6. Some grammar-checkers incorporate spelling-checkers. Use these in the same way – with a combination of patience and scepticism.

7. Grammar-checkers are a fairly recent development. They are not yet very sophisticated. Moreover, grammar and syntax are subtle and complex matters. It is not always possible for a machine to make sensitive distinctions between linguistic usages which represent tasteful or even accurate discrimination.

8. It has to be said that they are also notoriously unpopular, because they seem to be throwing up ‘mistakes’ in your work. But if you can overcome your irritation, you are very likely to improve the clarity of your writing by using one.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Grammar in essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

sample from HTML program and PDF book

1. Grammar in essays (and elsewhere) is the system of rules which govern the formal use of written language. You should follow these conventions as closely as possible. In writing, poor grammar creates a bad effect.

2. Don’t try to remember lots of grammatical ‘rules’ (many of which are anyway not absolute). Instead, you should simply take care with your choice of vocabulary, your construction of sentences, and the use of simple syntax.

3. You can usually improve your grammar by writing in short, clear sentences. These should follow the syntax of a normal statement in English:

Subject — Verb — Object

The man — was — very tall

4. Double check the following guidance notes. They will help you to create a clear and trouble-free style.

grammar in essays Sentences

grammar in essays Punctuation

grammar in essays Case agreement

grammar in essays Paragraphs


Checklist

  • Avoid a casual or a chatty tone
  • Avoid very long sentences
  • Develop a simple and clear style
  • Be consistent in use of tenses
  • Check for full case agreement in your sentences
  • Punctuate your writing clearly and simply
  • Take special care with the apostrophe
  • Be careful with the semicolon and the colon
  • Re-write and edit your work
  • Eliminate anything vague or over-complex
  • Use a spelling-checker and a grammar-checker

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Grammatical tense in essays

August 25, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. The grammatical tense in which an essay is written should be chosen according to academic conventions. If your subject is connected with an earlier historical period, then the past tense will probably be suitable. If it is contemporary, then the present tense might be preferred.

2. When dealing with a literary text, the easiest manner of discussing its events and characters is to use the present rather than the past tense. The present tense is less cumbersome to deal with, and you are less likely to become grammatically confused when dealing with topics from different points in the chronology of events.

3. The following example illustrates a perfectly acceptable manner of presenting an argument in an essay on Charles Dickens’s novel, Great Expectations:

When Pip leaves Joe and the forge to enjoy his newfound expectations in London, he feels a momentary twinge of doubt as he notices that …

4. The present tense is a ‘neutral’ mode of discussion from which you can easily move back momentarily into the past and even forward into the future tense when necessary:

When Pip leaves Joe and the forge … whereas earlier he had been closer to him, just as he will later become again when they are reconciled following the novel’s denouement …

5. This may seem slightly odd at first, because most fictional narratives are themselves written in the past tense. The logic of this procedure however is that your essay is dealing with a text that will never change. Pip will always leave the forge, just as he and Joe will always be reconciled.

6. Essays dealing with history or political issues of the past are normally and most logically written in the past tense:

Within six weeks of the revolution Cossack armies and other ‘white’ forces were already mustering in south-eastern Russia; the Ukraine, egged on by French and British promises, was in a state of all but open hostilities against the Soviet power; the Germans, in spite of the armistice, were a standing threat in the west.

E.H. Carr, The Bolshevik Revolution 1917-1923: Volume One, London: Penguin: 1984, p.167

7. Some people try to give a sense of vividness or urgency to their writing by casting their narratives in what’s called the ‘dramatic present’ tense. The result is often modish and posturing. This should be avoided in academic writing.

Within six weeks of the revolution Cossack armies and other ‘white’ forces are already mustering in south-eastern Russia; the Ukraine, egged on by French and British promises, is in a state of all but open hostilities against the Soviet power; the Germans, in spite of the armistice, are a standing threat in the west.

8. When writing scientific reports, the past tense is generally to be preferred. ‘The solubility of potassium dichromate in chloroform was measured’. However, when the item at issue is a fact or a constant, it may be spoken of in the present tense because it will not change: ‘The dipole moment of hydrogen chloride is 1.05 Debye’.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Harvard referencing in essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Some subjects adopt the Author-Date method of referencing – which is also known as the Harvard referencing system. Full details of the texts you have quoted are placed in a bibliography at the end of an essay. These details are recorded in the following order:

Author – Date – Title – Place – Publisher

Smith, John. (1988) The Weavers’ Revolt, Chicago, Blackbarrow Press.

2. References in your text give the surname of the author, plus the publication date of the work to which reference is being made. This information is placed in brackets – thus:

Some research findings (James and Smith 1984; Brown 1987) have argued that these theories are not always reliable.

3. When you wish to draw attention to a particular page, this is done by simply adding the page number directly after the date of publication:

The development of these tendencies during the 1960s have been discussed by Brown (1977,234) and others (Smith 1992,180 and Jones 1993,88-90).

4. Note that when the author’s name is given in your text, it should not be repeated in the reference. You should simply give the date, then the page number(s). When you give the author’s name, the reference should either follow it directly, or it may come at some other point in the same sentence:

Smith (1987,166) argues that this was …
Smith, who is more positive on this issue, argues (1987,166) that …

5. If two or more works by the same author have the same publication date, they should be distinguished by adding letters after the date. (This can be quite common with journal articles.):

Some commentators (Mansfield 1991b and Cooper 1988c) have argued just the opposite case, that …

6. The list of texts which appears at the end of your essay should be arranged in alphabetical order of the author’s surname. The list differs from a normal bibliography in that the date of publication follows the author’s name:

Mansfield, M.R.1991a. ‘Model Systems of Agriculture in Early Britain’ Local History Journal Vol XX, No 6 ,112-117.

Mansfield, M.R.1991b. ‘Agriculture in Early Britain’, History Today Vol 12, No 3, 29-38.


Bibliography

Beeton, I. 1991 Beeton’s Book of Household Management, Chancellor Press.

Best, G. 1979 Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-75, Fontana.

Burman, S. 1979 (ed), Fit Work for Women, Croom Helm.

Darwin, E. 1890 ‘Domestic Service’, The Nineteenth Century, Vol.28, August.

Davidoff, L. 1973 The Best Circles, Croom Helm.

Davidoff, L. 1974 ‘Mastered for Life: Servant and Wife in Victorian and Edwardian England’, Journal of Social History, Vol.7.

Davidoff, L. 1987 and Hall, C., Family Fortunes, Hutchinson.

[…and so on]

© Roy Johnson 2003

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How to present documents

February 16, 2013 by Roy Johnson

document structure and presentation skills

How to present documents effectively

When you have finished writing and editing an important document, you need to present it in the best possible way. You should create what are called the front and back materials.

The front and back materials comprise any or all of the following parts.

Front materials How to present documents

  • Title page
  • Preface
  • Contents page
  • Executive summary
  • Introduction

Back materials

  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Glossary
  • Appendices

Front material

The title page

The title page should contain:

  • The title of the document
  • The date
  • The writer’s name
  • The recipient’s name

Example

Proposal

Installing new records system

for

Bindweed Mowers Ltd

 

Written by John Atherton

10 September 2010

For the attention of Jane Brown

Preface

A preface is a short preliminary text which puts the main document into a specific context. Its purpose is to prepare the reader for the main content of the report or proposal that follows.It is a form of ‘introduction’ to the main document. A preface may not always be necessary – but here’s an example:

Preface

This report is based on the research carried out by Myers and Carrston in 1991. Their findings were so revolutionary in the field of preventative medicine that we could not ignore the need to consider genetic modification as a way forward.

We trust that the reader will understand that since the start of the research project, there have been significant shifts resulting from both political and scientific pressures in this field of scientific development.

Contents page

The function of the contents page is to provide an easy way of locating the sections, chapters and any other parts of the document.

The titles of the various sections and chapters should be listed accurately and consistently along with the relevant page numbers.

The titles should appear on the left of the page and the numbers on the right.

Contents

Introduction

Section I

Ledwards and Smith
Recent decline of the industry
The recovery period

Section 2

Questions for the Ministry
Death of sixteen patients

Executive summary

An executive summary is sometimes included at the beginning of a long report or proposal. It gives an overview of the main points contained in the longer document.

For instance in a report, the findings might be summarised along with some recommendations for further action.

In a proposal, the idea, along with items such as the costings or the main problems might be summarised.

The audience for an executive summary is people who needs to be aware in outline of what is going on. These people do not need to know the detail, and so can assimilate the main points or issues without needing to read the whole of a long document.

Introduction

An introduction should provide a context for rest of the document. It should set the scene for what is to follow.

It might provide an explanation of why the document has been written; the topics which will be under consideration, and its overall purpose.


Back material

Glossary

A glossary is needed in a document which uses a lot of technical issues. Words which are specialist or technical jargon are listed, usually in alphabetical order, each with a brief definition.

The glossary can also be used to explain acronyms used in the place of companies or organisations – such a NWBF = National Wholesale Bakers Federation.

Appendix

An appendix contains material which supports or expands on material in the body of a report.

  • survey materials such as questionnaires
  • raw data gathered in the study
  • regulations or statutes
  • illustrations, maps, or diagrams

Bibliography

A bibliography lists the publication details of any work referred to during the preparation of the report, such as books or periodicals.

Each bibliographic entry contains the following information – in this sequence

Bibliography – books

  • name of author(s), surname
  • full title of book (in italics)
  • series (if any)
  • volume number (if applicable)
  • edition (if not the first)
  • city of publication
  • publishers name
  • publication date

Jones, Seymour, and M.Bruce Cohen, The Emerging Business: Managing for Growth, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1983.

Bibliography – periodicals

  • name of author(s), surname
  • title of article (in inverted commas)
  • name of periodical (in italics)
  • volume or date or both
  • page numbers which contain the article

Johnson, Donna. ‘Why Users Need Concepts’, Data Training, November 1986, pp 37-40.

Notes

Notes are sometimes needed to contextualise or to clarify points made in the body of the document. These are sometimes shown at the bottom of the page (as a footnote) at the end of a chapter (as endnotes) or in a section at the end of the whole document.

The item concerned is preceded by a number which corresponds with the relevant number in the note section. In terms of usability, footnotes are the most convenient for readers. (1)

However, they disrupt the appearance of a page, and for that reason the modern tendency is to use endnotes.


NOTES
1. Most word-processors can now arrange any footnotes automatically.

© Roy Johnson 2013


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How to summarize a book

January 8, 2012 by Roy Johnson

What is a book summary?How to summarize a book

A summary of a book is a digest of all its main points. It should be a shorter version or a précis of its main arguments or topics – depending on the type of book.

It should capture the purpose of the book and include the most important parts of the original. Smaller details and illustrative examples will not be included.

The summary should re-cast and express the original material in your own words. It is not enough to quote parts of the original text. That would be a collection of extracts rather than a summary.

A summary should be a reasonable and impartial account of the original, without intruding any bias or value judgements. If you add your own opinions, it will become a book review rather than a summary.


How to summarize

Before you start, get some idea of the length and type of summary you are going to create. Have a look at examples from the field in which you’re working. If this isn’t possible, set yourself a word limit and create an outline plan.

First of all check your book for a table of contents. If it has one this will immediately provide you with some idea of its structure and the nature of the topics it covers.

Next look through the book quickly to get a rough idea of its subject and scope. This will give you a general idea of what to cover in the task ahead. If the book has chapters, these can provide a set of headings for your plan.

You should immediately start making notes. Don’t worry if they are not grammatically complete or well formed. These are the raw materials from which you can make your finished summary later.

Your main task is to capture a general outline of the contents. The amount of effort you put into
creating the summary will depend upon the seriousness of the task and the amount of time you have at your disposal.

Draw up a list of the topics the book covers – or make a diagram. A simple picture of boxes or a spider diagram can often be helpful. Some people visualise their ideas in this way, and it can be a fruitful approach for ‘non-literary’ people.

Look out for topic sentences that signal the main lines of arguments. These are often the first sentence in a paragraph. In good quality writing the remainder of the paragraph should explain and expand on the topic sentence.

Write a one or a two-sentence account of each section you identify. Focus your attention on the main points. Leave out any illustrative examples. Don’t be tempted to fill out your work with a detailed examination of minor details just to fill up the space. This will only weaken the summary.

Work through the text to identify its main sections or arguments. These might be summarized as short paragraphs. Remember that the purpose and definition of a paragraph is that it deals with one issue or topic.


Writing the summary

When you have finished reading the book, you should have a series of jottings, notes, and sentences, maybe a list of topics, and perhaps some half-formed observations. These fragments need to be arranged in some logical or persuasive order, then fashioned into something readable.

You are not obliged to follow the same structure or sequence of events as the original text, but your summary certainly needs a shape or structure as an independent piece of writing. You might choose any of the following approaches in arranging the items of your notes:

  • logical progression – from A to Z
  • increasing significance – from small to big
  • chronological order – from older to newer
  • narrative sequence – from first to next
  • grouping of topics – fruits, vegetables, wines

You might create the plan first, then fill in its parts with your own text. Alternatively, the plan might emerge from your work as you flesh out the parts into complete sentences. Don’t imagine that this part of the process can be done easily at your first attempt.

Expand each of your notes or topics until it makes a grammatically complete sentence. Then put statements dealing with the same topic next to each other. Be prepared to move the parts around until you find their best order.

The central structure of your results will be determined by the content of the book you are summarising. But any summary will be more successful if it has a good introduction and a satisfying conclusion.

The introduction is usually a general statement which presents an overview for the reader. It should launch the subject of enquiry and give some idea of what is to come. The conclusion does the converse – it wraps up the summary with a general statement that encapsulates the whole piece of writing.


Summary or review?

There is a difference between a book summary and a book review. A summary should be a reasonably neutral account of the book and its contents, whereas a review is a personal response to the book which might include criticising or praising the author’s approach. A review might also draw comparisons with other works of a similar kind.

In a summary you will be keeping your personal opinions in check, and concentrating on giving the best account possible of what the book offers. In a review on the other hand, you are often expected to make some sort of evaluative judgement on the approach that has been taken. The sample summary that follows combines both of these approaches.


Sample summary

Chris Baldick is a specialist in literature of the early twentieth century, and this collection of his essays covers the period 1910 to 1940, which is essentially the highpoint of what is now called ‘modernism’.

In terms of structure the first group of chapters covers the social, linguistic, and aesthetic background of the period, and then he discusses writers grouped according to literary forms – short stories, drama, poetry, and the novel. He highlights major figures – James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D.H.Lawrence, and T.S.Eliot – but also considers writers who were once best sellers and held in high esteem, such as Arnold Bennett and Somerset Maugham. These are accompanied by almost-forgotten figures such as Dornford Yates, Aldous Huxley, and Elizabeth Bowen who were very successful in their own time. Part three of the book covers sociological issues such as English names, the Great War, childhood, sexuality, and censorship.

He starts with a well informed discussion of the writer’s relationship with literary commerce. Those who earned most (Arnold Bennett) were successful at exploiting new markets and media such as the newspapers and magazines. He reveals those writers who were sponsored by rich patrons (Joyce) as well as others who were kept by a wealthy spouse. D.H. Lawrence not only made a handsome profit from the subscription-published Lady Chatterley’s Lover but invested it in stocks and shares on Wall Street and made even more.

Each chapter is prefaced by a discussion of new words that became current in the period, a device which provides both flavour and intellectual context. He also includes an interesting consideration of theories of the novel. This involves a detailed consideration of first and third person narrative modes.

There are separate interpretations of all the major works of the period – Howards End, Mrs Dalloway, Ulysses, Women in Love pitched at a level which make his approach to literary criticism accessible to beginners and interesting to those who know the novels well.

The other major strand of his argument is a sympathetic reconsideration of the lesser-known works of the period, such as Walter Greenwood’s Love on the Dole, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Death of the Heart, Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage, and Aldous Huxley’s Chrome Yellow, as well as novels by Robert Graves, Naomi Mitchison, and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

The latter essays are studies in cultural history which take in the attitudes and issues of the period as they were mediated via its literary products. This covers the shattering effect of the first world war on the romantic and pastoral visions of Englishness which had been the establishment ideology during the first two decades of the century. He then traces this effect through the twenties and thirties, showing how a view of modern Britain came to be formed.

There’s a very good collection study resources and suggestions for further reading. These entries combine notes on the author biographies, together with available editions of their major works, plus secondary studies and criticism.

This is the fifth volume of the Oxford English Literary History series. It can be read continuously as an in-depth study of the period, dipped into as an introduction to literary modernism, or used as a rich source of reference.

Chris Baldick, The Modern Movement, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.477, ISBN 0198183100


Why summarize?

There are a number of reasons why a summary of a book might be required. The following are the most common in academic and commercial life.

Exercise

A book summary is often set as a writing exercise, instead of a formal academic essay. It tests both understanding of the book’s content, an ability to digest and express its ideas, a grasp of structure, and the writing skills necessary to produce a readable préis.

The task in such cases is to show your ability to put somebody else’s ideas into your own words, to give a coherent account of the topic under consideration, to produce a coherent structure for your account, and to come to some sort of conclusion concerning the book’s overall value to another reader.

Research

In some subjects of study, you may be required to provide what is called a ‘literature review’. This is a survey of currently available knowledge in the subject. Its object is to show that you understand the latest state of research in your subject.

You are expected to have a full command of the terminology of the subject, and to show that you are aware of its theoretical and methodological issues. You will also be expected to have a full grasp of the academic writing style with regard to footnotes, referencing, and bibliographic presentation.

Assessment

Sometimes a book summary is called for so that other people can judge whether it is suitable for their requirements. This could be when providing librarians with information on which they will base purchasing decisions. Or it could be written for the research division of a company with information which might inform their development plans.

In both cases an impartial summary of content is required, along with an account of any special features which might help the reader reach a decision.

Cataloguing

Sometimes a summary of a book is required for a catalogue, a card index, or an inventory. In such cases the summary is likely to be very short – just enough so that somebody else can see if it’s the sort of book they require.

In these cases it’s important to record all the book’s metadata – that is, information about it’s author, title, publisher, date of publication, and ISBN number. You might also need to describe it physically – noting if it is hardback or paperback. if it contains illustrations, and even its size on the shelf.


Summarize a book without reading it completely?

Is it possible? The quick answer to this question is – “Yes – but only if you are experienced”. You require an intimate knowledge of the subject in question, and you need to be confident in writing summaries. But how is it done?

If you know your subject well, you will immediately put into effect the summarizing skills listed here above. You take into account such matters as the level at which the book is pitched, its potential readership, the range of its contents, its structure, and any critical apparatus which may be attached, such as illustrations, tables, bibliographies, and suggestions for further reading. This provides you with an overview.

Then you need to glance through the preface or any introductory remarks to pick up the general argument or the individual approach of the author(s) to the subject. This requires good skim-reading skills.

Most books are split up into sections or chapters. You need to look through these quickly, making a summary of each one – then combine the notes you make to form a general summary. It may not be a lengthy or in-depth account of the book, but it should be enough for your purpose.

© Roy Johnson 2012


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Filed Under: How-to guides, Literary studies, Writing Skills Tagged With: Academic writing, Essays, Precis, Reports, Research, Study skills, Summarizing, Writing skills

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