Summarising

SUMMARISING

EXPLANATION

A Summary is a brief account of a passage focusing on the key ideas. It is usually written by the writer in his/her own words. Steps to be followed while summarising:

• First read the passage thoroughly.

• Identify the key ideas.

• Prepare notes including all the important points.

• Write in your own words briefly.

• Make sure that the summary is coherent.

NOTE: A summary is usually shorter than the original passage.

Example 1:

Read the following passage and write a short summary in not more than 100 words:

With Hard Work and Self Belief You Can Innovate Too!

We humans have evolved a lot. From the Stone Age to the Silicon Age, we have not only transformed our life style but also the world we live in. This was possible only because of our understanding of our surroundings and the components of our environment. The modern world is a dynamic one. Its face keeps changing because of the developments made possible by science. What were once considered fantasy and figments of the imagination are now reality. The Mars expedition, disease-resistant crops, mobile phones, satellite communication, cloning all these and much more are the offshoots of advances in science and technology.

I will not be exaggerating if I say that the successful research endeavours of the last century play a major role in the way we lead our lives now. No one can categorically say what technology will define, transform, and revolutionise in the coming years. But we can make a well-thought-out conjecture.

Considering the kind of impact computers and computational systems have on almost all of our ventures like education, communication, vocation, entertainment and media, it canriot be denied that they will play a key role in this century too. It should be mentioned that almost all fields of knowledge are interlinked. Interdisciplinary research is done more than ever now. In fact it is the best thing that could have happened for the frontiers of science.

Individuals who have a passion for their subjects can always apply what they specialise in to any form or genre of knowledge. A golf enthusiast may find ways to hit a ball by using kinematics a branch of classical mechanics that describes motions in terms of position, velocity and acceleration. A cricket crazy individual can help a howler fine-tune the reverse swing by helping him understand the applications of fluid dynamics. A nanotechnologist can flawlessly modify car windscreens' surfaces into super- hydrophobic surfaces and ensure an easy drive even during a deluge.

These are just a few examples of how technocrats can apply technology to make life easy and comfortable for us and also find solutions to larger problems like depleting fuel resources, melting of glaciers, unpredictable weather conditions and extinction of life. forms.

All said and done, I wonder why as students we do not understand or appreciate these innovations and do not even make any attempt to apply what we learn?

"When you start in science, you are brainwashed into believing how careful you must be, and how difficult it is to discover things. There's something that might be called the 'graduate student syndrome'; graduate students hardly believe they can make a discovery," said professor Francis Henry Compton Crick. As youngsters and students you may be under the belief that you need to possess extraordinary skills and talent to innovate and discover. But in reality it is not so. If you do a bit of thinking you will agree with my statement. Individuals who have contributed through inventions and discoveries were normal people like you and me. But they believed in themselves and worked hard. Failure did not stop them from trying. Scientists like Edison stand as examples. You need to be creative and look at things in a different way. Lateral thinking is a skill that you need to develop. Several people must have observed a fruit falling from a tree. But it was only Newton who thought about why it should go down perpendicularly and further inquiry into the issue helped us understand what gravity is.

"When you start in science, you are brainwashed into believing how careful you must be, and how difficult it is to discover things. There's something that might be called the 'graduate student syndrome'; graduate students hardly believe they can make a discovery," said professor Francis Henry Compton Crick. As youngsters and students you may be under the belief that you need to possess extraordinary skills and talent to innovate and discover. But in reality it is not so. If you do a bit of thinking you will agree with my statement. Individuals who have contributed through inventions and discoveries were normal people like you and me. But they believed in themselves and worked hard. Failure did not stop them from trying. Scientists like Edison stand as examples. You need to be creative and look at things in a different way. Lateral thinking is a skill that you need to develop. Several people must have observed a fruit falling from a tree. But it was only Newton who thought about why it should go down perpendicularly and further inquiry into the issue helped us understand what gravity is.

Answer:

Humans have evolved a lot. From the Stone Age to the Silicon Age this transformation was made possible by the understanding of our surroundings. Research in inter disciplinary subjects has enhanced development in various frontiers of science. The impact of computers and computational systems have pervaded into areas like education, communication, vocation, entertainment and media. Interdisciplinary research is providing technocrats opportunity to make life easy and comfortable even in problematic sectors like depletion of fuel, environmental degradation, climate change, etc. But, the mindset of students has to experience dramatic change. They should realize that if they nurture their lateral thinking, creativity skills, etc, innovation will be at their finger tips. All the illustrations cited prove the fact that hard work and self belief are the trump cards for innovation.

Example 2:

 Summarise the following passage and answer the questions below:

The principal application of radium is the use for therapeutic purposes of the biological action of the rays. The biological action is a selective destruction of certain cells and can have very dangerous consequences, but can also be directed. against some tissue, as for instance in the case of cancer. For medical use radium is put into tubes of glass or in platinum needles, sometimes also on flat surfaces recovered by a varnish, for the irradiation of the skin. Another form of use is to keep radium in solution and to extract from time to time the accumulated radon which, introduced into small tubes, has the same efficiency as radium till its activity has disappeared. The use of radium for pharmaceutical preparations has been frequently tried. The scientific basis, however, in this case is far from being well established. Experimentation on the improvement of the soil by small quantities of radium has been till now very limited and some favourable results in this direction have been claimed.

By incorporating radium with phosphorescent zinc sulphide it is possible to obtain luminous paints giving a weak light visible in darkness. The most important use of this paint is for watches. The quantity necessary is of the order of one-tenth of a milligram per gram of zinc sulphide. After several years, the phosphoresent product is altered by the action of the rays and becomes less luminous, though the quantity of radium has not changed appreciably.

Radium in Nature-Radium exists in minute proportion in every kind of soil and water; the extraordinary sensitiveness of the methods of analysis has made it possible to ascertain this fact. If some inactive element is present in the same proportions, we are not able to detect it. The quantity of radium contained in the ordinary soil is of the order of 10-12 or 10-11 gr. of radium per gram while a good radioactive ore contains about 10-7 gr. of radium per gram of mineral.

Radium existing in the depths of the earth is sometimes dissolved by water and affects springs. Other springs dissolve principally the radon liberated by the radium and their activity dies out with the radon. This would explain why certain mineral waters are reputed to be efficient for curative effect only when used directly at the source. Some radio-active waters contain amounts of radium up to 10-10 gr. per litre; the amount of radon can attain 10-7 curies per litre.

The radium in the soil is the origin of the small quantity of radon present in the air and is partly responsible for the natural ionization of the air which is known to be an important factor in the meteorological conditions of the atmosphere. Radium and radioactive elements in general have played an important part in the evolution of terrestrial heat. It is not improbable that the radium present at the surface of the earth in a very dilute state has some connection with the evolution of life on our planet.

Answer:

As everyone is aware, radium has been used in the medical field for many purposes especially in the treatment of cancer. The pharmaceutical usage of radium is in its nascent stage. Experiments are being carried out by using small quantities to improve the quality of the soil. When mixed with phosphorescent zinc sulphide, it produces a luminous paint visible in darkness and most often used in watches. After years, the luminosity gradually is noted to become less.

Radium is found in small quantity in soil and water. It is difficult to detect it when available in negligible quantity. The radon liberated from radium is liberated in water, it will have curative effect when used directly at the source. The radon which has radium as origin is partly responsible for the natural ionization of air and is responsible for the meteorological condition of the atmosphere. Radium in its dilute state has some connection with the evolution of life on our planet.

Exercise

1. Summarise the following passage in about 100 words:

By "biofuels" I mean fuels for vehicles, such as "biodiesel" and "bioethanol' - although you can also use the term "biofuel" to cover any kind of fuel made from living materials or their waste. Biofuels are made from two main sources :

(i) Growing crops such as corn, sugar cane, soya or rapeseed; or from palm oil

(ii) Growing algae for poxering vehicles, the product is usually bioethanol or biodiesel. Bioethanol is mixed with petrol, whilst biodiesel can be used on its own. Biofuels are potentially carbonneutral, because although carbon dioxide is released when we burn both them, carbon dioxide is taken in by the plants as they grow. However, energy is needed to grow the crops, harvest them, and to process the 'results into usable products - and most of this energy will be from fossil fuels for farm machinery and power stations.

Biofuels from crops: Crops such as rapeseed contain oils that can be processed into biodiesel. Crops such as sugar cane contain sugars that can be fermented. into bioethanol. Producing biofuels from crops means using large amounts of land to grow those crops - that means less land for food production. We must be careful to strike a balance between crops for fuel and crops for food.

Biofuels from algae: Algae - that's pond scum are microscopic water plants. They reproduce and photosynthesise fast, and the algae are then filtered out of the water and the lipids (oils) are used to make biodiesel. They can grow in transparent plastic tubes, arranged vertically so we can maximise the area available for photosynthesis without taking up too much land.

It is claimed that biofuels will help us to reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel oil, and that this is a good thing. On the other hand, it is also claimed that it takes a huge amount of land to grow enough crops to make the amount of biofuels we'd need so much so that it makes a big dent in the amount of land available for growing food.

Who is right? Should we be using more biofuels and less fossil fuels? Think about the carbon dioxide - there are similar CO₂ emissions from biofuel-powered vehicles as from petrol-powered ones. It is claimed that growing plants to make biofuels will take in that carbon dioxide again. But biologists tell us that forests are not 'the lungs of the planet' after all - they give out as much CO₂ as they absorb as the plants respire. It seems that it's plant plankton in the oceans that takes in most CO₂ and gives out most oxygen. Biofuels are renewable, we can plant more of the crops or grow more of the algae.

Summary: ____ _____

2. Summarise the following passages:

Mineral resources can be defined as naturally occurring substances that can be extracted from the Earth and are useful as fuels and raw materials. Coal, Oil and Gas collectively called fossil fuels are commonly included in this group, but or not strictly minerals because they are of organic origin. Coal formation begins when vegetation is buried and partly decomposed to form peat. Overlying sediments compress the peat and transform it into lignite (soft brown coal). As the overlying sediments accumulate, increasing pressure and temperature eventually transform the Lignite into bituminous and hard anthracite coals. Oil and gas are usually formed from organic matter that was deposited in marine sediments. Under the effects of heat and pressure, the compressed organic matter undergoes complex chemical changes to form oil and gas. The oil and gas percolate upwards through water-saturated, permeable rocks and they may rise to the Earth's surface or accumulate below and impermeable layer of rock that has been folded or faulted to form a trap an anticline (upfold) trap, for example. Minerals are inorganic substances that may consist of a single chemical element, such as gold, silver, or copper, or combinations of elements. Some minerals are concentrated in mineralization zones in rock associated with crystal movements or volcanic activity. Others may be found in sediments as placer deposits accumulations of high-density minerals that have been weathered out of rocks, transported and deposited (on river-beds, for example)

3. The use of machines has made the world a small place. Distance has been conquered by modern means of transport. We can travel over the oceans of the world in a few hours. One of the most remarkable features of modern civilization is the use of the electronic media of communication. The world has been rightly called an electronic village. One of the important benefits of machine civilization is that our standard of life has improved. There is much more variety in our lives. We have a wide choice of everything from wrist watches to ice creams, from fountain pens to flashlights. Food from any part of the world can be obtained in any season of the year. On our table we can have fruit from the Mediterranean, wine from France and cheese from Australia. Mass production of goods leads to abundance everywhere. Articles can be produced in hundreds or thousands in modern automated factories and are shipped to different corners of the globe with incredible speed. Mass production helps to keep their prices within the reach of the common man. The twentieth century is the age of machines. From the time the Industrial Revolution began in Europe, man's life has been changing in many ways. At first the change was slow. But in the second half of the nineteenth century there was an increase in the rate of mechanization and as a result life began to change more quickly. During the last fifty years, machines of all kinds have become part of our daily life and have transformed it in the most incredible manner.

4. Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behaviour. Viewed biologically, the modern footballer is revealed as a member of disguised hunting pack. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football and his prey into a goal-mouth. If his aim is accurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter's triumph of killing his prey. To understand how this transformation has taken place, we must briefly look back again at our ancient ancestors. They spent over a million years evolving as cooperative hunters. Their very survival depended on success in the hunting-field. Under this pressure their whole way of life, even their bodies became radically changed. They became chasers, runners, jumpers, aimers, throwers and prey-killers. They were co-operative as skillful male-group attackers. Then about 10 thousand years ago, after this immensely long, formative period of hunting their food, they became farmers. Their improved intelligence so vital to their old hunting life was put to a new use - that of penning, controlling and domesticating their prey. The hunt became suddenly obsolete. The food was there on the farms, awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of the hunt were no longer essential for survival,