Page 103 - SREENARAYANAGURU OPEN UNIVERSITY

Keywords

Summary, Writing, Research, Synopsis, Executive, Abstract

Discussion

2.1.1 The Art of Summarising

Summarising well is a challenging work. It requires insight
into what is essential versus peripheral. The summariser
must balance concision with comprehensiveness. Too much
brevity risks distortion. Too little focus breeds confusion.
The best summaries walk this tightrope with elegance and
Essence distilled clarity. Thus, summarising is the art of distilling the essence
artfully from a sea of words. It captures the vital ideas and transforms
them into a condensed elixir without diluting their potency.
In the halls of academia, this nectar satisfies the thirst for
knowledge without requiring the effort of drinking from the
full chalice. When faced with a towering thesis or a sweeping
volume of research, many people would yearn for the oasis
offered by an abstract or synopsis.

Though summaries come in many forms, the alchemy
remains the same - highlighting the seminal concepts and
blending them in a way that stays true to the original spirit.
Since a summary must represent the facts, not fantasies, the
writer’s own musings and jargon should vanish. Seeking
the answers to who, what, when, where, why and how helps
guide the quest to come up with an accurate summation. To
brief an expansive work, we use multiple methods by using
academic writing. Surveying methods for crafting research
Distilled synopses, executive summaries and abstracts provide insights
accurately into this allegorical art. The synopsis reveals the unfolding of
its argument, chapter by chapter. It traces the journey of the
author’s mind. The executive summary extracts the practical
meaning, the actionable wisdom, as an alchemist distils the
elixir. The abstract illuminates the conceptual contours,
the scaffolding of thought, like an artist’s sketch of a grand
cathedral. The summarising aims to convey the key ideas
through metaphor and vivid language while retaining the
essence of the original summary. It emphasises summarisation
as a process of distillation, the need for brevity and accuracy,
and the value of guiding questions.

SGOU - SLM - Foundational Skills for Research and Writing 97