Integrated Skills: Summary, Paragraph Order, Information Transfer
Integrated tasks combine reading with writing or organizing: summary writing, paragraph ordering, heading matching, and information transfer into tables. They test whether you can see the structure of a text and carry information across without copying.
Summary
- Identify the main claim (usually in the first or last paragraph) and the two or three supports that carry it.
- Leave out examples, statistics, and repetition. A summary of an example is not a summary of the passage.
- Rewrite in your own words; keep source wording only for technical terms.
- Check the word limit and check that someone who has not read the original could follow your version.
Paragraph ordering
- Pronouns (this, these, it) and definite noun phrases (the method) refer backwards; the sentence containing them cannot come first.
- Connectors fix position: however needs a preceding claim; for example needs a preceding generalization; therefore needs a preceding cause.
- Build chains rather than guessing the whole order at once.
Worked example
Sentences: (A) “A new method for testing water quality has been developed.” (C) “This method, however, has one drawback.” (D) “For instance, it cannot detect very low concentrations.” Reasoning: This method in C refers to A, so A precedes C. However marks a contrast with the positive development in A. For instance in D illustrates the drawback in C, so D follows C. The chain is A–C–D.
Information transfer
Match the column heading to the information type, and keep the same grammatical form as the example row - a noun phrase stays a noun phrase. Transfer only what the text states; do not add outside knowledge, and count the words.
Traps
- Copying whole sentences into a summary.
- Ordering by topic similarity instead of by cohesive links.
- Exceeding the word limit in a table cell.