The final check compares your finished summary with the task, not with the passage. The aim is to catch points that have drifted off focus, points that are missing, wording that has been lifted and opinions that crept in.
This is the last lesson of summary selection and synthesis. It draws on all four before it, from choosing relevant points to preserving qualifications.
What does the checklist look like?
Read the task again, then test the summary against five questions:
- Focus: does every sentence answer what the task asked for, about the people it named?
- Coverage: is each main relevant point from the passage present, once?
- Own words: are whole phrases or clauses copied from the source?
- Accuracy: have qualifiers and numbers been kept exactly?
- Source only: is there any comment, example of your own or opinion?
Worked example
Read this original passage.
The ferry between the mainland and Pulau Senja runs only twice a day. Fares rose by a fifth in January, and islanders say this makes weekly shopping trips expensive. The boat is old and was built to carry sixty passengers, although it is often asked to carry more in school holidays. Tourists love the lively morning crossing. A council survey found that almost half of the islanders have missed a hospital appointment because the afternoon ferry was cancelled.
Task: Summarise the difficulties the ferry service causes for the islanders.
Draft to check:
The ferry is old and runs twice a day, which tourists find lively. Fares went up by a fifth, so shopping is expensive, and it is unfair. Nearly half of the islanders have missed hospital appointments when the afternoon boat was cancelled.
Run the checklist.
| Question | Finding | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | “tourists find lively” is not a difficulty for islanders | cut |
| Focus | “old” is about the boat, not islanders | cut or connect to an effect |
| Coverage | the twice-daily limit is present; fare rise present; hospital present | fine |
| Own words | “runs twice a day” is lifted almost whole | change to “only two crossings daily” |
| Accuracy | “almost half” became “nearly half”: fine | keep |
| Source only | “it is unfair” is opinion | cut |
Revised: Islanders have only two crossings daily, and a recent fare rise of a fifth makes regular shopping trips costly. Almost half have also missed hospital appointments because the afternoon ferry was cancelled.
The mistake to watch for
The typical error is to treat the passage as the judge. The student rereads the draft and sees that every sentence is “from the passage”. Then they stop.
The passage is not the test. The task is.
Mistaken check: “All of this is in the text, so it is fine.”
The tourist comment is in the text. It is still wrong for this task.
The correction is to read the task aloud before you read your summary, then read the summary sentence by sentence with the task in mind. The first test for every sentence is “difficulty for islanders, yes or no?”
Check yourself
1. A summary sentence says: “The council should fund a new ferry.” The task asks only what the passage says about difficulties. What is wrong?
Show answer
It is the writer’s opinion or recommendation, not a point from the source. It answers a different question and should be cut.
2. The task asks for difficulties, and a student writes: “The boat is old, carries sixty people, and is often overloaded in school holidays.” Which part is weakest for the focus?
Show answer
“Old” and “carries sixty” describe the boat. The relevant difficulty is that it is often asked to carry more than it was built for. That overloading point affects islanders, so keep it and shorten the rest.
3. Give one question you would ask about the phrase “half the islanders missed hospital appointments”.
Show answer
Has the number been kept accurately? The source says “almost half” and gives a cause (the cancelled afternoon ferry). Both the qualifier and the cause need to be there, or the claim is stronger and less explained than the original.
Where this leads next
Put the whole module together with the mixed practice set. The writing revision compare view is useful here, because it lets you place your first and second drafts side by side and see what you cut and what you changed.
A teacher in online one-to-one English First Language tuition can run this check alongside you on a timed summary and help you build it into your routine.