NOTE-MAKING AND SUMMARISING

CBSE Class XI (English Core - 301)

🔹 Introduction
 In every academic or professional field, extensive reading is common. However, retaining all key
information from a passage can be challenging.
 Note-making helps capture the core ideas of a text in a structured and concise format. It follows
the CBSE format and allows the use of abbreviations for brevity.
 A key to abbreviations is mandatory, making notes interpretable for others. Note-making is
useful for classroom learning, peer sharing, and exam preparation.

🔹 Purpose of Note-Making
 Revision before exams
 Writing reports or compositions
 Planning speeches or lectures
 Communicating essential details briefly
 Creating presentations
 Summarising a text for better retention

🔹 How to Make Notes

1. Underline important points from the passage.
2. Re-read and ask yourself questions to extract the essence.
3. Note down main points—avoid complete verb forms. Combine related ideas.
4. Use appropriate punctuation (colons, dashes) for clarity.
5. Number the points logically and sequentially.

🔹 Characteristics of Good Notes

6. Not in full sentences
7. Much shorter than the original
8. Highlight main and supporting points distinctly
9. Omit unimportant/helping words
10. Use symbols, abbreviations, and concise language
11. Limit to 5 words per point
12. Use 4–5 headings maximum
13. Present in a clear structure
 14. Number headings and sub-points logically
15. Summary should not exceed 50 words

🔹 Summarising
Summarising follows note-making. It involves selecting, paraphrasing, and expressing the
original ideas in brief. While note-making uses phrases, summaries must use complete
sentences linked with connectors. Avoid repetition, examples, and unnecessary details. Aim for
clarity and precision. A good summary is approximately one-third the length of the original
passage (as per NCERT).

Examples:

 Children who show high intelligence early may become average adults. → Precocious children
often turn out to be mediocre in adult life.
 She excelled in many areas. → She was a versa le genius.

🔹 Sub-Titling
 Helps convey the main idea of each section.
 Makes reading easier by breaking down the text into sub-topics.
 Useful in long passages to enhance understanding and structure.

🔹 Standard FORMAT (CBSE Prescribed)

Title

 1. Heading 1
 1.1 Sub-point
 1.2 Sub-point
 2. Heading 2
 2.1 Sub-point
 2.2 Sub-point
 3. Heading 3
 3.1 Sub-point
 3.2 Sub-point
 4. Heading 4
 4.1 Sub-point
 4.2 Sub-point
 🔹 Key to Abbreviations
Abbreviation Meaning

eg. example

etc. etcetera

& and

Create and use your own abbreviations in the actual task. Avoid commonly known ones like
above, or they may not be accepted.

🔹 Marking Scheme (8 Marks)

I. Note-Making (5 Marks)

 Title: 1 mark
 Numbering & Indentation: 1 mark
 Key to Abbreviations: 1 mark
 Notes Content: 2 marks

II. Summary (3 Marks)

 Content: 2 marks
 Expression: 1 mark

Write notes and summary either in third person (recommended) or first person with correct
format and full coverage of content.
 Viewpoints: Teaching children to read
https://www.bbc.com/news/education-19812961

Finding the best way to inspire children to become fluent readers has long been debated. The
"look and say" approach, where children learnt to memorise words, dominated in the 1940s,
50s and 60s. But now the pendulum has swung towards phonics-based teaching, where children
decode words by sounds.

The Department for Education says international evidence demonstrates that phonics is the
most effective way of teaching early reading, and this year introduced a phonics reading test for
six-year-olds. So what is the best way to teach children how to read?

David Reedy, UK Literacy Association

The teaching of reading should encompass a balance of teaching strategies including a
systematic approach to phonics and other word reading strategies, and a significant emphasis
on children experiencing a wide range of texts, including moving image and digital - all available
to read from the very beginning.

Phonics teaching is an important component of the teaching of reading, but not all words in
English are phonically regular (the linguist David Crystal estimates 80% are, but the other 20%
contains many of the most common words in English).

Young children need more than phonics to read words accurately. For many very common
words in English such as "come", "once", "was", "the", the best method for accuracy is to read
them as "sight" words - that is, using the strategy of look and say. In addition, in order to be fully
accurate in word reading, we have to use meaning gleaned from the context in many cases, for
example "read", "lead", "sow", "close".

Attention should be given to reading for purpose and pleasure, and to introduce children to
more challenging texts as well as focus on word reading skills. A school should invest
significantly in books and adult time to support reading. Teachers should be knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about literature suitable for children so they can recommend and inspire their
classes as well as individuals.

Motivation to read is a crucial component of a teacher's job. This approach results in deep
engagement as well as accuracy in reading, both of which are crucial and lead to high standards.
We need to develop both the skill and the will.

Shelagh Harvey, head teacher

There is no simple way to teach all children to read. Phonics, contextual clues, sounding out,
going back to words - all of these are important skills. Phonics is important, but I do think it has
been over-exaggerated of late.

We run a very successful phonics reading project for the majority of our children, but we need
to find different strategies for a small group of children who struggle with it.

I think the government's reading test is fundamentally flawed. It didn't give us any clues for
helping us move forward with our children.

I had two very able readers at the end of Year 1 who failed the test, but who could read a Level
2 book and read fluently. One failed because she refused to read the non-word and the other
little girl rushed because she's used to reading, not sounding out words.

The over-emphasis on phonics and the test may put pressure on some teachers to "teach to the
test" at the expense of a wide richer reading experience. A minority of children, for whom
phonics is not successful, could be deprived of other reading strategies and have their
difficulties exacerbated. It is also known that some children who are good with phonics and able
to decode successfully do so at the cost of understanding what they read, known as "barking at
text".

The only way we can really measure progress is to let our children read. Here we sit them down
with appropriate texts and judge them at the level they are reading at. You have to give children
skills and a range of materials. We do a lot of work with parents too, encouraging them to read
to and with their children.

Prof Maureen McLaughlin, International Reading Association

Reading is a complex process that involves multiple factors including decoding, integrating
background experiences, having purposes for reading, and using skills and strategies to
construct meaning. For very young readers, the process begins with issues such as the
alphabetic principle and concepts of print. The goal of successful reading is comprehension.

There are five pillars of literacy - phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. All contribute to reading comprehension. Students need ample opportunity to
learn, practise, and use these skills. Researchers report that students' construction of meaning is
enhanced when they use a repertoire of reading comprehension strategies, including predicting,
self-questioning, visualising, monitoring, summarising, and evaluating.

Students have diverse strengths, needs, opportunities and cultural backgrounds.

To ensure access and opportunities for all students to become readers and achieve their
greatest potential, reading instruction should be differentiated. Differentiated instruction
enables us to accommodate the diversity of students' needs. Struggling readers, students with
disabilities and dual language learners are examples of students for whom instruction should be
differentiated.

Reading is essential in the complex, global society in which we live. It is important for personal,
social and economic well-being. As literacy professionals, our goal is to teach students to
become active, engaged readers, who succeed to their greatest potential.

Lisa Morgan, speech and language therapist

Reading effectively for meaning and pleasure involves a complex range of skills, most of which
rely on strong speech and language skills - using sounds to decode, knowing how words work
together and understanding the vocabulary to gain meaning, for example. We know that
children with good oral language skills are likely to become good readers.

In the UK, more than one million children have long-term and persistent speech, language and
communication needs (SLCN). We know that these children are at greater risk of literacy
difficulties.

Add to this the evidence that highlights that in areas of social disadvantage upwards of 50% of
children are starting school with delayed language, then this raises key questions about ways to
support children with SLCN to learn to read.

For some children with SLCN, a phonic approach, within a context of focused language
enrichment and opportunities, will work well to support their reading development. For others,
it absolutely won't. For some, assessing their phonic skills in Year 1 through the phonics screen
has been OK. For others, it absolutely hasn't.

Each child and young person with SLCN is different - their needs are different, their strengths are
different and the ways in which they best learn are different too.

It is therefore essential that firstly teachers understand a child's SLCN and any implications for
developing their literacy, and secondly that they are skilled and confident in choosing and using
whatever works for that child in developing their reading skills.

Siobhan Freegard, parenting website Netmums

Reading regularly to children from an early age is important as they will learn to love stories and
books.

Making reading part of the everyday routine, so children quickly pick up subtle skills such as
which way to follow the print of a book, how to use pictures to help decode the words, and how
to recognise initial letters and the most commonly used words.

It's good to let them see adults reading too, surrounding the home with books, magazines and
newspapers, as children learn by copying adults. Parents can share the stories they are reading
and any funny parts or interesting nuggets to spark their interest.
The other key building block to learning to read is rhymes and sounds. Singing or chanting
poems and rhymes to children will help them to learn their favourites and decipher rhyming
words and different sounds, all of which will help them with their phonics skills later on.

But apart from school books that need to be read, parents should not force books on their
children and should let them read what they like - whether that is comics or football magazines -
so they realise reading is fun.