Modelling summary writing by introspection: A small-scale demonstrative study

The assumptions of the model of discourse comprehension and summarization proposedby Kintsch and van Dijk (1983) have been combined with a procedural model of expository writing (Hayes and Flower, 1980). By empirical observation of fexl summarizing, we specialized this combined model. In our small-scale demonstrator study, a Belgian, a German and a Japanese summarizeda two-page introduction to a German Prolog textbook while recording a thinking-aloud protocol. The Interpretation of these protocols yields, in particular, strategies that are reasonably precise for a mental model. They are not equalfor all of the test subjects, but they fall into the following functional classes: general inference, planning and control, knowledge acquisition, relevance assessment, meaning reduction, condensation, construction, and Output. In comparison with models of Professional abstractors, the lay (wo)man's summarizing model described here is less extensive but is not in principle different. Thinking-aloud proved to be a fruitful investigation technique for summarizing.