Summary/Response

Major Paper #3--Summary/Response

Most of us use critical reading strategies everyday to effectively process all of the information we are consistently bombarded with.  This assignment allows you continue to explore ideas of reading and writing rhetorically, as you will use different strategies to write your summary and your strong response.

The Assignment:

This assignment will have two parts:

1.) Summary

Summarize in 150-200 words the article your instructor has chosen from the assignment: "Children Need to Play, Not Compete," on pages 270-274 of your 9th edition textbook (or on pages 276-279 of your 8th edition textbook or pages 287-291 in your 7th edition textbook).  In this summary, you should relay the article’s main points, completely and accurately, in your own words.  If you find yourself in a situation in which the author’s words needed to be quoted directly (perhaps for emphasis), you must make it clear that these words are the author’s by using quotation marks appropriately.  You will not want to quote anything over one sentence in length, and you will want to limit yourself to no more than 2-3 direct quotes, if you use any at all.  Remember that the whole point of this portion of the assignment is for you to restate the author’s points objectively in your own words.

In general, I recommend you structure your first sentence something like this:

            In "Children Need to Play, Not Compete, Jessica Statsky…

This will function as the thesis statement of your summary, so this first sentence will need to convey the main point(s) of the article to give your reader an overall view.

2.) Response

Write a 1 ½ to 2 page response to "Children Need to Play, Not Compete." Before you even begin drafting, you will want to decide on the terms of your response.  Once you decide on the terms (or grounds) of your response, you’ll want to figure out how you can support your points—using logic, outside evidence, examples from your personal life—whatever is appropriate.

(We will discuss how to determine the terms of your response in Unit 9.)

Please Note:  The sample summary for this unit is included on the "Lecture Notes" page.

The tips and questions in your reading for this unit are very important, and should help you improve your Summary/Strong Response. 

As you re-read your own essays, and ask for the feedback of others, please keep the following questions in mind:

Summary

*Is the summary objective, excluding your own opinions as completely as possible?

*Does the summary cover each of the main points of the article?

*Are transitions and attributive tags used appropriately throughout the summary?

*If direct quotes are used, are they limited to 2-3 quotes total in the entire summary, and are they cited correctly?

*Does the first sentence of the summary clearly express the overall, main point of the article that is being summarized?  Does the last sentence of the summary offer a sense of conclusion or completion?

Remember, the summary should be 150-200 words in length.

Strong Response

*Are the grounds of the response made clear in the first sentence?

*Is at least one paragraph devoted to each of your main claims about the article?

*Are appropriate examples/explanations included to support your claims?

* Does the last sentence of the strong response offer a sense of conclusion or completion?

Remember, the strong response should be at least 1.5 - 2 pages in length.

In addition to using these review questions as a guide, please keep in mind that I’ll still be looking for these basics as well:  purpose, focus, organization, tone, and editing.  (Please review the materials from Unit 1 if you are unfamiliar with these concepts.)

Other than that, I simply want to use your time this unit for revising.