Essay

ESSAY 2: ENGL 1302

Essay 2: Writing a Summary

Throughout your academic career, you will be asked to read and respond to texts. Summarizing teaches you how to discern the most important ideas in a text, ignore irrelevant information, and integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Use the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Stetson/Gilman. In a 1 – 1 ½ page essay, summarize the text accurately and objectively.

Your summary should include:

 The title of the text and the full name of the author (the first time you mention the text)  The story in brief form, without personal opinions or judgments.  The story’s main points and direct quotations that are relevant to the points  The use of signal phrases (“The author writes…” or “She explains that…”) to indicate the ideas

are the author’s (not yours)  Effective use of transitions to indicate a flow of ideas

Hints and Tips

Focus on the characters, setting, and key sequences in the text. The point of summary is to identify what you think are the most important aspects of the story that your readers should know about. Do not try to repeat everything in the story. When you try to decide what to include or what to leave out, consider the amount of time the original author spends on the subject. Is this something that the author considers for three to four paragraphs? If so, it should probably receive a bit more attention in your summary. It might help you to look at the story paragraph by paragraph and try to sum up each paragraph. Sometimes paragraphs can be combined in your summary with one or two descriptive sentences. Your summary should discuss the story in the same order as it appears in the original version. Remain objective. One of the most important things to remember about your summary is that you should remain neutral when writing about the story. All that should be included is a basic recollection of what goes on in the story. Do not include any judgments about whether or not the author’s details are right, clear, or whether he/she has a well written piece. Additional elements will be needed in the critique phase. Use primarily your own words, not the author’s. Be very careful when you are paraphrasing that you don’t repeat too much of the author’s language. It is appropriate to use direct quotes, but do so sparingly and be sure to use correct MLA format.

ESSAY 2: ENGL 1302 Grading Your essay (worth a total of 100 points) will be graded using the following criteria:

Claim – The essay accurately identifies the author’s central claim. 10 points

Reasoning – The essay accurately and objectively represents the author’s key supporting points. The summary does not

merely list the main ideas, but shows how the reasons support the claim. The summary is selective about details and examples, choosing only ones that help to illustrate a key point. 30 points

Paraphrasing and Signal Phrases – The essay effectively paraphrases the author’s ideas. Author’s ideas are

effectively attributed using signal phrases. 10 points

Organization - Paper clearly and effectively presents the ideas. Transitions and paragraphing are used when appropriate. 20 points

Mechanics - Demonstrates a command of the standards of edited American English with no major

grammatical errors. 20 points

MLA Format - Employs MLA format and documentation style. Includes correct heading, font size,

and spacing. 10 points