Last Minute

Week 3 Performance Activity

Summary: CNN reporter, Paul Murphy (2021), describes Florida’s Tampa Bay area and how it currently has high concentrations of wastewater in his news report entitled “Wastewater from Piney Point has Tampa Bay on Edge for Possible Red Tide, Algae Bloom.” This wastewater has elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. The danger occurs when Red Tide is already present in the water. When wastewater and high levels of Red Tide mix together, environmental scientists do not know how severe the effects will be. The author argues that only way to combat the unknown is to prevent the dumping of wastewater (Murphy, 2021).

Why this works: The student “book ends” the summary by providing a citation to begin and a citation to end the

summary. The summary also is several sentences long.

Remember: A summary takes a longer piece, perhaps several paragraphs, and condenses it into a much

shorter passage.

Paraphrase: According to CNN reporter, Paul Murphy (2021), scientists are working harder than ever to keep an eye

on contaminated wastewater that is being discarded into Tampa Bay. This wastewater can essentially

cause major algae blooms to flourish. This flourishing bloom can cause harm to humans and animals

(para. 1).

Why this works: The student includes a citation. All use of outside sources—in paraphrase, summary, or quoted form—

requires a citation. Additionally, the student takes two sentences from the original text and changes it to

be her own words.

Tip: When paraphrasing, do NOT have the original text in front of you. Read it. Close the book, exit the

browser, or flip the page. Then, write from memory what you read. This way, you avoid using similar

language.

Quote: Murphy (2021) described Red Tide as “the elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus are

some of the most concerning descriptors because they are known to fuel phytoplankton growth that can

lead to a potentially toxic algal bloom” (para. 6).

Why this works: The student “integrated” the quote by blending her words with the quoted words. Given this source was

found online, she also cited the paragraph number.

References

Murphy, P. (2021). Wastewater from Piney Point has Tampa Bay on edge for possible red tide, algae

bloom. In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale. (CNN Wire, 2021, April 10.)

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A658002369/OVIC?u=lirn99776&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=0b597cd5

Note: The student used the citation tools to obtain help: