no less than 500 summary

Princess Mononoke and Environmentalism

Assignment: Research Article Summary

(500 words)

Due Date: April 19th, 11:00pm on your WordPress blog

Overview:

Compose a summary of ONE of the two research articles about Princess Mononoke posted to D2L this

week. This may sound easier than it is. Be sure to read all the requirements and instructions about how

to get a good grade on this. :)

What is a “Research Article Summary”?

“An article summary is a short, focused paper about one scholarly article that is informed by a critical

reading of that article. For argumentative articles, the summary identifies, explains, and analyses the

thesis and supporting arguments.” (Trent University, n.d.)

Requirements

• Compose an essay of less than 500 words that summarizes ONE (1) of the following articles

posted to Week 3 on our D2L site—(only pick one article)

a. “Animating Child Activism: Environmentalism and Class Politics in Ghibli's Princess

Mononoke (1997) and Fox's Fern Gully (1992) by Michelle J. Smith & Elizabeth Parsons

b. “Creatures in Crisis: Apocalyptic Environmental Visions in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the

Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke” by Gwendolyn Morgan

• Your summary must clearly and accurately state the article’s title, year of publication, the

journal it was published in, the author’s name, the topic, research question, and main argument.

(for the citation, use MLA or APA. If you are using Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) that is fine too)

• It must also explain how the author relates their argument to other scholarship on their topic.

Tell your reader what the author says they are adding to the scholarly conversation. Are they

critiquing someone else’s article? Building on someone else’s ideas? Examining an aspect that

hadn’t been examined before? Putting some ideas together than hadn’t previously been

thought of as related?

• Lastly, your summary must describe how the author goes about proving their argument by

stating the smaller supporting arguments and identifying the key evidence for those arguments.

How to do this assignment

• First, read the article carefully and closely

a. Take notes while you read. Write down the main idea of each paragraph or section.

b. Look up terminology you don’t know. Google it. If that doesn’t help, ask for help in mentor

session from your peers. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of the professor, mentor, or your

classmates.

• Second, start picking it apart to see what it’s made of.

a. Identify the general topic. Is the topic really just Princess Mononoke or the other characters

like Lady Eboshi or Ashitaka? Or is it a more abstract concept about society and culture, the

environment, religion, war, industrialism?

b. Determine what key question or questions have guided the author’s research. That is (or

those are) the research question(s).

c. Determine the main argument. It will be something the author is trying to prove. The topic is

not the same as the argument. The topic is a general theme, the argument is a specific point or

position about the topic.

d. Identify the smaller arguments that support the main argument. Put another way, what

points does the author need to prove before the main argument is persuasive?

e. Identify what the author is using as evidence to support their points. You just want a few

examples of whatever the author is using as proof of the supporting points.

• Third, write your summary.

a. Take some time to think about who you are writing this for and why. The purpose of a

research summary is to give the reader a snapshot of what’s most important, thus the

reader of such a summary would be a person who wants to understand the key points of the

article, but hasn’t read it yet. Imagine your audience for this paper is someone with a

college-level education that doesn’t have any specialized knowledge of the topic or field of

cultural studies or film studies.

b. Keep it concise by making thoughtful decisions about what you consider to be the most

important pieces of the article.

c. Use your own words and paraphrase sections as you see fit. Only use direct quotations

when you absolutely must. There should be very few (if any) direct quotations in your paper.

Sample Outline for an Argumentative Article Summary

• Introduction

a. Introduce the article with its full title, author’s name, year of publication, and the name of the

journal in which it appears.

b. General topic of article

c. Author’s research question

d. How they frame their argument (or project) in relation to other scholarship on the topic

• Author’s thesis (main argument)

• Main points

a. Explain the supporting arguments, showing how they support the main argument

b. Provide a key example or two that the author uses as evidence to support these points

• Conclusion

a. Review how the main points work together to support the thesis.

b. How does the author explain the significance or implications of their article?

You got this! I believe in you! :D