summary
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WritingExercise5Writingasummary1.docxWriting Exercise #5: SUMMARY
(approximately 1 double-spaced page)
Due: Sunday 11/3
For this Writing Exercise, you are to write a summary of one of the articles that we have read so far in this class. Some have been in the Norton Reader Textbook, some are in PDF form on blackboard.
If you wish, you may choose a different article from the Norton Reader Textbook, but NOT from the internet.
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-“Sorry I am too busy to talk to you right now….” (PDF) -(OR “The ‘Busy’ Trap” in the Norton Reader p 380)
- “Instead of School supplies, this year I’m shopping for a bulletproof backpack” (PDF) -(OR “Get a knife, get a dog, but get rid of guns” in the Norton Reader p 384)
-“Things are changing so fast: the benefits and dangers of robots in the workplace” (PDF) (OR “To Siri with love: How one boy with autism became BFF with Apple’s Siri” In the Norton Reader p 628)
-“Why are kids injured more often in sports” (PDF) -(OR “Sports should be child’s play” in the Norton Reader p 393)
-“Fremont High School” pages 423-428 in the Norton Reader
-“Stuff is not salvation” pages 378-380 in the Norton Reader
-“Be a gamer, save the world” pages 396-399 in the Norton Reader |
You must choose a different article than you chose for Essay #3: Rhetorical Analysis.
Remember:
A summary is merely a shortened version of a text (or portion of a text) that is used to communicate the text’s main ideas to readers who have not read the original. It is not meant to include all of the details of the original text, but rather to convey the gist of it. While your summary of your chosen text should be “in your own words,” the ideas should be the author’s: you will want to avoid distorting or judging the text. In order to write an effective summary, you might find it helpful to locate the text’s overall claims, key terms, key examples, and main points in order to first write an outline that you can then turn into a coherent summary. Conciseness is vital to a good summary, so you should not need more than one page to summarize any of the texts we have read so far in the class.
Hints:
Look carefully at the “Strategies/Guidelines for Writing a Summary” sheet that I uploaded to Blackboard. When writing your summary, pay careful attention to the text itself: the structure of an essay (its divisions, headers, paragraph breaks, etc.) will help you to outline the article to better-define its main ideas.
Remember that this is a strict summary, which means you should avoid all judgment, personal opinion, or even interpretation. When writing a summary, if you include examples, make certain that they are the author’s, not your own. Keep outright quotation to a minimum (and if you do quote, cite properly).
