Specific Guidelines for the SUMMARY:
? A summary should be written in your own words. Given the length of the assignment, you should not include any direct quotes from the article. If you find a section impossible to paraphrase, reread the section and/or seek help from me or a peer. The toughest ideas to paraphrase are those that are hard to understand.
? Introduce the author (or organization), title of the article, and main idea in the first sentence. After giving the author’s full name once, use last name only thereafter.
? Use author tags throughout the text to remind the reader of the attribution of the ideas. Along with this, use present tense verbs, varying the diction throughout: McNamara ARGUES, Joy SUGGESTS, etc. Do not rely on “SAYS” or “TALKS ABOUT,” or “BRINGS UP”; these are bland and contribute nothing to the organization or phrasing of the piece.
? Summaries are typically one long paragraph with no breaks. Your 250-350 word summary should be one paragraph (the article’s main idea and reasons) and your response should be one paragraph (your claim and reasons in response to the article)
? This has to make sense to someone who hasn’t read the article. Therefore, grammar, spelling, and “flow” DO count. Problems in these areas get in the way of the understanding of the audience.
? Since the purpose of an abstract is to strip the reading down to its outline without losing important points, weed out the extra details and explanations. You will not be able to include lengthy examples and details about the article, even if they are extremely interesting. Instead, examine the examples to determine what the author hopes to achieve in meaning by using them.
? Be sure to maintain an objective, distant tone in the summary. It can be easy to get caught up in the ideas and insert your own tone. Avoid this by continuing to use author tags, which help you remain distant and give credit to the author(s) you are summarizing. This is a tool you will incorporate any time you are asked to remain objective in academic writing (almost all the time!). Tagging information and offering citations help writers set up accountability and avoid unintentional plagiarism.
Specific Guidelines for RESPONSE:
? Focus on one or two claims you’d like to make and support them with reasons, evidence, and examples, either from the text or from you. Finding an argument or reason with which you disagree is the best way to begin to develop a good argument.
? Selectively quote or summarize the original author in the response so that the reader knows which ideas you are referencing. Make it clear when you are referring to the author vs. when you are stating your own arguments.
? Answer the question “why?” about your claims. This will lead you to include reasons, examples, and support, rather than a list of claims.