Description

Literacy Education Online (LEO) on Summary Writing

When you write your summary assignment next week, please follow these suggestions (along with reading Chapter 9 of your textbook):

Include the author's name and the article name in the first sentence of your paragraph (e.g., As Josh Dehaas states in "The College Advantage," students are . . . OR In "The College Advantage" by Josh Dehaas, the author states that students are . . . ).

Keep the verbs in the present tense (states, says, claims, asserts, argues, adds).

Use the third-person point of view (people, they).

Write one paragraph with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Carefully read the article, and attempt to write the summary without looking at the original to see if you can recall the key points.

Refer to the author as "the author" or as Dehaas (surname) as you move through writing the summary.

Keep the summary to 1/4 or 1/3 of the length of the original article.

Do not borrow directly from the article; put the ideas into your own words.

Omit your opinion. When you write the response paragraph, you may include your opinion and reaction.

Response Writing

A response or reaction to a piece of writing includes first impressions and connections with the subject matter and the author's point of view.

When you write a response to an article, you may borrow passages from the writing to establish your credibility. Answer questions, such as the following:

What do I feel about what I have read?

With what do I agree or disagree?

What examples from my life relate to the author's position on the issue?

For the exercise next week, write the response in ONE paragraph. You may use the first-person point of view (I, me, my, myself, mine).

When you borrow from the article, use the author's last name, the year, and the page number in parentheses at the end of your quoted sentence. For example, if you are quoting from Josh Dehaas' article, "The College Advantage," you might write something like the following:

It was interesting to note that "university graduates are tossing their mortarboards in the air, sliding their degrees into the filing cabinet--and then heading straight to college" (Dehaas, 2019, p. 269).