Critical Reading Continued Summary Writing

Summaries This is important because it allows you to better understand the ideas of a text. In order to do this you need two important and related skills: The ability to find or infer the main idea of the text. The ability to find or infer the supporting ideas of the text.

Summaries One way to help you discover the main and supporting ideas of a text is to write a descriptive outline of the text: First divide the text up into sections. With shorter texts, each paragraph is often a separate section. For each section write down two sets of notes. First, write down what the section is trying to communicate in your own word. Next, explain in your own words the function of the section or what the section does in the text. When you are done with your descriptive outline, it is often easier to see what parts are support and what the main idea might be.

Summaries Now that you have the main and supporting points, the next step is to put it in proper summary format.

Summaries In “Americanization is Tough on ‘Macho,’” Rose Del Castillo Guibault explains that Americans have a negative connotation for the word macho, and this fact bothers Hispanics, who use the word in a positive sense. While Americans use the term to refer to a man who is a “chauvinist, a brute, uncouth, selfish, loud, abrasive, capable of inflicting pain, and sexually promiscuous,” Hispanics use the term respectfully for a male who is “responsible, hard working, a man in charge, a patriarch.” Guibault believes this difference in connotation reflects the fact that in the United States the traits that other cultures prize are not valued by American society. She also believes that during the seventies, the rise of feminism was responsible for macho acquiring negative connotations. More than anything, though, Guibault is concerned because Americans’ sense of macho has become an inaccurate stereotype of the Latin man that contributes to misunderstanding.

Summaries Note from the example summary that in an academic summary, the main point is stated in the first sentence, which also contains the author name and the title of the text. Each following sentence then is a different supporting point. Note also that signal phrases are used continually throughout the summary to credit the author. In addition, note that the verbs in the signal phrases are in present tense. Another thing to notice is that the summary is shorter than the original and contains no minor details. Finally, note that the writer of the summary does not insert her own personal opinion into the summary.