Summing it Up

What is a summary?

Key Factors Relevance Context Purpose Audience Accuracy

TV Guide Summaries of Movies Fellowship of the Ring: – From the idyllic shire of the Hobbits to the smoking chasms of Mordor, director Peter Jackson has created a world that surpasses the expectations of J.R.R. Tolkien purists as Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) embarks on his epic quest to destroy the ring of Sauron. The movie -- which nabbed 13 Oscar nominations -- is superbly cast with actors such as Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), and stays remarkably true to the book.

Discipline and Punish (Foucault) Amazon – In this brilliant work, the most influential philosopher since Sartre suggests that such vaunted reforms as the abolition of torture and the emergence of the modern penitentiary have merely shifted the focus of punishment from the prisoner's body to his soul. Wikipedia: – Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison is…an examination of the social and theoretical mechanisms behind the massive changes that occurred in western penal systems during the modern age. It focuses on historical documents from France, but the issues it examines are relevant to every modern western society. It is considered a seminal work, and has influenced many theorists and artists.

When to Summarize When you need to support your claims with peer-reviewed evidence. When exact wording is not significant or important. When you need to introduce a text to readers. When you need to show how you understand a text and its purpose.

Fair and Balanced Put yourself in their shoes – Show that you fully understand what they’re saying – Don’t sound biased

Biased/Unfair Summaries The Lord of the Rings is a ridiculous and boring story about children who find a ring that makes them invisible. Then they have a big war with monsters. Machiavelli disagrees with me in his book The Prince, a book about why governments should lie to and torture their citizens.

Cherry Picking Don’t ignore sources that disagree with your claims. – Fairly and accurately summarize their claims and evidence. – Show (politely) why you find them invalid, irrelevant, or objectionable.

Focusing a Summary Know where you’re going before you start summarizing a source. – Focus on the parts of the source that are most relevant to your purpose.

Focused Summary Stories about memory and its reliability have always fascinated the public. This is seen in several recent hit movies, such as Memento, whose main character cannot retain short-term memories. The view that schools serve to promote critical thinking has been challenged by the philosopher Louis Althusser, who argues that schools are vital state apparatuses that condition citizens for a productive and docile life in the workforce.

The List Summary A coherent summary ties the details back to main focus or larger claim. – To heighten the viewer’s emotional reaction to the later devastation of the war, Peter Jackson begins the film by playing up the peaceful, tranquil, and idyllic life of the hobbits. First, we notice… An incoherent summary merely lists the details: – The story begins in a village of hobbits. The wizard Gandalf is coming for a visit. Then there is a fireworks show. One of the fireworks becomes a big dragon and scares everyone. Later, Gandalf…

The Templates She demonstrates that ____. He admits that ___. His argument consists of three basic points. First… This research complicates the view that …

See summarizing verbs on page 37

Neutral vs. Biased Summaries As always, O’Reilly gets the facts straight and does a great job explaining why Palin has absolutely no reasons to apologize to sue-happy liberals for anything she put on her website. O’Reilly argues that Palin should not apologize for the controversial image on her website. First, he states the image was taken out of context and was never intended to promote violence. Second…

Class Activity Do exercise #1 on page 38 – Write at least 3 sentences summarizing a belief you disagree with in neutral language (5 minutes) – Write at least 3 sentences summarizing a belief you agree with in neutral language (5 minutes) – Exchange with partner (not the same one you were with before) – See if you can tell which summary they agree with. If it is obvious (it shouldn’t be), explain where they broke objectivity or neutrality.