Summary Reports

What are Summary Reports?  A summary report condenses and presents information, often from a single source such as a article.  In a summary report you are explaining the main points in an article.  This does not include your opinion of them (unless stated otherwise).

Determining Good Sources From Bad  Length: Your summary will cover 25%-50% of your article.  You are being assigned a 1-2 page summary ( roughly words).  Therefore, your article must be between 1,000 words and 2,000 words long.

Continued….  Readability: In other words, if you read your article 3 times, and it still doesn’t make sense, find another. You have to be able to understand the vocab in order to explain it to others.  Publication Date: All articles have a date they were published such as 9/5/2000. Try and find articles that are more recent. Let’s say not more than 5 years ago.

Continued….  Author: Make sure whomever you are choosing to use as a source is credible. In other words, it is most likely a safer bet to use someone with a PhD than a journalist with no background in your topic.  As always if you have any questions about these, ASK ME!!!!!! I’ve heard I can occasionally be quite helpful.

How To Read An Article  Look for Main Topic and Major Ideas: as you read through the article, highlight the main ideas. They are mostly found in the beginning of each body paragraph and the intro and ending paragraphs.  Examples and support: Once you know the main ideas, go back through the article and highlight the supporting points. Remember: look for the essentials.  Tip: Take notes on the sides of the article to help you understand what is being said.

Lastly…. (well, in this section)  Special Note: YOU WILL BE CITING YOUR SOURCES. NO EXCUSES. NO BRIBING. NO WHINING.  Although, I do enjoy gluten free fudgy brownies, so you can try me if you like Just kidding….

How Exactly Do I Write This!?  The same way you write your essays.  Intro (that identifies the name and author, and where the article was found. i.e. Vogue).  Body Paragraphs 1-3 (Summarizes article)  Conclusion (which may contain personal opinions if allowed)  See, you knew it all along.

Paraphrasing  Now we’ve discussed quotation marks. You use these to identify the use of another’s exact words in your essay.  Paraphrasing, on the other hand, does not requires quotation marks. By paraphrasing you are writing the main ideas of the author in your own words.

Paraphrasing Note!!!!!!  Engrain this in your brain.  Paraphrasing does not mean that a citation is not needed. If you did not think of it, then it is not yours to keep.

Some Tips For Paraphrasing  You may repeat key terms.  You do not need to repeat flowery language (i.e. spider’s gossamer trap- call it what it is; it’s a web)  Sentence structure should vary from original (i.e. don’t write it too closely to original- there should be a difference).

Recognizing Effective Paraphrasing  Let’s practice. After all, practice makes perfect….or perhaps so annoyed that you will never forget it.  Put this quote into your own words:  “Although a thoroughly satisfying game, many players found that Scrabble could be tedious and often too long. Quibble, a simple card game took far less time to achieve the same witty satisfaction.”

Having Trouble?  “Although a thoroughly satisfying game, many players found that Scrabble could be tedious because it is lengthy. Quibble, a simple card game, took far less time to achieve the same witty satisfaction.”  Ask yourself what is being said here. What’s important?  Answer: Quibble is a much shorter version of Scrabble, and many people preferred it to Scrabble because of this.

MLA Formatting  You will learn and use MLA for this class.  A wonderful explanation can be found in detail on website such as OwlPurdue. e/747/01/  Note: No work’s cited page or citations within your paper means no grade.