1. WRITING A GOOD SUMMARY

2. PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES. Must be able to suspend your own beliefs for a time Pretend you are the write  See from their perspective Should not be able to tell if you agree or disagree Bad example:  David Zinczenko’s article, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” is nothing more than an angry rant in which he accuses the fast food companies of an evil conspiracy to make people fat. I disagree because these companies have to make money… What is wrong with this summary? Let others make their own opinions

3. GIVE ENOUGH INFORMATION Lacking summaries  May lead to the “closest cliché syndrome”  Mistakes a cliché for the author’s opinion  Ex. Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” summarized as call for everyone to “just get along,’ instead of defense of political protest Include the overall claim of the author  Support with specific main supporting claims

4. KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING Don’t ignore your own point of view  Use the summary to help your own agenda  Focus on what you want to focus on, what you think is most interesting or important  Still maintain the writers purpose IF you fail to know where to go  Can make “list summaries”  Simply inventory original author’s various points  Don’t focus on a larger overall claim  Only use words like “and then,” “also,” and “in addition” to connect ideas  Ex: The author says many different things about his subject. First he says… Then he makes the point that… In addition he says… And then he writes… Also he shows that….

5. USE SIGNAL VERBS THAT FIT THE ACTION Most authors are doing more than “saying” or “believing”  When you use these they take away all passion and emotion from the author  Ex. The Declaration of Independence is doing more than talking about the treatment of the colonies, it is protesting against it. Try using vivid and precise signal verbs as often as possible

6. VERBS FOR INTRODUCING QUOTES AND SUMMARIES Verbs for making claims  Argue, assert, believe, claim, emphasize, insist, observe, remind us, report, suggest Verbs for expressing agreement  Acknowledge, admire, agree, endorse, extol, praise, celebrate the fact that, corroborate, do not deny, reaffirm, support, verify Verbs for questioning or disagreeing  Complain, complicate, contend, contradict, deny, deplore the tendency to, qualify, question, refute, reject, renounce, repudiate Verbs for making recommendations  Advocate, call for, demand, encourage, exhort, implore, plead, recommend, urge, warn