The ObjectiveLong--Summary
Summary writing is a basic skill to the writing of argumentative papers. It is also a useful tool in the studying and writing of essay exams, in reacting and reporting on an article or book, and in helping you interact with your reading. Most importantly, the summary helps you establish both the author's stand on an issue, the main ideas and significant details that support that stand.
Think of the summary as having two parts:
a. Statement of the author's stand (guiding idea or thesis) about and issue.
b. An explanatory statement of each reason for the author's stand. The explanatory statements might
include subreasons and evidence.
Suppose in a local newspaper you read an editorial arguing that the general public should not be allowed to buy guns. The issue is whether the general public would be safer if it were not permitted to buy guns. Suppose the editorial then says that guns should NOT be able to be bought because (1) too many accidental deaths result (2) too many innocent people are convicted of murder because they shoot and kill an interloper. The stand is against the general sale of guns. The major reasons for the stand would be (1) and (2).
If the next day someone writes a letter to the editor objecting to the above argument, the issue would be the same (whether the general public should be permitted to purchase guns), but the stand would be different (people should be allowed to buy guns). If the letter stated that guns should be saleable because (1) it's not the weapon the causes the accidents and (2) the laws should be changed to protect the innocent, the major reasons for this opposing stand would be (1) and (2). In this case, the author of the editorial is in favor of the general sale of guns.
In addition to stating their stands and their major reasons, both writers would normally include subreasons and evidence for their stand. The whole (issue, stand, reasons, subreasons, and evidence) can be called the author's argument.
The Summary Ouline
Pro: Con:
Issue: Selling Guns to Public Issue:Selling Guns to Public
Stand: Guns should be sold Stand:Guns should not be sold
1. Weapons don't cause deaths 1. Accidental deaths
2. Change the laws 2. Innocent people convicted
Issue: (Topic)
Stand: (Thesis)
1. Reason
a. Subreason
>includes evidence
b. Subreason
2. Reason
a. Subreason
>includes evidence
b. Subreason
Introduction to Writing the Summary
In the following exercise, you will be asked to summarize the author's argument rather than his article or literature. That is, you will not write what is said paragraph by paragraph in the article. Instead, you will first read the whole selection carefully to determine the author's stand (thesis), the reasons, and the support for each reason. Your summary will then reproduce the information clearly and completely enough so that SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT READ THE ARTICLE WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE AUTHOR'S ARGUMENT/POINT OF VIEW.
Keep in mind two points:
1) A summary can be three or four sentences, or it can be almost as long as a piece of writing itself, depending on how much detail you want or need to include. If you merely want to indicate the main ideas in the article, you might simply turn your outline into sentences and paragraphs. If you want to indicate details about the argument and evidence, you will write more. For the exercise, you will write more to give you the experience and the skills you need for good, solid summary writing. In the future when you are called upon to write a longer summary, you will know how to complete the task.
2) You are already familiar with dealing with one side of an issue -- yours. When we discuss the readings in class, we talk about the author's viewpoint of one or more issues, and then we follow that up with our own conclusions. For the upcoming assignment, then, you will work with material that asks you to write a longer summary (about 250 words), called the Objective Summary. Your summary will either be about an article I will give you regarding one of the readings youve done in class, or it will concern a work of literature. This technique of summarizing will come in handy later when you will look at scholarly sources for your term paper.
--The information above and the summary activity below have been extracted from Writing a Workshop Approach by LaRene Despain, Mountain View, Mayfield Publishing, 1992.
THE SUMMARY ACTIVITY ITSELF
1. Read the whole selection carefully. Do not mark on the article yet. Get the idea first.
2. Note the main idea the author is trying to get across (the stand). You must read the entire piece first because, as you know, sasummary is not a sentence-by-sentence paraphrase that you write as your read the material. Furthermore, you will not always find the author's stand in the beginning of the written work.
3. You may find that there are two voices in this article. One is the author's. The other is the person (or in this case the stand) the author argues against. Look over the text material again. Mark who is speaking where. In other words, where does your author seem to be making a point and where is your author referring to (summarizing or paraphrasing) the other person's point of view? When you establish these, underline and mark them appropriately.
4. Write one or two sentences on the issue and then one or two sentences on the author's stand. If it helps to outline first, go right ahead.
5. Write in two or three sentences about what the author thinks of the other person's argument on the same issue. (Hint: How many reasons does the author give for his analysis of this other viewpoint? Does the author agree with the other person at any time? If so, where? What does he say that shows this agreement? What does he say that opposes this other view? What kinds of reasons does he give?) You must be VERY careful here to distinguish between the author's and the other person's views and arguments. This may take some time, so don't rush.
6. Now write in ONE sentence the real purpose of the other viewpoint according to your author. Write in such a way that you make it clear that you are reporting on the author's ideas.
7. When you have completed the above, decide how this information will be worked into your summary. The viewpoints from the other person are important to your author's overall argument. You must, therefore, refer to them in your summary.
8. When you have outlined the material for your summary and decided where you will put all the ideas, you are ready to write the summary. Begin with your statement on the issue and the stand which you wrote for #6. Be absolutely sure that you mention the author's full name and the title of the article in this sentence.
9. Once you have established your opening sentence, start writing the rest of your summary. Since the writing may be complex, you might have to write more than one paragraph for each major reason.
10. Keep in mind that the most important quality of a good summary is clarity. Remember that you are writing for someone who has not read the original work, and you want them to be able to understand what that work says. Also, you must write so that your reader can follow from point to point and understand what your author was arguing at all times.
Your Summary Outline
There are several ways to approach the summary outline. One is by way of a back and forth approach regarding the major points the author makes about the subject/issue and his/her reasons. Another approach focuses on one side of the issue/subject the author presents, then moves on to the other side of the issue/subject. Usually the focus on one side or the other takes many paragraphs. And, either way, write a bi-level (2 level) outline only. More than this will turn the summary into a paraphrase.
**** The bi-evel outline for this paper should look something like this:
Issue:
Stand:
I. Broad information, like a simple plot summary. Include the full name of the author and the full name of the title. One paragraph.
A. A little background on the issue.
B. The authors stand, not yours.
II. Reason
A. Subreason
B. Subreason
III. Roman numerals III whatever look exactly like II.
Last roman numeral, say V. is the conclusion.
V. Close the summary One. Paragraph for V.
A. Your point of view
B. Close your point of view.