English 1301 Week Three: Summary and ParaphraseSummary and Paraphrase Skills to Prepare You for Brief Assignment 2, Due Next Week

Class Overview• Discuss Quizzes, Participation Assignments • Guest Speaker from the University Writing Center• Brief Assignment #2• Summary: What is it? What is it not? How do we

use it effectively in an analysis? • Paraphrase: What is it? What is it not? How do we

avoid plagiarism? • Citing Sources • Summary and Paraphrase: Effective vs. Ineffective• Participation Assignment #3

Quizzes: How to Prepare for Them• Read the texts assigned in Raider Writer as if you

will have to apply the information in writing. • Focus on key terms and their application (think:

conceptual knowledge vs. procedural knowledge!)• Review the Top Twenty Errors and understand

their definitions. Use the e-handbook to learn solutions to these errors

• Review our class notes and come to class on time. • On quiz days, the quiz will compose 50% of your

participation grade for the day. You must complete the quiz and follow directions to receive credit.

Brief Assignment #2: Summary and Paraphrase• Primary directions are on Raider Writer • Clearly label the first section “Summary” and the

second section “Paraphrase.” Please place appropriate breaks (spacing) between sections.

• For our class, you must work with Birkerts’s “Into the Electronic Millennium for both the summary and paraphrase. Please paraphrase paragraph #4 (“Transitions like the one…”) on p. 227 in FYW. You will not receive credit if you use a different text for this assignment. Please follow directions.

• Refer to the guidelines for summary and paraphrase

Brief Assignment #2: Continued•Please clearly label the author and title of work

above both the summary and paraphrase•You must use MLA citations (both in-text and

Work Cited). You will lose a letter grade for failing to include citations. Label your Work Cited entry at the end.

•For the Work Cited, please refer to the MLA section of your BSM Handbook, 16d, particularly “Work in an anthology or chapter book with an editor.” We will discuss this further next class.

In-text Citations•An in-text citation is: any MLA-style

citation used within your text for specific page references. As in (Gee 547). Always place your terminal punctuation (period, semi-colon) AFTER the citation.

•Example: Gee informs the readers that “…,” which suggests that… (547).

Summary: What is it, exactly? • Summary is a form of source integration that accurately

“condenses a text’s main points” in your words, not the author’s. Think of it like a report that covers the text and its particular argument.

• Requires you to understand more than the content of a text: you must understand the purpose and audience of the text to understand which points are worth including in a summary. Figure out purpose before you go looking for rhetorical choices.

• Does not contain supporting details (quotations, wordy examples) from the text.

• Does not contain your opinions or evaluation of the text.

True or False? It’s okay to quote the author “a little” or borrow phrases to support a summary.

A summary should cover every paragraph of a text in some way.

A summary should be written from the perspective of the author.

A summary should be fairly long.

Answers:False to all three!1. A summary’s purpose is to describe the major points and

significance of a text’s argument without relying on quotes or the author’s language.

2. Although it’s important to not miss a major point of the author’s purpose or argument, this does not mean you absolutely must account for every single paragraph.

3. A summary should clearly refer to the author and text from a scholarly third-person perspective. Remember: this is someone else’s work you’re discussing, not your own.

4. A summary should be a great deal shorter than the original text. Aim to summarize an article-length piece (like the ones in your textbook) in about 200 words or so. One full paragraph should be able to cover an article’s ideas concisely.

A Familiar Example of SummaryCompare the following two summaries for Star Wars: A New Hope. How are they different? “Princess Leia is held hostage by the evil forces of the Galactic Empire in their effort to take over the galaxy. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing Han Solo team together with the lovable robotic duo, R2D2 and C-3p0, to rescue the beautiful princess and restore justice in the galaxy.” – Lynch, Robert. “Star Wars: A New Hope.” The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. Web. 9 Sep 2013.

“ Part IV in George Lucas’ epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a Rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies […] attempt to rescue a Rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empire’s most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star.” – Wong, P. “Star Wars: A New Hope.” The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. Web. 9 Sep 2013.

Class Response•What details did the two share in

common?•What details did either lack that you think

is important to understanding the film? •Why do you think the first author chose

different details to include? How did that change his explanation of the film? (Hint: who or what is missing in their summary?)

Group Activity• With your participation assignment from last

week, trade your summary with a partner and note the style and details included in their summary of Gee’s article.

• Note for yourself if and where the purpose of the article is stated.

• What details do your two summaries share in common? Where do they differ the most?

• Did your peer include too many details from the text? Is the summary too vague? What does the summary do well? How so?

Class Activity: Outlining and Summarizing•Everyone in rows 1 and 2: on a piece of

paper, briefly outline the main point and important terms in paragraphs 1 and 2

•Everyone in row 3: as noted above, outline paragraph #3 on p. 548

•Everyone in rows 4, 5 (and anyone else): outline the final paragraph on p. 551

Paraphrase: What is it? •To paraphrase a passage means to “restate

in your own words entirely the entirety of [an] original passage’s main point.”

•Why might paraphrasing be necessary? In what circumstances?

•What is the difference between paraphrasing, quoting, and plagiarism?

•How do we indicate to our readers that we are paraphrasing an author’s words? (Your FYW textbook answers this)

Tips on Learning How to Write an Effective Paraphrase• Make sure you have read the passage or

paragraph at least twice. Mark (annotate) any important phrases or concepts.

• Walk away from a the text for a few minutes, then try to rewrite in your own words. Do not repeat any phrases the author used.

• Compare the passage you produced to the original: what did you retain? What did you miss? Make sure you included all the important points in the same order in which they appeared in the text.

Useful paraphrase or plagiarism? 1. Gee believes that if children had things like

walkthroughs for class, it would be called cheating. Think of a class where students argue over why or why not to use one. This situation occurs in real life to some extent.

2. To illustrate the relevance of video games to textual learning, James Gee uses an analogy in which he compares guides to the information scientists and other researchers already employ in their fields. In doing so, he demonstrates that his audience’s assumptions about games may get in the way of their ability to see the value games may have for literacy and contextual learning (Gee 547).

True or false? 1. A paraphrase should be shorter than the

original passage. 2. A paraphrase should only be used when

you find a quote that is too long to include in your analysis.

3. It’s okay to not leave an in-text citation at the end so long as you have a work cited entry at the end of your document.

Again, False to All Three! • Often, paraphrases are longer than the original.

However, you should aim to be concise with your paraphrases in an analysis because you do not want to imbalance your work with unnecessarily large source integrations.

• Paraphrases are useful in many circumstances, though particularly when you need supporting details from the text to back your analysis or claim. Direct quotes and paraphrases have different values and uses in an analyis. They are not always interchangeable.

• Any idea, detail, or claim taken from another author’s text must be cited both in-text and at the end of the work. Not doing so constitutes plagiarism.

Review: Key ConceptsSummary Paraphrase• Does not contain evaluation or

opinion: only the key points of the text.

• Should touch on the text’s purpose in an accurate but concise manner.

• Should not include detailed examples or quotes from the text.

• Should be composed of your own words and phrasings, not the author’s.

• Should be no longer than a full paragraph (five to six developed sentences).

• Contains the key points of the passage in the original order in which they appeared.

• Should not distort or misconstrue the meaning of the passage.

• Should be composed of your own words and phrasings, not the author’s.

• Generally short in scope, but should not be dramatically longer than original passage.

Homework and Participation Assignment #3

READ: all readings designated for the coming week in Raider Writer (you should be getting the hang of this by now).

WRITE: Annotate James Gee’s article (p.547 in FYW, same as last week). To annotate, underline important passages, terms, and ideas; mark and define difficult terms Gee uses; mark which passage you think most clearly expresses the piece’s purpose; and note any recurrent patterns in the language. Bring this to class!

With standard formatting (title, 12-pt Times New Roman font; name, date, and section in upper right hand corner), please compose a detailed outline for the text (see examples in your BSM Handbook 3f ). Mark this as item 1.

For item 2 (please mark as well), identify three or more rhetorical choices in the text and state why you believe they connect to the author’s purpose and audience (200-250 words). Remember: the rhetorical appeals (ethos (authority), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) are not rhetorical choice. Rhetorical choices build the appeals; think of it like cause and effect. This document is due in class next week.

Reminders•Don’t forget about your Brief Assignment

#2!•Also, please select the text you would like

to work with for your rhetorical analysis if you have not already. These texts (mentioned in the Powerpoint for Week 2) come from your FYW Textbook. If you have not already, please read and begin annotating your chosen text.