Basic Writing 2 w/workshop

February 24, 2011

• Remember when writing a paragraph I told you to think of the table top as the main idea, the legs as the supporting sentences and the concluding paragraph as the lovely tablecloth…

•Well, get ready to get the legs (and the tablecloth) pulled out from under you!

• When you write a summary, you want ONLY the main idea from the paragraph! You want ONLY the table top from our table.

• This will prepare you for your next major assignment; creating an arsenal (3) of article summaries!

Page 234

• “A summary condenses and presents information, often from a single source. When you write a summary, your goal is to concisely present information from an essay, article or book so that your reader understands the main points. A summary ordinarily presents the author’s ideas objectively, without criticism or evaluation” (Arlov 234).

234

• “At the end of the summary, if the assignment calls for it, write a brief evaluation of the essay or article you are summarizing” (Arlov 234).

• First realize that “good readers distinguish the most important ideas in a passage and summarize them according to an appropriate organizational pattern” (name #).

• “…it is (your) responsibility to bring meaning to the text” (name #).

EMQA

• E• Q• M• A

1. Explanation

2. Modeling3.Questionin

g

4. Application

• Explanation- you need to put the key concepts of the article in your own words and omit personal opinion. Be objective.

• The source of information should come from context textbooks or periodicals but… We are going to use the

Great Big Book of Oprah

• We must remember to– Delete minor and redundant details, remember

how hard we worked to create those details!– Combine similar details into categories and

provide a label, then– Select main idea sentences when the author

provides them– Invent main idea sentences when the author is not explicit.

This rule is applied most successfully

These 3 rules

require more

thought. You must

move from the general

to the specific.

• Modeling-this must be done both verbally and in writing.– I will articulate my though process. You read

silently while I read aloud.Questioning-you must be involved in the

questioning; too may college students are passive learners.

You easily ask product questions; these are related to the finished product…

“Is my paper

correct or incorrect?

”

“Does it have the correct

number of pages?”

“Should it be typed or hand-written?”

You need to ask process questions

“What details did my

summary miss?”

“What point do these details serve in my summary?”

“If I delete these

details, will it improve

my summary?”

• Application-Find 3 articles to summarize.

Go find the article, Can New Shoes Make You Happy? It is by Valerie

Monroe

“Go to the RACC homepage.”

Yocum library-quick links

“Online databases-all subjects”

“Click ‘continue’”

Type in the article title

• Can New Shoes Make You Happy• Author, Valerie Monroe

• O Oprah magazine

Too many titles? (1396)

“Let’s narrow it down”

Click the Publications tab

“Click the letter ‘O’”

Find O: The Oprah Magazine: New York

“Now type in the title”

There it is!

Let’s read an EMQA!

• Remember, summarize first and then you can impart your personal opinion. This is hard sometimes, especially if you vehemently disagree with the topic.