How to Write a Summary

Summaries are due to Blackboard every Friday before class!

Purpose:

Your purpose for writing this part of the assignment will be to summarize, accurately and objectively, the author’s central thesis and claims.

*You will gain skills in careful reading, concise summary writing skills, and fair presentation of others’ ideas.

Audience: Your audiences for these summary are your instructor and your classmates.

Although your readers are familiar with the text you’ve chosen, they will expect you to thoroughly represent the article’s thesis and key points and provide accurate textual evidence throughout your essay.

Genre: Your genre for this part of the assignment is a summary essay of approximately 150 words (about half of a double-spaced page).

Notes

Four Points to Include:1.) Introduce the text in the beginning of your summary so your readers know which text you are summarizing. Include: 1. the author’s name, 2. the article title, 3. the date of publication, and 4.the publication title within the first few sentences.

2.) Main Point: Focus on the writer’s arguments by reporting the text’s thesis and reasons. Show that you understand the “big picture”—the writer’s purpose and how he or she achieves or supports it.

3.) Key Points: List and/or discuss smaller points of importance throughout the article. What did you find to be most relevant in terms of evidence, ideas, or support? Here, it is helpful to include a paraphrase or quote from the article (though no more than 2 quotes to avoid repeating the entire article).

4.) Conclusion: Every piece of writing should have a beginning, middle, and end. Be sure to include the author’s closing points, arguments, or call to action at the very end of your summary.

4

Avoid including examples and evidence that are too specific and consume a lot of space in your summary.

Your aim is to present an overall, general picture of the article, not to present all of the details in the article.

Do generalize about types of evidence, kinds of examples, and rhetorical strategies used by the author to support the argument.

Things to Remember: Writing should never have more than 40% quotes/60% your own writing; however, try to aim for a 30%/70% mix.

Evidence Balance

Quotes/EvidenceWriting/Personal Voice

Use author tags/attribution: To ensure that your reader understands that you are reporting the author’s ideas, not your own.

The author believes….The article addresses….The text concludes….

Use an objective tone and an even mix of paraphrased and quoted source material. Summarize the article in approximately 150 words (one double-spaced page).

Do NOT include your personal opinion of the article. Summaries are not critiques.

Summary Example Complete Article Summary: from article on pg. 345

Four key points (appear in red) of information: In the article “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Darmouth’s Hazing Abuses” published in the March 2012 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, author Janet Reitman interviews a specific student’s experiences in Greek Life. Main points summary: Reitman explains that in 2010, Andrew Lohse, a freshman student at Darmouth, pledged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), and was introduced to the secret life of Greek hazing. Key Points: The article goes into great detail about the hazings pledges endured, “One brother recalls the night some of the pledges were served a scramble of vomit and eggs, known as a ‘vomlet’” (356). Andrew Lohse was said to participate in such events for nearly two years before he was able to take a step back from the situation and see how awful it really was. The article then details how Lohse attempts to put a stop to the hazing behavior by talking with brothers, friends, and administrators; however, his attempts were futile as Lohse realizes he is up against a corporate community that collectively ignores and accepts outlandish behavior (350). Conclusion/solution: Reitman concludes the interview by addressing Lohse’s current position in this fight against hazing: he is currently the only student that has enough evidence to charge criminally, through his personal confessions he admitted in his attempt to right this wrong.

*Author tags and article attributions are in blue.

What your summary will look like…In the article “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Darmouth’s Hazing Abuses” published in the March 2012 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, author Janet Reitman interviews a specific student’s experiences in Greek Life. Reitman explains that in 2010, Andrew Lohse, a freshman student at Darmouth, pledged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), and was introduced to the secret life of Greek hazing. The article goes into great detail about the hazings pledges endured, “One brother recalls the night some of the pledges were served a scramble of vomit and eggs, known as a ‘vomlet’” (356). Andrew Lohse was said to participate in such events for nearly two years before he was able to take a step back from the situation and see how awful it really was. The article then details how Lohse attempts to put a stop to the hazing behavior by talking with brothers, friends, and administrators; however, his attempts were futile as Lohse realizes he is up against a corporate community that collectively ignores and accepts outlandish behavior (350). Reitman concludes the interview by addressing Lohse’s current position in this fight against hazing: he is currently the only student that has enough evidence to charge criminally, through his personal confessions he admitted in his attempt to right this wrong.

Read and Summarize: EthicsDue to Blackboard before class on Friday!

“The Effects of Fraternity/Sorority Membership on College Experiences and Outcomes: A Portrait of Complexity” pg. 331

“Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing

Abuses” pg. 345 (re-write sample in your own words)