Writing about texts

Summary and/ or Analysis

Summary – Do You Get It?

Neutral in toneDemonstrates that you understand the

author’s key ideasIf a cartoon or Web site, the summary

demonstrates understanding of creator’s purpose and design

Analysis – Is the argument valid?

How the text’s parts contribute to the central argument or purpose

Judge the evidence presentedJudge the overall effect

Read Actively:

Annotate the text

What is annotation?

Engaging with the work Use a pencil Underline key ideas /

concepts Use symbols to mark

them !, *, >,or } Scribble your insights all

over the paper On 1st reading On rereadings

Changed your mind? – erase and replace

Example

One Lunch at a TimeWhat kind of a title is that?Check out the “visual”

Who are the authors?GEORGE MCGOVERN and ROBERT DOLE

The First Paragraph

In the summer of 1968, CBS television broadcast a powerful hour-long documentary titled, “Hunger: USA.” The cameras peered into the dismal pockets of hunger and misery populated by poor American families. Hollow cheeks and rickety legs plagued children and adults alike.

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2nd paragraph

The most moving scene was filmed in a school where all students – even those who were too poor to pay for a meal – were required to go to the cafeteria at lunchtime. One 9- or 10-year-old boy was asked how he felt standing at the rear of the room watching his better-off classmate eat. Lowering his head, the boy confessed softly, “I’m ashamed.”

3rd paragraph

Thirty years later, a child going hungry in an American school is practically unheard of. That’s because of the overwhelming success of bipartisan legislature we sponsored in the 1970s, while we were both U.S. senators, which ensures a nutritious meal at school for all children, including America’s poorest.

Authors have solid credentials.

3rd, con’t.

While hunger has not yet been eradicated in the United States, the lives of a whole generation of American schoolchildren have been improved thanks to that program.

4th paragraph

Now we have the opportunity to reach an even higher goal: to implement a similar plan for the 300 million poor children in the world who either receive no meal at school or do not even attend class.

But what works in the U.S. might not work in other cultures.

Completing the article

Now turn to page 480 in your Bedford Handbook

Pay close attention to the annotations marked on the article.

When you read to class – include the notes that have been made

What do you think of the annotations?Be ready to discuss these notes.