writing summaries
DESCRIPTION
By Anita ArcherTRANSCRIPT
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Summing it up: Writing Summaries
Interventions for Struggling Writers
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CTL Research to Practice Conference
Anita L. Archer, Ph.D. Educational Consultant and Author
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What is a summary? Condensed version of all or part of a longer written
product.
Conveys the main ideas of the author.
Provides the reader a broad view of the written product.
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What are the attributes of good summary? (Element 2: Summarization
Element 11: Writing for Content Learning) Attributes - A Summary
Is concise.
Is a straightforward presentation of information.
Focuses on the author’s ideas, opinions, information, or story.
Highlights the major points.
Accurately represents the author’s ideas.
Is written in your own words.
Why is summary writing important?
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BIG IDEAS Teaching Any Written Product WHAT
Critical attributes Rubric
HOW Writing Process
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What (Element 10 - Study of Models)
Ask yourself, what are the CRITICAL ATTRIBUTES of a well-written product.
Represent in a simple, easy to understand RUBRIC.
Provide an EXAMPLE to illustrate the critical attributes.
Guide students in analyzing examples and non-examples of the written product.
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Rubric - Summary of Article (See Examples 1 and 2.) (Element 4: Specific Goals)
Content of Summary Student Rating Teacher Rating
1. Topic - Is the topic of the original article stated? Yes No Yes No
2. Main Idea/Opinion - Is the main idea of the article (or author’s position) clearly stated?
Yes No Yes No
3. Major Points/Reasons - Does the summary focus on the major points, reasons, and/ or information from the article?
Yes No Yes No
4. Accurate - Are the major points, reasons, and/or information accurate?
Yes No Yes No
5. Own Words - Is the summary written in your own words? Yes No Yes No
6. Concise - Is the summary shorter than the original article? Yes No Yes No
7. Combined Ideas - Are some of the ideas combined into longer, more sophisticated sentences?
Yes No Yes No
8. Understanding - Is the summary easy to understand? Yes No Yes No
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Rubric - Summary of Article Conventions Student
Rating Teacher Rating
1. Handwriting - Is the handwriting legible? Yes No Yes No
2. Spelling - Are the words spelled correctly, particularly the words found in the article?
Yes No Yes No
3. Capitalization - Is correct capitalization used including capitalization of the first word in the sentence and proper names of people, places, and things?
Yes No Yes No
4. Punctuation - Is correct punctuation used including a period at the end of each telling sentence?
Yes No Yes No
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Example - Summary (Illustrates all of the attributes.)
Summary - Just Say No to Uniforms In this article, Theresa Jenkins expresses her contention that schools should not require students to wear uniforms. She believes that requiring uniforms could have many negative outcomes including robbing children of their individuality, requiring them to wear clothing that is not matched to their body type, and increasing the wardrobe budget for families to cover the cost of regular clothing and uniforms.
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Non- Example - Summary (Includes opinions other than those of the article’s author.)
Summary - Just Say No to Uniforms The author of this article believes that schools should not require school uniforms for a number of reasons. First, wearing school uniforms takes away a child’s chance to express their personality through their choice of clothing. I think this is particularly important when you are in middle school and you are trying to make a statement about yourself through the t-shirts, jeans, and jackets that you select. Second, students won’t have a chance to practice picking out their own outfits, something that they would have to do everyday before they go to work.
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Non- Example - Summary (Is not written in the student’s own words.)
Summary - Just Say No to Uniforms
Requiring school uniforms takes away the opportunity for students to learn how to select their own outfits. Uniforms blur an individual’s sense of self, make students self-conscious when the uniforms don’t fit correctly, and cost the same if not more than normal clothes. Schools should just say no to uniforms.
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HOW (Element 9: Process Writing) Writing process
Prewriting Writing Revising Editing Publishing
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HOW Writing process
P = Prepare O = Organize W = Write E = Examine R = Repair
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HOW (Effective Element 7- Prewriting) P = Prepare
T = Topic A = Audience P = Purpose
P = Prepare Read the article a number of times.
Ask yourself, what is the topic? What is the main idea? What important things did the author say about the main idea?
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HOW
O = Organize
Scaffolding the organization Writing frames Strategies Think Sheets - Graphic Organizers
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Writing Frames - Narrative Summary (See Examples 3, 4, and 5.)
The main character in this story is ____. The problem in the story is __________. This is a problem because __________. The problem is solved when ________.
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Writing Frames - Narrative Summary
____________________________ took place in ______________________. The main character was __________________________________________, a______________________________. In this story, _____________________________’s problem was ________________. He/she first tried to resolve this problem by_____________________. Then, he/she __________________________________________.In the end, the problem was solved when __________________________________________.
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Writing Frames - Expository Summary (See Examples 6 and 7)
Canoes, long narrow boats that are propelled through the water with oars, have changed over time. Native Americans made canoes from _____________ and _____________. To make canoes from birch bark, they had to _______________ __________________________________________________. To make canoes from logs, they had to __________________ _________________________________________________. Today canoes are made by ___________________________ and are used for mostly for ___________________________.
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Summary Writing Strategy (See Example 8)
Write down the topic of the summary.
List - Make a list of important ideas. Cross-out - Cross out any unnecessary or weak ideas. Connect - Connect ideas that could go in one
sentence. Number - Number the ideas in the order that they
will appear in the paragraph.
(Element 1: Writing Strategies)
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List - Make a list of important ideas. Penquin’s birth!
Male takes care of egg! Female lays egg! Female leaves ! Female spends winter at sea! The water is very cold! Male puts egg on his feet under belly! Male stays on egg for two months! Male doesn’t eat! Egg hatches! Male must care for baby!
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Cross-out - Cross out any unnecessary or weak ideas.
Connect - Connect ideas that could go in one sentence. (Element 6- Sentence Combining)
"Penquin’s birth!" "Male takes care of egg!
" "Female lays egg!" "Female leaves !" "Female spends winter at sea!" "The water is very cold!" "Male puts egg on his feet under belly!
" "Male stays on egg for two months!" "Male doesn’t eat!" "Egg hatches "!" "Male must care for baby!
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Number - Number the ideas in the order that they will appear in the paragraph.
"Penquin’s birth!" 3 "Male takes care of egg!
" 1 "Female lays egg!
2 " "Female leaves !" "Female spends winter at sea!" "The water is very cold!" "Male puts egg on his feet under belly!
4 " "Male stays on egg for two months!" 5 Male doesn’t eat!" "Egg hatches "!
6 " "Male must care for baby!
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Write a summary.
The birth process of penguins is fascinating and quite different from that of other animals. The female penguin lays an egg. However, the female penguin leaves soon after laying the egg and spends the winter in the sea. Meanwhile the male must take care of the egg. For two months, he places the egg on his feet under his belly. During this time, the male penguin doesn’t eat. Even after the baby penguin hatches, the male penguin continues to take care of the infant penguin.
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Think Sheets
Narrative Think Sheets (See Example 9)
Expository Thing Sheets/Graphic Organizers (See Example 10)
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Summing it up! Writing summaries promotes growth both in written expression and in reading comprehension. Because of the complexity of the task, robust, systematic explicit instruction must be provided. First, introduce students to the critical attributes of a written summary using a simple, easy to understand rubric, illustrated with examples and non-examples. Next, apply the writing process to summary writing. Have students prepare by reading the article/story a number of times while thinking about the topic, main idea, and other important ideas. Highlighting and note-taking can be used to scaffold this reflective activity. Next, assist students in organizing their ideas using writing frames, writing strategies, or think sheets. Finally, model the transcription process in which the ideas in the plan are translated into a coherent paragraph or series of paragraphs.