English 1010 Week 5 Online Learning: Summarizing Sources

Readings

Read from FOW chapter 4 (pp. 254-256).

Lesson Material

Writing and reading are inextricably linked. We could say that "writing is an act of reading" because in order to understand the processes, structures, and strategies of our own writing, we need to be careful, critical readers. We could also argue the reverse, that "reading is an act of writing." This is true because when we read we "write" or create meaning by drawing upon the actual symbols we're interpreting (the words) as well as our own ideas, experiences, and understanding combined with what we know of others' ideas, experiences, and understanding. Two different people could read the same passage of text and come up with vastly different reactions or interpretations simply because what the author intended is only part of what any texts ends up meaning to a reader.

As we continue this semester, readings will increasingly give us things to write about, and readings will help us better understand the options we have when we write. We'll continue exploring what readings tell us about ourselves, about cultural forces, and about the complex and shifting relationships between language, knowledge, and power. We'll learn how to communicate our own responses about what we read, and we'll learn how to understand more fully what each reading we do is saying for itself. This is part of how we come to understand what we have to say in relation to what others have to say.

During Monday's synchronous Zoom class, I introduced the Summary/Response Essay assignment, and you've already read the two source options we'll use for the essay. In both this lesson and in Friday's synchronous class, we'll further investigate the processes of summarizing and responding to these texts.

Writing Summaries

One way to increase your own understanding of what you read is to summarize what an author said in your own words. When we summarize, our sole focus is on "they say." We do not include an of our own ideas, arguments, opinions, or responses. Our task, in summarizing, is to fairly, accurately, and objectively report what an author was trying to communicate in his or her writing. In future writing assignments, you may find it's more appropriate to blend summary and response; for this particular essay, you'll keep summary and response separate.

A summary can come in many lengths. For example, it's possible to summarize an entire book in a single sentence: "Focus on Writing teaches students practical and accessible approaches to various writing scenarios and purposes they may encounter in college settings." We could also write a paragraph-length summary of a book, or we could write a several-page summary of the same book.

The idea behind writing a summary is that we take something that someone else wrote, then we distill the main idea of that writing in our own words in a length that is shorter than the original text. The length of our summary helps us know the details we should focus on.

For example:

a sentence-length summary would simply restate the main idea of the text we're summarizing.
a paragraph-length summary would restate the main idea of the text and the key supporting points the author uses to establish her main idea.
a multi-paragraph summary would develop the author's main idea in more detail, then use additional development to expand upon the author's key supporting ideas and conclusion(s).

For this lesson, and this week's discussion, we're going to focus on writing paragraph-length summaries of various readings we'll do. While there are variations on how to write a paragraph-length summary, what I offer here is a recognizable structure that will allow you to visualize and conceptualize the 'work' that summary does in writing.

McMillan offers some helpful insights into how and why we should ethically incorporate sources into our writing (see the reading from FOW listed above). What's important to note at this juncture is that you need to make clear in your writing when you're using sources and when you're writing for yourself. Let's take a look at this possible structure for some illustrations of what this might look like:

General Structure

Summary Structure

The general structure of a summary, regardless of length, but particularly in a paragraph-length summary, is fairly simple: you introduce the author (and sometimes the title, when relevant) and you restate the main idea; you follow up this introductory material (usually a sentence or two) by exploring the key supporting points the author uses, in the order the author uses them; and then you conclude with a sentence or two that restates the author's own conclusion. In addition, you make consistent use of "signal phrases" like 'she indicates,' 'he argues,' 'the article further explains,' 'she continues by explaining,' 'he goes on to develop,' etc. These signal phrases show clearly that your writing is focused on the source material rather than relating your own perspective, argument, experiences, etc.

Even though the structure is simple, it can take some getting used to. We'll practice the structure in this week's discussion by summarizing both sources; then, you'll choose one of those summaries to expand and develop for the Summary/Response essay.

Assignments

To jump-start the writing process for this essay, our Week 5 Discussion asks you to write one-paragraph summaries for each of the two reading options you can use for the Summary Response Essay.