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A summaiy iestates the main iueas of an authoi in youi own woius. It keeps the essential
infoimation fiom the oiiginal passage while eliminating most suppoiting uetails, such as the
examples anu illustiations. A goou summaiy makes the authoi's iueas cleai, peihaps even
cleaiei than in the oiiginal.

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An 5?<7:A9B9=6 is a shoiteneu foim of a woik that to a gieat extent keeps the language of
the oiiginal. Although an euitoi has maue uecisions about which woius oi passages to uelete,
the aiticle oi book is piesenteu as the woik of the oiiginal authoi.

A D5<5D4<589 uiffeis fiom an abiiugement in that it is wiitten in language uiffeient fiom the
oiiginal. It follows the oiuei of the oiiginal text anu, unlike a summaiy, it iecasts eveiything,
not just the main iueas. It may be shoitei than the oiiginal, but it coulu be longei.

A 8EBB5<F is geneially much shoitei than the oiiginal text. It incluues only key iueas anu
omits the uetails. It may oi may not follow the oiuei of the oiiginal. Because you must ueciue
how all of the iueas fit togethei, wiiting a summaiy iequiies moie skill than wiiting a
paiaphiase. A paiaphiase is a list of sentences; a summaiy is a gioup of connecteu sentences
ievealing how the authoi's iueas aie ielateu.


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1. Pieview the aiticle to get an iuea of what it is about. Reau the title, heauings, fiist
paiagiaph, fiist sentence of the following paiagiaphs, anu the last paiagiaph.

2. Reau caiefully. Photocopy the aiticle so that you can unueiline oi highlight the main iueas.
Be selective. Naik only the main iueas. (Tiy to limit youiself to no moie than 2u% of the
oiiginal.) Wiite the main iuea of each paiagiaph in the maigin anu also make notes about the
puipose of the paiagiaph (Foi example, uoes it pioviue examples of a main point oi seive as a
tiansition to anothei point.)

S. Expiess in one sentence the thesis oi main iuea of the aiticle. A goou mouel foi youi fiist
sentence is to incluue the authoi's name, the title, anu the thesis. In "Essays to Reau at the
Beach," Fiances Payne (uiscusses, states, aigues). . . TBESIS 0F TBE ARTICLE.

4. Wiite youi fiist uiaft, using what you have unueilineu anu wiitten. You can keep this uiaft
simple by following the oiuei of iueas in the oiiginal.




2
Reminu the ieauei seveial times that you aie summaiizing anothei authoi's woik:
"Payne also notes that . . ."

6. Wiite a shoitei veision of youi fiist uiaft, this time imposing youi own oiuei on the iueas
anu making uecisions about what infoimation is essential.

7. Keep quotations shoit. If youi assignment peimits you to quote uiiectly, it's usually bettei
not to quote entiie sentences. Summaiize a poition of the quotation anu quote only the most
impoitant woius.

8. Reau youi summaiy caiefully to make suie that the meaning of the oiiginal aiticle woulu
be cleai to someone who has not ieau it.

%$G: If you aie having tiouble unueistanuing an aiticle, eithei because its iueas aie complex
oi because its oiganization is confusing, tiy wiiting a shoit paiaphiase of each paiagiaph. The
meaning will piobably be cleaiei aftei you have woikeu youi way thiough the aiticle, so you
coulu then wiite a shoitei veision of youi paiaphiase, tiying to eliminate those iueas that
uon't seem essential. At this point you shoulu be ieauy to wiite a summaiy, an even shoitei
veision of youi paiaphiase that suggests youi unueistanuing of the way the iueas fit togethei.


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A summaiy iepoit piesents infoimation fiom seveial souices on a topic, geneially without
auuing any of the wiitei's opinions. Youi assignment may iequiie you to incluue youi opinion.
If you aie not suie, ask youi piofessoi.

If you uon't have specific guiuelines fiom youi teachei on how to oiganize a summaiy iepoit,
you coulu tiy this foimat:

(1) shoit intiouuctoiy paiagiaph that expiesses a theme that somehow ties the essays
togethei
(2) summaiy of fiist aiticle
(S) tiansition to next aiticle
(4) summaiy of seconu aiticle, etc.
(S) a conclusion that iestates the theme you set up in the fiist paiagiaph.

"456 78 5 8EBB5<FI<98DH=89 9885F3

A summaiy uoes not incluue youi opinion; a summaiy-iesponse essay iequiies you to
iesponu to the iueas in an essay anu come up with a thesis that expiesses youi opinion.
Summaiy is one component of that soit of papei, not the entiie papei.

If you uon't have specific guiuelines fiom youi teachei on how to oiganize a summaiy-
iesponse papei, you coulu tiy this foimat:

An intiouuctoiy paiagiaph which incluues one oi two sentences stating the

3
authoi's name, the title of the essay, anu the essay's thesis; a sentence oi two summing
up youi iesponse,
which you might think of as iaising the points you want to make about the authoi's thesis
(2) A paiagiaph oi two summaiizing the essay
(S) A paiagiaph oi two exploiing youi thoughts about the aiticle.

%$G: 0sually you aien't iequiieu to iesponu to eveiy point maue by the authoi. You can
auuiess the main aigument anu iesponu to seveial seconuaiy iueas, peihaps auuing youi
examples oi uiawing connections between the authoi's iueas anu youi own expeiiences.

%$G: Anothei way to oiganize the papei woulu be to summaiize one main point maue in the
oiiginal aiticle, iesponu to it, anu then summaiize anothei point anu iesponu to that one.


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In "Essays to Reau at the Beach," Fiances Payne aigues that spiing bieak is the peifect
time foi college stuuents to get caught up on all of those essays theii piofessois have assigneu
since classes began in August. She points out that a photocopy of an essay can be slippeu into
a caiiy-on bag foi the flight to Cancun anu then uiscaiueu aftei a caieful ieauing. Accoiuing to
Payne, stuuents also ueiive much satisfaction fiom combining sun, fun, anu inteiaction with
complex iueas. The authoi uiew hei conclusions fiom a 1997 suivey of 1,2uu college stuuents.

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