Summary Analysis

Planning an Analysis
 respond: form
Read an article article opinions about
the ideas.
Analysis requires more:

1. Why do you AGREE (or DISAGREE) with the

AUTHOR?

2. What SUPPORT do you have for your

OPINION?
 To analyze =
to observe carefully,
to take an idea apart how you think
and
to discover feel about it

To communicate the result of your analysis to an

audience, you must be able to show the audience
WHY your opinion is WORTHWHILE.

You support your opinion with FACTS,

EXAMPLES, PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, and/or
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
 SUMMARY ANALYSIS/RESPONSE:
FORMAT

I. First (INTRODUCTORY) paragraph should

include
A. Name of the material read (book, article)
B. Name of the AUTHOR(S)
C. Main ideas of the written material (brief summary)
D. YOUR main idea (your THESIS STATEMENT of
opinion, your response to the material)
 Summary-Analysis:
FIRST (INTRODUCTORY) PARAGRAPH

INTROD.. A recent article in the Journal of Political Inequality,

“Underground Revolution,” concerns the underground
leftist organizations in Iran. Authors Swenta Bold,
SUMM.
Geri Johnson, and Daniel Mroz discuss such
information as the political beliefs, the
THESIS demonstrations, and revolution in Iran. Probably
because their news sources were incorrect or thesis
biased, most of the information in this article is biased
or simply wrong.
II. General progression for BODY PARAGRAPHS

A. First main point (second main point, etc.) to be

analyzed is summarized briefly
B. Quoted material to illustrate that summary (optional)
C. Your response to that main point (the topic
sentence): notice that your topic sentence is not the
first sentence in the paragraph.
D. Support for your topic sentence from your own
experience or reading .
 Example: BODY PARAGRAPH

According to authors Bolt, Johnson, and Mroz, at least one of the

Summary
major organizations is pro-Communist. “Perhaps the most dangerous
guerilla force—the one, apparently, that led the attack against the U.S.
Quotation
Embassy—is the pro-Moscow Fedayeen-Kalq, or People’s Self-Sacrifice
guerrilla.” What is the meaning of “dangerous” here? This organization is
not dangerous for Iranians or for Iran, but it is dangerous for Iran’s enemy,
for world imperialism; in fact, that was the reason for the organization: to
Topic
revolt against the corrupt rule in Iran and against the imperialist force of the
Sentence
U.S.. Second, the Fedayeen denied the responsibility of the attack on the
U.S. Embassy. And in fact, an official report from the government showed
that a rightist group of Khomeini’s supporters was responsible for attacking
the embassy. After the attack, the leftist group called the Fedayeen protected
the embassy. Third and most important, the Fedayeen are not pro-Moscow.
Support
In their political brochures it has been written many times that “We do not
support any country and we are not supported by any country.” As far as
their policy has been shown to Iranians, what they say is true: they are not
going to make an independent country.
 Conclusion

A. Statement of your conclusions after reading

and thinking about the written material.

B. What points can you make? Where did the

article lead you?
 Conclusion: Example

Why did an important magazine like the Journal of Political Inequality

have these mistakes? Surely a worldwide magazine would have better
and more reliable news sources. A cynic might conclude that this
magazine is trying to influence people’s minds about the situation in Iran.
Perhaps the Journal of Political Inequality wants to frighten their readers
away from communism. If it is true that the news Americans get about
Iran is controlled and biased, several questions arise: is other news,
particularly about Communist countries and revolutions in countries, also
slanted? Is news generally controlled in the U.S.? If so, who is
responsible for this control?
Introduction
• Name of author, title of article
• Major points to be analyzed (short summary)
• Your thesis: opinion about the main points of article.

Body : each BP should contain:

• Major point to be analyzed in that paragraph.
• Direct quotes from the article, demonstrating the point being
made (optional)
• Your topic sentence which states agreement or disagreement
with the main point
• Your proof of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of that
major point: facts, examples, physical description, personal
experience.
• (a suggestion for the improvement of the author’s main pts.

•Conclusion
• perhaps only one sentence
• probably an opinion which you have proved within your
essay.
• How To do the analysis?

1. Read the article (book, articles, reports).

2. Read it again, marking the points you would choose to
discuss (respond to).
3. Decide on an overall thesis that agrees or disagrees (or
perhaps agrees and disagrees) with the main points f
the article.
4. Begin to generate support for your opinions.

5. Construct topic sentences for the body paragraphs of

your essay; each topic sentence will agree or disagree
with a single point in the article.

6. Gather support for the opinions you wrote in your topic

sentences: use facts, examples, physical description,
and/or personal experience.
General Form for Summary. Analysis of Written Material

For a response to written material that is

approximately 500 words (2 double-
spaced typewritten pages), the essay will
probably have a total of 4- 6 paragraphs.
Below Figure 6-1) is a diagram of the
general form for summary-analysis
essays.
 PROBLEM

One problem that student writers often have in

summary-analysis essays is keeping a clear
distinction between the ideas in the article and
the student writer’s opinions and ideas.
 To solve this problem:

1. Use the title of the article or the author’s name in

every paragraph as a coherence device.
2. When using the author’s name, use the last, not the
first name (Bolt stated...)
3. Be certain that your topic sentence in each
paragraph clearly agrees or disagrees with the main
point of that paragraph.
4. Do not use examples or facts from the article to
support your opinions. Use ideas that you generate
yourself.
 Additional suggestions:

1. In a critique or written response, agreeing totally with

the article often leads to a repetitive essay; it is difficult to
think up new examples of why an author is correct. It is
easier to disagree with the author: disagreement is often
easier to prove.
2. Perhaps the most balanced response to written
material is some agreement and some disagreement.
Keep that in mind as you plan your essay: if possible,
agree first (the weaker paragraphs) and then disagree
(the stronger paragraphs).
• Student Responses
Below is an essay about a controversial
subject. Read it and then study the
samples in which North American students
responded to it.
 EXERCISE 4

• In recent years, a major political controversy in the U.S. has focused

on the growing number of small handguns (sometimes called
“Saturday night specials “) in this country. The millions of members
of the powerful National Rifle Association oppose government
legislation of any kind of gun ownership; however, a number of
people in the U.S. think that handguns should be made illegal.
• Below are two letters representing opposite viewpoints. Read both
letters. Select the letter with which you disagree. In an organized
essay, briefly summarize the main points of that letter; then discuss
why you disagree with the letter, using facts and examples from your
personal experience or your reading to support your opinion.
 EXERCISE 5

1. Do the introductions follow the correct

format? How could each of the introductions be
improved?
2. Read the body paragraphs. Does each follow
the format? Does each contain enough specific
detail to prove the writer’s topic sentence? How
could you improve each of the paragraphs?
3. Do the conclusions follow the format? Is one
more effective than the other? How could each
be improved?