Summarizing Professional

Articles, Deciding What to

Quote, and Reports

COMM-6019 Week 5
 Tasks For This Week

 Read the “Presentation” assignment instructions

 Enroll in groups for the presentation this week. You can “self-enroll” under the “Groups”
section under the “Communications” tab
 Looking for people to recruit? Use the discussion board. Starting today, you’ll see a
discussion forum for “Group Recruitment” --- look for people with similar interests!
 Don’t know or can’t find anyone in the class? That’s okay! You have until February 11 th to
self-enroll. Once February 11th passes, you will be auto-enrolled.
 Every group comes with a locker (for files), a discussion board (this is where you should
document all agreed-upon tasks and work), and dropbox for submission. You can find your
group members under the “Groups” section under the “Communications” tab.
 Start setting aside at least a little bit of time each week to check in with your group. DO NOT
WAIT to do this!!!! 99% of the time, a group presentation fails because of poor
communication or a delayed start to the assignment. If you don’t start the assignment until
very late in the course, then you are setting yourself up for a less than adequate presentation!
Today’s Plan

 Summary
 How often to cite
 Reports 1
 Informal vs formal
 Information vs analytic
 Formatting
 Organization
Keywords for Week 5

 Summary
 Note taking
 Citation
 Intellectual property
 Citation style
 Synthesized information
 Informal reports
 Formal reports
 Information reports
 Analytic reports
 Headings
 What is a Summary?

 A shortened version of another piece of writing

 For instance, you may one day be asked to write a summary of a report you’ve read, and your
summary will be maybe 1 page whereas the report was 25 pages
 When I published my first book, my editor requested that I write a one-paragraph summary of my
300-page book for the publisher!
How is a summary different from a paraphrase?
 Summaries are often comprehensive: meaning, they summarize an entire piece of writing
 Paraphrases do not do this
 The word paraphrase comes from Greek and literally means “close to” (para) “a declaration” (phrase)
– in other words, you are writing a closely related version of what you’ve read or seen or heard
 Paraphrases tend to be of similar length to the original source; if you paraphrase one sentence, chances
are you will only produce one sentence
 E.g. “Dogs are the best companions in the world” (original) and “Canines, the author says, are people’s best
friends” (paraphrase)
 Paraphrases and Quotation
refer back to the author’s w
Paraphrase
“Para-” (close to)
“-Phrase” (declaration)
 Brief
 Accurate (do not use any
of the author’s language)
 Objective
 Focused
 Rephrases a specific
point (i.e. a sentence)
s are used to
ork
Quotations can be used in two ways…
 They may be Introduced
The author disagrees with the study: “The study is
wrong.”
 Or…Integrated
The author concludes that the “study is wrong” based on
…
 They must be accurate (must replicate language
exactly as used)
 They must be focused and relevant (not excessive or
disproportionate to your own voice; they are not meant
to supplant your voice. They should be an aid to your
writing)
 What is a Summary?

How is a summary different from a paraphrase?

 A paraphrase never uses quotations, because it is always an approximation of what was said,
never an exact duplication; use your own words, not those of the author
a synopsis, or an abstract
 A synopsis is a very short summary (usually 1-2 paragraphs) of a large work like a film, a
novel, or an episode of television
 An abstract is a summary of an academic article written by the author of that article in order to
offer the prospective reader a basic introduction to the piece with a full outline of the article’s
major points
The Value of Summary

1. It teaches you to read carefully

 You must understand an article to summarize it effectively
2. It teaches you to recognize the most important pieces of information in an
article
 This requires in-depth reasoning and comprehension skills.
 Also, it teaches you to organize your ideas! In job interviews, you will almost
always be asked to summarize your experience … you need to learn to do this!
3. It teaches you to write concisely
 Reducing an article to 1/10 or 1/3 of its length requires strong and clear
writing
 The biggest problem in many people’s writing is overwriting or wordiness!
The better you get at writing short, succinct summaries … the better writer
you will be in many other ways
Rules of Summary Writing

(1) Read the article carefully and (if possible) more than once
 make sure you understand what the article is about
 Look up words you do not know
(2) Underline the main ideas
 What is the topic of the article?
 What is the main argument (thesis)?
 What are the supporting points?
(3) Rewrite / rephrase / annotate
 As you read, take notes and remark on what you’ve read; what is catching your
interest, what is logical, what is illogical?
 If you hit sentences or phrases you don’t immediately grasp, try writing them out in
your own words to see if that helps you grasp their meaning
Rules of Summary Writing

4) Report only the facts; do NOT evaluate

 Make sure you just shorten the article
 This is NOT an analysis!!!
 Summaries should be written dispassionately and objectively
 They should never, ever include either an opinion on the piece
or an opinion on matters not related to the content of the article
5) Refer back to the author
 Use paraphrases
 Use quotations (if appropriate)
Rules of Summary Writing

6) Check against the original

 Once you have your summary drafted check the original to make sure:
1. You haven’t quoted the original
2. You have covered all of the main points
3. You have excluded all non-essential material
4. You haven’t included your point of view.

7) Edit for spelling and grammar

 NOTE: write in the present tense. Articles are “ever-present” (meaning,
they are not in the past … the author is always doing something right
there on the page … just because you’ve finished reading doesn’t mean
the article’s ideas aren’t still happening on the page!)
The Risk of Subjectivity: a lot is in your
hands

 A summary has no specific length outside of this course.

 A 100 page essay may be possibly summarized in one page.
 A ten page report may require a two-page summary.
 You’re always writing for your audience, and so you must
decide what is important for the audience
 Write for your audience. Think of them. Ask yourself,
constantly, “what does my audience need to know?”
 Formatting Your Summary

The summary should have:

 an introduction or opening that introduces the author, title of their
work, their main point(s)
 a body that outlines the details from the original’s body
 A conclusion that reflects on the overall significance of what
you’ve read and summarized
Why will you have to do this?

 In the workplace you will often have to

summarize information for your employer,
whether it be your own work (an abstract) or
that of someone else.
 You might also need to do this for your own
research or note-taking
 Summary of the available literature might be
part of a larger report in the future
Citation – when
to quote and
when to
paraphrase
What is citation?

 Citation is the act of indicating that words, images, or ideas in

a work authored by one person have been borrowed from
another person
 In day to day life you do this whenever you attribute ideas or
words to another person.
 I was just talking to Mom and she says you haven’t called her in a
while
 Becky told me, and I quote, “I am never talking to Lindsay again”.
 My prof said that you can only use a semicolon between two
independent clauses
 What is citation?

 In more formal terms, citation is a way to let your reader know

 that you are using the intellectual property (ideas, images, or words
belonging to a person, people, or institution) of another
 that you have done research to support your own argument
 how/where to access the courses that you used
 Using a citation style (particular formatting rules for citation) allows
you to accomplish these goals with a uniform format, which makes
identification of citations much easier for your reader. In this course
we’ll look at APA citation style
 Why use citation?

 You should cite other people when you use their intellectual property
for a variety of reasons:
 It gives your opinion/research/stance credibility
 It rightfully acknowledges the work and effort of another person
 It furthers the research of others my connecting your readers with
your sources, which is a really nice way to contribute to scholarship
in addition to your own original ideas
 Ultimately though we cite because it is the right thing to do! And
saves you embarrassment and/or trouble down the road (no one
likes their work being stolen).
Why use citation?

 Please note that on the previous slide the words “to

make students suffer” does not appear on the list ;)
 Citation can be a hassle, overwhelming, and time
consuming, but it is really important in the
workplace and in this class you have the
opportunity to learn how to do it properly
 You will get used to producing these style and to
reading them, which will make you a better scholar
over time.
How often to cite

 Aside from knowing how to punctuate and format citations,

the next most common dilemma my students face is knowing
when to cite and how often to cite
 Usually the trouble is that in approaching a topic a student
might not know much about it, and then feels like every
sentence should be cited since it all came from readings
 On the other hand, if a student already knows a lot, he/she
might not feel like he/she needs to cite things or prove them
 Both of these scenarios can make a student feel insecure about
what to do, so in the next slides I’ll give you some helpful
guidelines on how to avoid these problems
When to cite: step one – take notes

 You’ve already learned how to summarize earlier in these slides,

and that comes from good notetaking
 You can use these principles as well to help you take notes while
you are reading up on a topic
 Highlight articles, take notes on them (including pages numbers)
and copy URLs when you type out notes as you go
 One of the worst feelings is having a great point you want to cite
and not knowing/remembering where you found it
 It takes a little more time as you work to take notes, but it saves
you time and the risk of accidental plagiarism to do this as you
research
When to cite: step two – classify the data

 Ask yourself if you are quoting/paraphrasing

 An opinion (cite and preferable quote rather than paraphrase)
 An analysis (cite and paraphrase over quote)
 A historical fact (no need to cite if its common knowledge like birth
and death dates, do cite if its contested or not generally known)
 Research findings (definitely cite as this is original research)
 Rare information (cite since you cannot likely verify it elsewhere)
 First person accounts (interviews, personal letters, etc) (cite and
quote over paraphrase)
 Something phrased perfectly to quote (cite and quote directly)
When to cite: step two – classify the data

 The rules on the previous slide basically suggest that you need to
cite when the information you are using is specific to a particular
source and something you haven’t read repeated in several
sources
 For example, I may have gone into a research paper on furniture
design in the 1950s not knowing that boomerang coffee tables
were popular, but that’s a commonly known fact I would come
across in many, many sources. I would not need to cite this fact.
 If I read in one article that 20,000 of these tables sold in 1952 in
the united States, which is twice as fast as most furniture trends, I
would need to cite that because it is very specific and also
involves analysis.
When to cite: step three – ask yourself if you’ve
synthesized information

 Ask yourself if you have synthesized (combined information) a new

opinion or your own analysis based on reading many things
 For example, you might read in article A that in the 1950s boomerang
tables became popular, you might read in article B that they were
invented in Denmark, and you might read in article C that in the 1950s
middle-class American’s tried to be more European to show their wealth.
 From reading these three articles you determine on your own that the
spike in popularity of boomerang tables in American in the 1950s was a
direct result of growing US fascination with European design.
 You don’t need to cite that because its your analysis of what you read.
Leading up to that analysis you might cite articles A, B, and C to show
the reader how you got to that conclusion
When to cite: step four – determine how much proof you
need

 Some points need more proof than others

 If your research is really more of an exploration of an idea
(such as your final project in this class, since its an overview),
you likely do not need more than a few sources per topic
 If your research is controversial, ground breaking, or on a very
specific topic with little information available to most scholars,
then you want to make sure to cite more often
 The stakes are higher a) to prove that you know what you’re
talking about and b) connect your readers with esoteric (highly
specific and hard to find) information
Reports I
HUHhhHH?

 Yes, reports!
 One of the big assignments in this course is your final formal report
 You may write this report on your own or in groups of 2 or 3 people.
 The report may (and, in fact, should) overlap with your presentation, and
that’s totally fine. Don’t drain your time doing two totally separate
assignments! I encourage you to borrow from your presentation when you
prepare your reports. They’re due around the same time.
 Now…let’s move ahead…
What is a Report?

 The term report can refer to many kinds of communication

from an informal discussion over the telephone to a lengthy,
formal document.
 In most work situations, you will be given guidelines for the
content and the form of any formal reports you are expected
to write.
 In the case of an informal report you are less likely to have
exactly guidelines on how to format and present the
information to your audience
Formal Reports

 A formal report is generally characterized as a document that will

be used for an official record, within a formal process, or following
the requirements of an internal or external regulatory body
 Formal reports are not necessarily longer than informal reports
 Formal reports can be very strictly formatted or loosely formatted,
but they should have some structured guidelines
 Examples of formal reports include progress reports during a
project or after it has ended, incident or event reports to
document an occurrence in the workplace, or annual or quarterly
reports that a team or organization must produce to management
or a board
Informal Reports

 Informal reports are, as their name suggests, more casual in nature

and may or may not be used in any official organizational capacity
 They can be short or long, oral or written, and vary in formatting
requirements and specifications
 Often the purpose of these reports is less about procedure and more
focused on the content of the report and presenting information in
one place as clearly as possible
 Examples of informal reports could be brief status reports on a
project for internal use, yardstick or justification reports for
decision making purposes, or one- or two-pagers that outline
information to be used by a team
Formal vs. Informal

 Ultimately, the difference between formal and informal reports is more of a

spectrum than a rigid set of categories
 The tone and culture of your workplace, the language surrounding the
report’s creation, the intended audience, and the purpose of the report all
influence its level of formality
 You should always feel free to clarify formality, length, medium and purpose
expectations when you are tasked with writing a report
 For example, you can ask how long the presentation should be and whether a PDF
or a presentation is better
 Avoid asking questions about exact headings and formatting suggestions though –
balance necessary clarifications with the ability to create something professional
independently
Information vs Analysis

 One other consideration is whether you are being asked to present

information objectively or with a recommendation/justified opinion
 For example, you work at a microbrewery company and your boss
asks you to write a quick report outlining other microbreweries in
the city
 In an information report you would name all other microbreweries
and fact about them like name, size, location, product information,
age, etc.
 In an analytic report you would also provide some analysis
perhaps of which companies are most similar to yours, which are
the greatest competition, or even gaps in the product market or
reputation analysis
Your Informal Report
ASSIGNMENT

 For this class you are writing an informal

report that basically acts as a “status” report for
your presentation assignment.
 Essentially, you’re running your topic past me
and introducing me to some of the key ideas
you plan to explore in your presentation. See
the assignment instructions for further
details (these are on FOL under the submission
folder)
Your Formal Report
ASSIGNMENT

 This one is a biggie in the course. It can be done on your

own or in groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.
 The assignment sheet outlines what is expected of you, and
I’ve posted, as well, a sample report to give you a better
sense of the task.
 The formal report is basically a written version of your
presentation (unless you decide you want to do two different
topics for these two assignments, which I don’t really
recommend)
 See the assignment sheet for full details.
Some General Rules for Reports

 Every report has basic traits that are universally

used in report writing
 I’m going to detail a few of these on the next
slides!
Formatting

 Reports should be clear above all else

 Think of the structure of your report as a window that looks onto the
information you want to present
 Of course the quality of information is critical, but the organization and
formatting determine the accessibility of the reader to the information
 Poor formatting and organization are like a dirty or foggy window; excellent
formatting should be invisible to the eye and clearly present the information
at hand
Headings

• Write short but clear headings.

Experiment with wording that tells
who, what, when, where, and why.
 Use the skillset you developed with subject lines.
 Make sure your headings correspond to the table of contents if
you have one (the week 5 report does not require one)
 Be consistent
Heading Structures

Balance headings within levels. All headings at a given level should

be grammatically similar:

 1) Creating Team Motivation

 2) Treating Employees Like
Customers
 (not Employees Should Be Treated
Like Customers)
Headings

 Integrate headings gracefully. Try to avoid repeating

the exact wording of a heading in the following
sentence. Also avoid using a heading as an
antecedent to a pronoun.
 Avoid:
 CUSTOMER SURVEYS

These are . . .
Headings

The “level” of a heading should be clear from its formatting

 All major section headings might be in bold caps, when all
subheadings are simply underlined.
 You can centre or left-align headings – the only “must” is
consistency and appearance on the page.
 You will see a sample of how to nest headings on the next
slides
 Note that not all sections will have subsections or sub-subsections
– the point is that when leveling occurs, it is clearly laid out to the
reader
Example Heading Structure

OVERALL REPORT TITLE

 Main Heading A
 Subheading 1
 Subheading category a
 Subheading category b
 Subheading category c
 Subheading 2
 Main Heading B
(no subheadings in this section)
 Main Heading C
 Subheading 1
 Subheading 2
Organization

 You will have to decide on how to organize your

informal report in many cases
 The best approach is to, of course, be reader-focused,
which means thinking about what your audience needs to
know and thus what order of information will best
present your ideas in the clearest possible way
 In the next slides you will see some suggestions on how
to organize a report, depending on the nature of its
content
Purpose – Findings - Closing

 The direct messaging structure is the classic basis from which

you should always base a report
 You should briefly begin the with purpose of objective of the
report
 Then you should outline the information you found in the most
concise and clear terms possible according to the expectations
of your audience
 Last, you will briefly sum up what you found and potentially
include a recommendation or suggest next steps
Recommendation - Findings

 You can begin an informal report with

the recommendation or summary of its
contents right at the beginning
 Then you will provide details afterward
that justify/explain/articulate the
information that supports the opening
statement
 What about your informal status
report?

 This follows a very simple format …

1. Introduce the topic – on what are you presenting, and what is your goal? Who is involved?
2. Explain your progress – what has been done already and what remains to be done? You may do
this with reference to your workback plan (see FOL).
3. Early findings – what are some of the early or tentative conclusions you think you’ve reached?
What is the significance of your work so far?
4. Challenges – are there roadblocks that are proving to be tough? What are the challenges you’ve
encountered?
5. How do you plan to proceed? – What comes next? When will the project be done? What are your
upcoming goals?
 The purpose of this report is to update me, so that I have a good sense of how the work is going
 The Rest of This Week

 I have a few tasks for you …

1. Enrol in your presentation groups

2. Read the presentation assignment sheet
3. Check out the “Starting Your Presentation” PPT on FOL
4. Review the informal report assignment
5. Read the research report assignment sheet
6. Review the sample formal report posted on FOL (there are two sample formal reports)
 Then! Prepare for Week 6 and Week 7, during which we will speak further about the ways in
which you should approach these assignments.
 Feeling unprepared or a bit inexperienced when it comes to report writing? I’m very happy to
give additional instructions. I try not to overload my assignment instruction sheets, but if you
feel they’re not giving you enough detail or guidance, then please ask for me assistance. I’m
more than happy to help you!