THE SUMMARY- Document prepared by

KCarter, Cégep de

CRITIQUE l’Outouais, for students in

102B and 103 B
In the intro of a summary-
critique:
Your intro should mention the title of the source, the
author(s), the date it was published, and the means used to
publish it.
Your intro must contain a sentence that clearly
summarizes the purpose (the thesis) of the text (written or
multimedia).
A statement that clearly states your point of view about
the video/text. That’s the new sentence! Ex: Although
Carter paints a comprehensive portrait of the situation, the
longitudinal study lacks in intellectual rigor.
 What is a Summary?

A summary provides the essential points of a story IN A

GENERAL, logical, and connected way.

Summaries do NOT include these:

* Background to the issue

* Minor details
* The student's own opinion
* Detailed explanations
* Direct quotations
The Summary:
 You need to summarize the contents of
the article (the thesis or controlling
ideas, all important thought
relationships, and any examples* which
seem particularly important to you.
 For a short document (article or video), you will
probably want to restrict the length of this
summary to one paragraph; a longer document
might require two or three paragraphs.
The use of tense:
 Throughout your summary, you will
frequently refer to what has been
written. Academic convention allows
(actually demands) the use of the
present tense or the present perfect
tense in restating information in a
summary or a review.
Then, ask yourself the following questions after you have
written your summary:

1. Have I left out anything important?

2. Have I put the information in the right order?

3. Have I selected to write the things that the author

(or my teacher) thinks are most important?
4. Have I paraphrased the source and provided the
reference to avoid plagiarism?
The Critique (2nd paragraph):
 This is the most important part. You
are forced to analyse and evaluate the
contents of something. After having
introduced the review and summarized
the contents, you must now elaborate
on the critique.
 BE CAREFUL: the purpose of the critique
is NOT to give your opinion on the topic.
DO NOT USE I!
 Potential elements to discuss in
your Critical commentary
 The importance of the subject matter: is the subject under
discussion one which is central to the field, or is it one which is
peripheral?
 The timeliness: Is the subject of current interest?
 The length of the article: Does the writer adequately cover the
subject within the limits of the article? Should the ideas be
developed more completely? Is it too long? Too short?
 The objectivity: Are the ideas presented objectively or
subjectively? What’s the tone?
 The interpretation of data or the situation/ reality: Does the
interpretation of data or facts seem to be valid, or does it see, that
data are manipulated to support preconceived opinions? Are the
conclusions logical, based on evidence presented?
 The thoroughness of treatment of the subject matter: Have all the
pertinent data about the subject been reported? Has important
information been overlooked or deliberately omitted?
 The practicality of the suggestions: Do the conclusions appear
realistic?
Conclusion
 Add a final paragraph.
 Rephrase the main purpose of the
article, summarize your critical
comment and make a final suggestion
or recommendation.
Before you submit your final
copy:
A. Read each sentence aloud to be sure it
reads smoothly.
B. Can you change words to avoid any
misunderstanding?
C. Have you used any unnecessary words?
D.Have you paid attention to your level of
language? (formal, neutral, colloquial...)

VOILÀ!
 About styles…
-Define all abbreviations, spell out names of
tests and drugs and then provide the
abbreviation using parentheses. Ex. The
American Psychology Association (APA)….
Once you have defined it, you can use the
abbreviation.
-Do not use contractions.
 Reference Citations in text
There are many ways you can cite your sources:
-Carter (2010) studied the relationship between… Carter also
found…
-In a recent study that explored the relationship between
stress and workload (Carter, 2010)….
-When a work has 3, 4, 5 authors… 1) cite all the authors the
first time and then for subsequent citations, just use the
surname of the first author followed by et al.
(Large, Dupuis, & Thériault, 2011), first time.
(Large et al, 2011)
Consult Le guide (omnivox + Moodle) for more examples