WRITING FROM READING (SUMMARY)

DAY 1 Read, highlight, and annotate “How Dumb Can We Get?” –The article is on my website. –You can either use a highlighter and pen or the highlight and comment tools on Word. –Print/submit the article to me by the end of the period.

DAY 2 Write our 1 st summary. Let’s discuss what “good” summary really is. Write a summary of “How Dumb Can We Get?” Seek out your own article.

WHAT IS GOOD SUMMARY? 1.State the author’s main idea / purpose in your first sentence or two. –This is the central idea/main point you get from the article after reading. 2.State the most important details given to prove that point. –List these, but list them in paragraph form. –Some can be quoted briefly, but MOST OF THEM should be in your own words. –Use your highlighted sentences for this.

WHAT SHOULD IT LOOK LIKE? Take the major highlighted ideas and decide which of them are necessary to create a complete summary of your work. –What is complete summary? Details all the major ideas found within the article but avoids detail not necessary for understanding the author’s point. What “facts” do I include? –Include the “holy cow” facts, or facts that made the argument interesting/compelling/proved a really important point. If it seems crucial to understanding the author’s main point, include it. How much quotation vs. paraphrase? –LIMIT quotation. Only 10-15% of your summary. If you’re quoting more than that, go back and summarize. How long? –A page or less. Shoot for 1/5 th or 1/6 th of your total article length. For us, that’s 300(ish) words on this article.

DAY 3 – FIND YOUR ARTICLE, START READING Must be 3 printed pages (when you print it, three full pages of text should come out). Must be from a reputable source: ESPN, CNN, Databases, etc. –No Wikipedia, no unrecognizable sources (ie. avoid Jim-Bob’s website on Turtles). Choose an article you’re interested to read. You must highlight and annotate this article and submit it BEFORE beginning your summary

DAY 4 Complete summary

DAY 5 (Catch-up Day) Bullet point out major facts from your article that you highlighted and annotated. These will be the foundation for your summary.

DAY 6 Here is the list of things that should be completed, up to and including today: 1.Find Article. Find, highlight, and annotate your article. 2.Bullet-point list. Pull major facts from the article and bullet point them on a word document. This SHOULD NOT just be quotations. 1-3 quotations are fine, but put the facts in your own words. 3.Summary of your article. Don’t forget to use the name of your author often and make sure you state the main point of the article up front. 4.Peer Review. By the end of next class, I’d like you to peer review: Your peer should READ YOUR ARTICLE and review both your bullet point sheet and your summary. Your job is to help with three parts: 1.Did they include all of the necessary facts from the article? Was there a fact that you think should be included that wasn’t? Do they need to add or remove any quotation? 2.Are there extra facts that you feel are unnecessary? Could they be removed and still get the author’s point across accurately? 3.Edit for conciseness. Remove anything extra.