Free Paper Sample: Summary Review Assignment

Click on the "help with writing" link on the left side of the page. Then click on the "writing summaries" link found under the "Help with Integrating Quotations, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing" heading. You should be on a page called "Writing a Summary." Under "Do's and Don'ts," the page lists seven things that a good summary should do. Below, write each of the seven items in your own words.

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1. A good summary should contain a one-sentence thesis that outlines the main objective of the text or source. The thesis statement should answer questions about the original text. Questions such as "who did what, where and when?" Also, a reference should be made to the main text using a sentence such as, "This is a summary of....."

2. It should include an introduction of the text to be summarized by quoting the name of the essay and the name of the author. This includes the full names of the author, the title of the book, the publisher and in case of an article, you should include when and where it appeared.

3. It should include the main idea in every paragraph and the evidence supporting the idea if the supporting evidence is relevant to the whole text. If you are summarizing a chapter, a good summary should include the basic idea in every paragraph or section: If you are summarizing a book, a good summary should include the main idea of each chapter and probably the main idea in each section of the chapters.

4. It should demonstrate your understanding of the text. A proper understanding of the essay or text is demonstrated through your presentation of the main ideas in your own language without directly copying what is written in the text. A proper understanding of the text is again demonstrated in the summary by the ability to remain objective throughout the summary and showing a consistency of flow of ideas.

5. It should be written in the present tense. A summary should appear to be reporting on what is written in a text or essay. The use of present tense is important in bringing events of the past into the present. This explains why reporting verbs such as describes, suggests, argues are used in summaries.

6. A good summary should use keywords from the original text. If phrases or whole sentences from the original text are used in the summary, they should be quoted using quotation marks.

7. It should comment on any conclusions drawn by the author if there is any.

The site also lists three things that a good summary should not do.

Below, write each of the three "don'ts" in your own words:

1. A good summary should not give your own ideas, opinion, and criticisms as part of the summary. It should only include information that is relevant and should be neutral.

2. It should not include selected examples and quotes from the main text. A good summary should not appear as a rearrangement of the original text but should instead show the use of your words.

3. It should be brief and should not exceed half the length of the original text. A good summary should incorporate your note-taking skills. This ensures the main point is captured without repeating what is written in the original essay.

The site explains that a summary should use reporting verbs to show that you are reporting someone else's argument or story, not your own.

The site lists a number of reporting verbs that you might want to use.

Verbs such as describe, show, reveal, examine are used to express facts about what the author describes. These verbs are classified under neutral reporting verbs

Verbs such as suggest, speculate, intimate, hypothesize are used to say the author's suggestions but without certainty. They are classified under tentative reporting verbs.

Verbs such as argue, emphasize, assert, refute are used to state the author's main argument and stand.

Write six of the reporting verbs below

1. Describes

2. Presents

3. Argues

4. States

5. Examines

6. Claims