Each student will select two articles from the course reader
and write one-page summaries of 250-325 words.
This exercise is designed to develop analytical and writing
abilities and should help you in a variety of ways, including how
to read for key points and how to separate one's own reactions to
an article from a more neutral descriptive understanding. This
should be an easy way to help you refine your prose for longer
assignments.
These summaries are due by 5 p.m. on the Monday before class
by email. You can just send them as the body of the email
message rather than as an attachment. Please separate paragraphs
by a blank line.
I will evaluate the summaries and make copies for the class.
For this reason, it is important that you complete the assignment
by the deadline, but it should not be difficult as you will
already have done the reading. Grace days do not apply for the
summaries.
Include page references in parentheses for key ideas so that
the reader can use the summary to go back to the original
article.
The key to writing effective summaries is to be succinct and
to balance identification of key points with some detail.
Your opening sentences should identify the overall idea or
approach in the article and then the rest of the summary should
succinctly fill in the content of the idea or approach taken.
Obviously, you can only state so much in a one-page summary, so
you will not be expected to be comprehensive. Rather, the succinct
use of words, readability, and overall balance will be used to
evaluate the summaries.