BA #2 SUMMARY & PARAPHRASE

1. BA #2SUMMARY & PARAPHRASE

2. Summary • Make your Own Checklist

3. FOR YOUR SUMMARY: • Identity the genre, the title and the author. In her article, “Everyone Speaks Text Message,” Tina Rosenberg illustrates the dependency and opportunities technology has given indigenous cultures in order to keep their cultures alive. … Ideally, this will be followed by the main point (thesis) of the article – See more student examples on p. 573 This, or something like it, is the beginning of your first sentence.

4. Other opening sentences for Summaries • “Chew on This” published as a Last Word feature in the February 2012 UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, briefly updates readers about recent research regarding whether gum-chewing is beneficial and suggests that any benefits are minor or do not last for long (57). • Unlike the statue of the general on his horse, which is intended to commemorate the general’s heroism, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM) has what Kirk Savage calls a “therapeutic” purpose (57).

5. DO NOT EVALUATE • You are Summarizing, or Paraphrasing the AUTHOR’S main ideas, not your own, or your reactions to them. Do not stray from the main ideas. • Do not include a PERSONAL RESPONSE. This is not the assignment for opinions. Stick to what the AUTHOR SAYS, what the ARTICLE DOES • Beware of “I” and “You”

6. Attributive Tags in Summaries (p.58) • The author reports... • It presents... • The article suggests • The author points out • It is found • “The article’s unnamed author reports that the most likely benefit of of gum chewing is increased saliva flow.” • “It is found that even the copy that is not supposed to be plagiarized still contains things that can be viewed as plagiarism, such as paraphrasing or syntax.”

7. SIZE MATTERS • A summary should be exactly that – a CONDENSED version of the text’s main points. It is the GIST of a text. • Keep it to 150-250 words or 5-7 sentences. If you are over, ask yourself what isn’t necessary. Trim the fat. • A paraphrase is a RESTATEMENT of a text’s content in YOUR OWN WORDS, and should be roughly the same length at the paragraph being paraphrased

8. USE “SAYS” AND “DOES” • Page 56 and 57 in the textbook • Says: summarizes a small portion of content; explains “what” the content “says.” • DOES statements – does not repeat the content; explains “how” the content relates to the purpose of the larger text. • Does Verbs: adds, argues, compares, contrasts, elaborates, illustrates, questions, suggests, synthesizes, etc. (p.54) • Use Does statements to build structure for your SUMMARY • Combine with SAYS statements to put the main ideas in your own words.

9. Summary Checklist • Check Yours Against the One Below: • Summary should be precise • Summary should be neutral its representation of the original author’s ideas, omitting the current writer’s own opinions • The original author’s ideas should be expressed in the summary writer’s own words. • The summary should us attributive tags • The summary should quote sparingly • The summary must use citations: Not in-text but a Works Cited at the end

10. PARAPHRASING • Use your OWN WORDS. Imagine you are having a CONVERSATION. How would you restate the text? • Keep it simple. Don’t feel you have to compete with the author’s vocabulary. • Review section 12f2 in the Handbook. Notice how the student simplifies things. Verbs are key – “decoding” becomes “figuring out” “exchange” and “engage” becomes “use” • Be aware of sentence structure. Do not copy the author’s. Combine ideas.

11. Paraphrase • Restate in Your Own Words the entirety of the original passage’s point. • Because you are following not only the original wording but the original idea so closely in paraphrase YOU MUST CITE YOUR PARAPHRASE! • Why Paraphrase?

12. Good Approach to Paraphrasing: Paraphrase X 3 • Start with a brief passage. 2-3 sentences that contains an especially significant idea. • Begin by circling the important words in the passage. • Replace the “important” words with words of your own that maintain the integrity of the original passage. • Now: paraphrase your paraphrase: replace your new words with newer words. • Repeat the step above ONE MORE TIME. • Take a step back. Reread the original sentence. How has the meaning become even clearer to use through the paraphrasing exercise? Revise a paraphrase that uses the most precise and concise language.

13. Try one: • “The American Scholar” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Page 473, Paragraph 19. • “It is remarkable, the character of the pleasure we derive from the best books. They impress us ever with the conviction that one nature wrote and the same reads” (Emerson).

14. Instructions for BA2 RaiderWriter • The following 3 articles are located in Ch. 16 of your textbook. To complete your article summary,select one of the articles from the list below OR use a different article chosen by your classroom instructor. • “The New Sovereignty,” Shelby Steele 450 • “My Pedagogic Creed,” John Dewey 460 • “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson 468

15. More BA 2 • After you’ve completed your summary, you will paraphrase a brief but complex passage from the same text. Your goal in this assignment is to restate the ideas of the passage in your own words and do so in a way that is readable and understandable. To complete this assignment,choose a passage from the texts above ORone selected by your instructor that is part of the text you summarized and paraphrase that passage.

16. These, AND ONLY THESE, are your Paraphrase Options • STEELE: Pg. 458, Paragraph 28:“I think it is time for those who seek identity...” • DEWEY: Pg. 466, Paragraphs 40-42 Second full paragraph: “I believe that education is fundamental” • EMERSON: Pg. 471, Middle of Paragraph 10 – end of Paragraph 10:“He shall see that nature is the opposite of the soul…”

17. IF YOU PARAPHASE SOMETHING OTHER THAN 1 OF THE 3 LISTED YOU WILL FAIL THE ASSIGNMENT

18. FORMATTING FOR BA2 • SEPARATE and LABEL each section • For example: SUMMARY Summary Text • For PARAPHRASE identify PARAGRAPH and PAGE NUMBER • For example: PARAPHRASE p. 458, Paragraph 28(I’ve already done it for you) Summary Text