Summary

Notes from College Writing 1

Summary

Depending on what we are reading (textbook, newspaper, novel, email ect.) we read it diferently depending on what we will have to do with it later.

When you know you will be summarizing, you should read activly:
re-read, annotate, connect ideas, look for structure, underline, write ideas in margins...

The process of summarizing:
look for :
context: who wrote it, when, where? Maybe do research on author
purpose: why? to inform, to persuade*, to show an opinion, to entertain? Some of each?
central idea/thesis: find the overarching idea that fits over everything
main ideas/ key points: take the big picture and break it down
organization: how are the pieces put together?
key examples: take main ideas and break them down. It may take a second read to find these

*in order to persuade effectively, you should inform first

REMEMBER: a summary should be shorter than the original, it should contain all key points the original had, and have no personal opinions- only the author's weather or not you agree with them.(your own word's, the author's ideas)