Content and Objectives:
For this assignment you must submit a 500 word summary of ONE of the three summary articles provided on the course Moodle site. There are two main objectives for this assignment:
1. To understand and apply the principles of summarizing an academic article as discussed in class and as covered by the Giltrow text book.
2. To gain some familiarity with an aspect of rhetorical studies. You will need to identify the main ideas in the author's article and separate them from the supporting details in the text.
It may be helpful for you to create a "tree-diagram" in preparation for this assignment. Try to identify the author's central idea (thesis) and any important claims he/she makes in the paper. Howdoes the author's work add to the current scholarly literature on the topic (i.e. what knowledge deficitdoes the author propose to fill)? The goal of a summary is to condense a longer work into a shorter, moremanageable form (parts of which you can then use in a research paper when referring to or citing other experts on the topic). You do not need to take a position or evaluate the article you are summarizing: or this assignment you are asked to objectively report on the argument, method, and evidence used in the article.The ummary must be written in your own words. At 500 words, there is little space for extensive direct quotations: avoid using quotes that are more than fifteen words long. Do NOT copy sentences from the original. All paraphrases and quotations must be cited with page numbers in parentheses. Be sure to usethe page numbers indicated on the article itself rather than the page numbers that you count on your printed copy. Please see the summary example (posted on Moodle) for more details. A works cited/references list is not necessary for this assignment. Keep in mind the way that the author moves back and forth between high-level (abstract) ideas and specific details (concrete information and examples). The balance of abstract ideas and details is one of the most common features of a journal article (which typically develops one central idea or thesis, and supports that central idea with several related points, which are then grounded in concrete details orevidence). Scholarly summaries can be one or two sentences long or several pages long. In a 500 word summary, you have room to report and describe the author's position (central claim or thesis) and the most important supporting ideas of the article, including, perhaps, some carefully selected details. Effective summarizers read carefully (taking note of the form and content of the original) and characterize theactions of the original work appropriately.
In the process of writing your summary and in preparing to write your summary, it may help you to follow some (or all) of the following steps:
Read the title, abstract, and any subheadings. Skim over the article briefly to establish a general idea of its content and structure.
Read the article carefully, picking out the main idea or gist in each paragraph. As you go through, pay attention to the high-level (abstract) ideas and the details which the author uses to support these ideas.
Look for key terms/prestige abstractions and be sure to identify and look up any words or terms that are unfamiliar to you. Does the author provide any extended definitions? Pay attention toany repeated phrases, patterns of specific detail, and definitions that the author offers.
Pay attention to reporting expressions and other "coherence expressions" - these will act as signposts and give you clues as to the direction and structure of the article.
Re-read the article and check that the gists and levels of abstractions you earlier identified are accurate. Consider the relative importance of the ideas that the author presents - is there a hierarchy?
Begin a draft. Introduce the writer and the title of the article in the first sentence. Indicate any relevant information such as the date it was published, any historical context that you are aware of, and the kind of text that it is (an article, a chapter from a monograph, a published lecture, etc.)
Revise your draft as many times as you feel necessary in order to develop a coherent and wellstructured piece of writing. You may wish to draw on Giltrow's techniques of the "think-aloud protocol."
Edit and proof-read carefully. I am looking for grammatically correct sentences and organized, coherent paragraphs. It can often be more challenging to write a shorter piece than a longer one: edit carefully for concision and avoid unnecessary repetition.
If you have any problems or questions about this assignment, please come and see me during office hours, or make an appointment to do so well ahead of the summary's due date.Summary is a crucial skill in academic writing, especially in the research process: it is the first step inturning your academic reading into academic writing. Summary is one way to begin to manage the"scholarly voices" you will encounter in academic articles - a way to reduce them to their main points,which you can then integrate into your own research writing. Attachment:- New WinRAR archive.rar