Summary Writing. One of the HARDEST task you ll be asked to do in school is to summarize what you have read or seen.

Transcription

1 Summary Writing One of the HARDEST task you ll be asked to do in school is to summarize what you have read or seen. It s also one of the most IMPORTANT skills you can have to help you survive school! To summarize means to first read something, then be able to: Condense the whole thing Retain the main points and Eliminate supporting details. Sounds easy, but it s trickier than you think, because it s easy to get distracted by unnecessary stuff! The reason writing a summary is HARD is because you need to condense your whole reading into four sentences. To make this easier, we use the Rhetorical Précis Method of Summarizing Credit: 1

2 Rhetorical Précis Précis means: The summary of a text A Rhetorical Précis is a brief representation of what a text says and does. Rhetorical Précis means: An analytical summary of a text that takes into account both the content and the style of the text. Credit: A Rhetorical Précis is like a miniature portrait of the text. It retains the absolute essential points combined with the mood and the tone of the author of the text. And There s a template for that! tem Credit: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com 2

3 A Rhetorical Précis is made up of only four (4) sentence! But, these are not your typical, cheap, store-bought sentences! First Sentence IDENTIFIES: The author (or a phrase describing the author) The Title The Genre The article s date (in parenthesis) A rhetorically accurate verb The essay s thesis Basic Example: In Dave Barry s essay "The Ugly Truth about Beauty" (1998), he satirizes the ways that women unnecessarily obsess about their physical appearances. Advanced Example: In the essay "The Ugly Truth about Beauty" (1998), Dave Barry, nationally known humorist, argues that "...women generally do not think of their looks in the same way that men do" (4) and in the process become unnecessarily and unrealistically concerned with their appearances. 3

4 Second Sentence CONVEYS: The author s support for the thesis (how the author develops the essay). Basic Example: Barry develops his ideas by juxtaposing men's perceptions of their looks with women's, contrasting male and female role models, and comparing men's interests with women's. Advanced Example: Barry illuminates this discrepancy by juxtaposing men's perceptions of their looks ("average-looking") with women's ("not good enough"), by contrasting male role models (He-Man, Buzz-Off) with female role models (Barbie, Cindy Crawford), and by comparing men's interests (the Super Bowl, lawn care) with women's (manicures). Third Sentence ANALYZES: The author s purpose using an in order to statement. 4

5 Basic Example: Using examples from popular culture, he exaggerates and stereotypes these differences in order to poke fun at a social norm and encourage women to rethink their acceptance of these social expectations. Advanced Example: Using examples from popular culture (the Oprah show, Brad Pitt), he exaggerates and stereotypes these differences in order to prevent women from so eagerly accepting society's expectation of them; in fact, Barry claims that men who want women to "look like Cindy Crawford" are "idiots" (10). Fourth Sentence DESCRIBES: The essay s target audience and characterizes the author s relationship with that audience and addresses the essay s tone. Basic Example: Barry opens and closes the essay by directly addressing men ("If you're a man... ) and offering to give them advice, but his actual audience is both men and women, whom he addresses with a warm but mocking tone. 5

6 Advanced Example: Barry s ostensible audience is men because he opens and closes the essay by directly addressing men ( "If you're a man... ) and offering to give them advice in a mockingly conspiratorial tone; however, by using humor to poke fun at both men and women s perceptions of themselves, Barry makes his essay palatable to both genders and hopes to convince women to stop obsessively "thinking they need to look like Barbie" (8). Put It All Together (Basic): In Dave Barry s essay "The Ugly Truth about Beauty" (1998), he satirizes the ways that women unnecessarily obsess about their physical appearances. Barry develops his ideas by juxtaposing men's perceptions of their looks with women's, contrasting male and female role models, and comparing men's interests with women's. Using examples from popular culture, he exaggerates and stereotypes these differences in order to poke fun at a social norm and encourage women to rethink their acceptance of these social expectations. Barry opens and closes the essay by directly addressing men ("If you're a man... ) and offering to give them advice, but his actual audience is both men and women, whom he addresses with a warm but mocking tone. Word Count: 116 Put It All Together (Advanced): In the essay "The Ugly Truth about Beauty" (1998), Dave Barry, nationally known humorist, argues that "...women generally do not think of their looks in the same way that men do" (4) and in the process become unnecessarily and unrealistically concerned with their appearances. Barry illuminates this discrepancy by juxtaposing men's perceptions of their looks ("average-looking") with women's ("not good enough"), by contrasting male role models (He-Man, Buzz-Off) with female role models (Barbie, Cindy Crawford), and by comparing men's interests (the Super Bowl, lawn care) with women's (manicures). Using examples from popular culture (the Oprah show, Brad Pitt), he exaggerates and stereotypes these differences in order to prevent women from so eagerly accepting society's expectation of them; in fact, Barry claims that men who want women to "look like Cindy Crawford" are "idiots" (10). Barry s ostensible audience is men because he opens and closes the essay by directly addressing men ("If you're a man... ) and offering to give them advice in a mockingly conspiratorial tone; however, by using humor to poke fun at both men and women s perceptions of themselves, Barry makes his essay palatable to both genders and hopes to convince women to stop obsessively "thinking they need to look like Barbie" (8). Word count: 205 A Rhetorical Précis: Key Points: Should make sense and be logical in its presentation Should be written in your own words Must follow the order of the ideas of the original text Must have a title Must not contain any details not found in the original text 6

7 Let s Try and Survive This! What Happened to Phineas Gage? Credit: upload.wikimedia.org & cowhampshireblog.com A First Read of the Entire Text (please follow along). Due to an accident while he was working, Phineas Gage made a contribution to the understanding of how the brain works. In 1848, 25-year-old Phineas Gage worked for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad Company laying railroad tracks across Vermont. Before railroad track could be laid, however, the uneven ground needed to be leveled. Gage and coworkers had to drill holes in the stone, put explosive in the holes, cover the explosive with sand, and then use a fuse and tamping iron to trigger an explosion. One day, an accident occurred that changed Gage s life forever. The explosive went off early, sending the tamping iron, which was 1.25 inches in diameter and 43 inches long, shooting into Gage s face, through his skull and brain, and out the top of his head. The tamping iron landed about 25 yards away. Gage regained consciousness within a few minutes. Amazingly, he not only survived the blast, but he was able to talk and to walk! His coworkers took him to the doctor, who cleaned and bandaged the wounds, the standard medical treatment at the time. 7

8 Although Gage survived the physical injuries from the blast, he was a changed man. He appeared to be just as intelligent as before the accident, and he did not have any impairment in movement, speech, or memory. But, something was different. Before the accident, he was a responsible, intelligent, and likeable person. After the accident, he was irresponsible, used profanity extensively, and demonstrated no respect for social customs. His friends commented that Gage was no longer Gage. He could not hold the responsible jobs that he had before the accident and apparently wandered for the next several years. Phineas Gage ended up in San Francisco in the custody of his family, where he died approximately 12 years after the accident. Twenty years after the accident, the physician who treated Gage correlated the behavioral changes with damage to the frontal region of the brain. At the time, the brain was thought to control language and movement, but the suggestion that the brain functioned to process emotions and social behavior was new. In addition, scientists at the time believed the brain lacked localized functions. Unknowingly, Phineas Gage contributed to our understanding of how the brain processes information. In the 1990s, scientists used their improved understanding of brain function, computer modeling techniques, and new data from Gage s skull. On the basis of this information, they found that the accident damaged both hemispheres of the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain that influences social behavior. Today, physicians see patients with damage to the frontal lobe that has occurred through motor vehicle accidents, gun accidents, or major falls. These individuals, like Phineas Gage, often have dramatic changes in their emotional and decision-making abilities. WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY? 8

9 Second Read- Through (focus on details). Credit: blog.lib.umn.edu & c2.staticflickr.com Due to an accident while he was working, Phineas Gage made a contribution to the understanding of how the brain works. In 1848, 25-year-old Phineas Gage worked for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad Company laying railroad tracks across Vermont. Before railroad track could be laid, however, the uneven ground needed to be leveled. Gage and coworkers had to drill holes in the stone, put explosive in the holes, cover the explosive with sand, and then use a fuse and tamping iron to trigger an explosion. One day, an accident occurred that changed Gage s life forever. The explosive went off early, sending the tamping iron, which was 1.25 inches in diameter and 43 inches long, shooting into Gage s face, through his skull and brain, and out the top of his head. The tamping iron landed about 25 yards away. Gage regained consciousness within a few minutes. Amazingly, he not only survived the blast, but he was able to talk and to walk! His coworkers took him to the doctor, who cleaned and bandaged the wounds, the standard medical treatment at the time. Although Gage survived the physical injuries from the blast, he was a changed man. He appeared to be just as intelligent as before the accident, and he did not have any impairment in movement, speech, or memory. But, something was different. Before the accident, he was a responsible, intelligent, and likeable person. After the accident, he was irresponsible, used profanity extensively, and demonstrated no respect for social customs. His friends commented that Gage was no longer Gage. He could not hold the responsible jobs that he had before the accident and apparently wandered for the next several years. Phineas Gage ended up in San Francisco in the custody of his family, where he died approximately 12 years after the accident. 9

10 Twenty years after the accident, the physician who treated Gage correlated the behavioral changes with damage to the frontal region of the brain. At the time, the brain was thought to control language and movement, but the suggestion that the brain functioned to process emotions and social behavior was new. In addition, scientists at the time believed the brain lacked localized functions. Unknowingly, Phineas Gage contributed to our understanding of how the brain processes information. In the 1990s, scientists used their improved understanding of brain function, computer modeling techniques, and new data from Gage s skull. On the basis of this information, they found that the accident damaged both hemispheres of the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain that influences social behavior. Today, physicians see patients with damage to the frontal lobe that has occurred through motor vehicle accidents, gun accidents, or major falls. These individuals, like Phineas Gage, often have dramatic changes in their emotional and decision-making abilities. A Rhetorical Précis: Key Points: Should make sense and be logical in its presentation Should be written in your own words Must follow the order of the ideas of the original text Must have a title Must not contain any details not found in the original text My Example The author of the article, What Happened to Phineas Gage relates how Phineas Gage s remarkable and macabre accident significantly contributed to our current understanding of how the brain functions and processes information. The author supports his or her assertion that brain damage can create unusual emotional and cognitive changes by recounting how Gage received a severe head injury by a tamping iron from a premature explosion; yet, miracously surviving the accident but at great expense to his personality. The author s purpose is to relate Gage s story in order to demonstrate that the brain not only controls motor and behavioral functions but also to demonstrate that a damaged brain can change a person s personality. The author writes in an informative and serious tone for a general audience. Word Count: