Requirements:
The point of the summary assignment is:
– To ensure that students are engaging with the readings on a timely basis, and
– To demonstrate your writing, citation and reading comprehension skills at the university level
Summary assignments are not research essays so you are not to go beyond the readings of this course. They are written summaries of the main points of the readings where you are to identify the main concepts, ideas and issues presented in course readings. Nor is your task to criticize the author’s ideas – simply identify what you feel are the main points, concepts or themes in an article and relate them back in a way that demonstrates you understand them, as if you were explaining the article to someone else. If you want to mention how ideas in the readings relate to issues and themes in the course you may do that as well.
How To Write Reading Summaries For This Course:
Your primary task for the reading summaries are as follows:
why you feel the ideas are interesting or important or how you feel they relate to issues in our
society.
All good pieces of writing have a defined structure and clear organization and flow of ideas. Just like when you are telling a story to a friend you start at the beginning and then give details to explain further – good writing is the same way, it must flow logically, and begin with the same points that the author begins with. The text should be 12 point font single spaced with standard margins.
Cite the articles properly – do not plagiarize!
Begin the summary by stating in a sentence or two
– what the article is about,
– what the author is saying in general
– or what issues are being discussed.
Try to explain in your own words what the main ideas are. You can paraphrase and quote directly
but be sure to cite properly or it is considered plagiarism!*
When you quote an article simply do the following: As Bales states, “modern slavery is
characterized by…” (Bales, 2005: 13).
Summary Document Format
The title heading on the second page would be the title of the first article you are summarizing. For
example:
1). Bales, Kevin. “Understanding Slavery Today” in Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader. 2005. University of California Press.
Divide your summary into separate sections for each article and then also into subsections for eachof them by using the same subsection title headings that appear in the original article you are
summarizing.
If the readings for the class you are summarizing include more than one reading then the
assignment should be divided into separately titled sections for each reading with the reference for the reading at the start of each new section. DO NOT EXCEED 2500 words.
How do I choose which of the many points in an article to summarize?
Take a look at the start of the reading and figure out what the author is saying in general. What is
the title? What are the main issues being discussed? This is easily determined usually because the
author will use subsection titles to organize their article and explain its content. Put their thoughts
and ideas into your own words as best you can and cite their work. Quote passages of the articles
directly if you feel the author gives a clear definition of an idea. The point is for you to summarize the main ideas by trying to put them into your own words just as if you were explaining it to someone else. It is a good idea to quote an important passage and follow this with your own explanation of what it means or its significance, especially in relation to other themes in our course.
Pick main themes and key concepts and then some secondary information to explain
further. Most of the readings themselves are already organized into subsections so you should also approach the readings one section at a time. You do not have to summarize every section of each reading – that will often be too much. When trying to decide if you should summarize a point being made ask yourself the following:
Does this point seem central to what the article is about and does it make sense to me?
Do I find it interesting enough to be able to re-tell in my own words?
You can read the material and do your summary at the same time or you can read through, take
notes and then write up your summary. It is up to you to decide whether you want to focus on a few points and go into detail on them or focus on many points and give only light details about them.
You do not need a formal introduction or conclusion of any sort – simply begin by telling what the article is about by explaining the main concepts, concerns and ideas. The point of the exercise is for you to demonstrate your comprehension of the course material, and not necessarily to critique it.
How are the reading summaries graded?
The reading summaries will be graded according to how well you follow the criteria below:
– The clarity and precision of your writing and the accuracy of how you represent the ideas in the readings
– How well you are able to explain and identify the main concepts, themes and ideas and connect them to other themes and concepts from our course
– All of the readings for that class are covered in the document that you submit
– The summary includes your name, the name of your tutorial leader, the date submitted, page numbers, subsection titles etc. – basically how well you follow the instructions listed in this syllabus
– The summary includes proper titles for each reading or chapter included in your summary
– The quality of your writing, including punctuation, grammar and proper citation style on quotes
– Proper organization of writing through use of subtitles, proper titling and citation
– How imaginative you are at connecting ideas together and explaining them back as a flowing narrative
– The organization and flow of ideas
