Class Notes for Summary-Response Paper

Four Basic Parts:

1.)  Introduction (one paragraph)

2.)  Summary -- straight reportage -- 1/5? -- 1/2? -- 2/3?

3.)  Response -- "you" -- 4/5? -- 1/2? -- 1/3?

4.)  Conclusion (one paragraph)

What is Summary and How Do We Do It?

A summary restates the main ideas of a piece of writing in our own words.  Thus, a summary is much shorter than the original.  The main or central idea of a piece of writing is found in the THESIS STATEMENT, but thesis statements can be either explicitly written or implied.  The main or central idea of a paragraph is found in a TOPIC SENTENCE, but again, topic sentences can be either explicitly written or implied.  Thus, when beginning to summarize, we might look for an essay's THESIS STATEMENT and each of its paragraphs' TOPIC SENTENCES.  If we cannot find these, we will need to write them ourselves.

For the response section, there are several common approaches:

A.)  Agree / disagree

B.)  Evaluation -- good / bad

C.)  Connect author's ideas to you personally

D.)  Apply author's ideas to your own life -- do they fit in, or do they diverge, or both?

E.)  Add new ideas to the author's ideas -- e.g. are there other categories of secrets?

Last Updated: 09 July 2009 by SRS