Davina Ruth Begaye Two Bears

Reading Notes and Outline / Preparing to Summarize

Section I (pars. 1-4):

• freshman week

• undergrad. advisor group

• feels afraid, intimidated, alone, different

• the only Native American

• the name game -- "Dumb Davina"

• low self esteem

Section Summary =

Section II (pars. 5-6):

• 1st term = good academics but lonely

• feels others don't know her or understand her insecurities

• 1st year = realizes she made it hard on herself

• she took it all too seriously

• self pity

Section Summary =

Section III (pars. 7-8):

• wanted to stay home at Christmas

• didn't want to be thought a quitter

• flunked chemistry -- had done well in chemistry in high school

• feels like a loser / depressed / her heart was not in it

Section Summary =

Section IV (par. 9):

• poor note taking skills

• could not participate in class discussions

• high expectations @ Dartmouth

• paralyzed by fear in class

• outside of was she's OK with talking to profs

Section Summary =

Section V (par. 10-16):

• the education course

• weekly seminar

• kind professor

• she's always lost "in a tornado"

• her professor asks her why she doesn't ever say anything

• she took the chance this time

• she retells her education history in Arizona, on and off the reservation

• Navajo culture

• she's not prepared for the Ivy League

• feels dumber than all the other students

• blames former education for lack of preparation (?)

Section Summary =

Section VI (par. 16?):

• professor makes her comfortable

• she gets a "D" and an academic citation for courage -- an unusual combination

• her confidence goes up a little

• participates more as a junior and senior

• by grad. school she can't stop talking

Section Summary =

Drafting the Summary:

1. Copy and paste all the section summaries together. This helps insure that the summary matches the organization of the essay.

2. Go through and eliminate details and repetitions and redundancies.

3. Go through and work on coherence (flow).

4. Begin the summary with a reference to the author's full name and the full title.

5. Also begin with an "overall statement" which states the essay's central idea. The rest of the summary will present the essay's main ideas.

In the essay, "I Walk in Beauty," Davina Ruth Begaye Two Bears argues that ... [come up with the central idea].

ADD section summaries.