Summary Essay Prompt

Summary Essay  

50 points                    
300-600 words (1-2 pages)          
will be due at end of Week 2

"Digital literacy" may be a new term for you, but it's probably not a new concept.  Our personal and academic lives are being transformed by online content, and not everyone has the same innate level of skill at determining what and how to use this content.   

Our first essay asks to you to summarize one of 3 short articles from our TCC library on the topic of digital literacy.  (These articles can be found in the weekly modules.)  The objectives of this assignment are to

  1. Identify and restate the thesis of an author's work
  2. Accurately portray the contents of an article
  3. Practice paraphrasing and quotation skills in formal writing
  4. Practice "neutral reporting"--being able to present the findings of others without making them appear as your own (most students find this to be the most challenging component of this assignment)
  5. Practice end citation methods in both MLA and APA formats

 

Guidelines for the Summary Essay
  • This summary should be written for an audience that HAS NOT read the original article, and so you will report the major and minor ideas contained in the piece.
  • Your summary should indicate the article’s thesis idea, if there is one.  This thesis should be contained within your introduction.  Be sure to also give the title of the article, the author(s), and where & when it was originally published.
  • This summary should contain at least one direct quote from the article.  Quotation marks should be used.  Introduce the direct quote with a "signal" phrase, such as McMillan-Clifton writes… or the article states… or this website argues that…  etc.
  • This summary should contain at least one paraphrase from the article.  Put the author’s ideas in your own words, but stay true to the original intent.  Introduce the paraphrase with a tag phrase, as mentioned above.  Remember that, as a general rule, phrases of 4 or more words that are exactly the same as the original text should be treated like a quote, not a paraphrase.
  • Your summary will be NEUTRAL regarding the material contained within the article.  While you should report any bias the author has, you yourself should not reveal your own opinions on the matter.  Using "I" or "you" in this essay is not advised, unless it appears inside a quote.
  • Normally I don't mind if essay submissions exceed the maximum word limit, but this essay is an exception.  Because one of the hallmarks of an effective summary is brevity, please do not exceed the maximum word count of 600 words.
  • In-text citations will not be required in this assignment, though you are welcome to include them for practice.
  • Your summary should have 2 end citations, an APA and a MLA version.

 

The final draft of this essay will be submitted as a link to a Google Doc.  The Doc should be set to "Share," with "Allow viewers to EDIT" enabled.