Donnerstag, April 24, 2008

Summary ... wie lange ist das denn schon her ....

“An American Education” by Andrew Stephen

Tips when summarizing in general:


1. Write your summary either as a report or as an abstract.


When writing as a report, use verbs of reporting that show the author’s relationship to the ideas throughout the summary; when writing as an abstract, do not refer to the author. Do not switch styles in the middle.

2. When writing a summary as a report, try to incorporate the article’s author and title in a sentence that makes a point.

Not: The text is an article in a magazine called The New Statesman, written by Andrew Stephen.

Instead (your own first sentence): ____________________________________________

3. Be sure the main point of the article is clearly stated right in the beginning.


Problems?
The article refers to strong discrepancies between higher- and lower-income classes within the United States.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Problems? Stephen discusses about the american educational system, which he describes as class-ridden.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


4. Avoid vague and wordy expressions.


Problems?
The text deals with the fact that the unfairness of the American national system can be seen in education.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Remember:

1. Use a comma to set off most introductory elements.

2. Underline titles of books and newspapers in manuscript; italicize in type. In British English, book and newspaper titles may alternatively be in double or single inverted commas.

3. Put the titles of speeches, articles and short stories in quotes.

4. Capitalize all words related to countries (e.g., American, British).