What has your approach to summarizing been in the past? How have you been taught to summarize in past classes? What points in this chapter were most helpful (and least helpful)?
12 thoughts on “Response to “The Art of Summarizing””
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When I use to summarize, I would just take the ideas I needed to answer the question. I would just dig through the literature to find something that I could shorten and rewrite. I would just make sure I would just have enough to fit the word count for the summary. This was especially true for the annotated bibliography I did for the Writing I research paper. I like how the point of using different action words instead of the simple he says, she said deal. I think that would help me write a better summary for assignments than I previously did. Before I would still have to go back to the literature instead of just using my annotated bibliography to do my writing.
Whenever I wanted to summarize something I would alway’s ask myself “What is the piece about? What is the author trying to accomplished through this piece?” Always after I write a summary, I find a family or friend and I make them read it and if they were able to understand the main points though my summary without reading the actual piece, I would often believe that my summary was a good one. However, recently I have changed my dynamics of creating summaries. Instead of asking myself “what is the author trying to accomplish?”, I ask myself “how does this information make me feel? Where do I stand? I believe that the of the most helpful part of this chapter is the idea of not just citing the author’s opinion but also having a voice [without being too critical] about the piece you are summarizing.
The thing I found the least helpful is the part of using “signal verbs that fit the action,” because I believe it could be dangerous if not used properly. Using signal could give some type of emotions or feeling to what you say o cite, however, I believe that there is a fine line using signal verbs because this types of verbs could make your summary feel more like a response or critique.
Summarizing to me is about giving a layout on the main points the writer of a text is trying to convey. In my previous classes, I was taught that summarizing means to give a brief description about what the main ideas of the text is primarily focused on, without giving in depth details. However, after reading “The Art of Summarizing” I learned that summarizing is the balance between what the original writer is trying to say and how those aspects interests us. One helpful point that was discussed in this chapter is the idea of abandoning our beliefs and putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes. When writing a summary we must step away from our thoughts/opinions and give a fair overview, while at the same time adding some hints of our insight on the text.
In elementary school and middle school, writing summaries were daily things after each reading. I remember starting out with “This book was about…” and later just stating random facts that happened in the book. Later on, in essays where I would have to summarize a book, much like The Glass Menagerie, I would try to connect each point and not give too much of the story away. In “The Art of Summarizing,” I learned about summarizing satirically which I never heard of before. I thought it was very helpful how the author gave a list of verbs at the end for introducing quotations and summaries. It was also interesting to learn that a summary succeeds when it points in two directions: toward the text and toward your own argument later on.
When I was taught to summarize, I was told to make sure I include the main idea and important details. So whenever I have to summarize something, I tend to always start the summary with one sentence that describes the author’s main idea. Then, I start to delve into greater detail of the piece to expand my summary. One point in this chapter I found really helpful and important is when it states, “To write a really good summary, you must be able to suspend your own beliefs for a time and put yourself in the shoes of someone else”. This stood out to me because I believe it is necessary to not present a bias within a summary. Biases within a summary may lead to exaggeration and diminishment of certain details. Thus, being in a neutral position will guide a person in writing the most informative summary that contains all details.
-My approach to summarizing in the past was to be objective, just state what the author said, and leave out my opinion. When summarizing, I didn’t want to confuse the author’s message, so I had a hard time finding words to effectively communicate that message.
-In past classes, I was taught that summarizing was taking only the most important ideas while being mindful not to copy them word by word.
-The most helpful points that I learned from this reading was that there needs to be a balance between what the author had said and my own interests when summarizing. This goes beyond just listing points, it provides a stronger connection to my source material and lends validation to support my own argument. In addition, I found the templates for introducing summaries and quotations to be extremely helpful. The least helpful point in this chapter was the idea of putting yourself in someone’s shoes to understand their viewpoint. This idea was something I already knew and didn’t add much to my current understanding of summary and analysis.
I remember being taught how to summarize like you are trying to tell someone about your day. You would talk about where you went, what you did and then add in the details that are important. When summarizing, I would include the author’s main ideas and supporting points. Then, I would explain how the ideas relate to my argument. The points I found helpful were the example of Ungar’s list and the verbs. Ungar’s list had a unifying agenda that went straight to the point, which allowed readers to know what the main message was. Also, the list of verbs might be helpful to my writing.
In the past, I simply followed the cut-and-dry formats or the cheesy techniques that I was shown by my English teachers. For non-fiction literature, I would use the good old 5 W’s + How chart. You could never go wrong with that. On the other hand, for works of fiction, I would basically just use a plot diagram and condense the information. Once I got to high school, I broke out of the habit of using those techniques/formats and wrote summaries as if I was writing a blurb or giving an elevator pitch. I think that the section about using appropriate signal verbs, list summaries, Ungar’s methods, and the Templates section were the most helpful bits of this chapter.
In the past I have decided to summarize by simplifying a person’s words into key words or themes. I find it easier to just make simple claims instead of quoting word by word a person’s thoughts. A point can be made with very few words and that is what I try to do. I think it is easier for an audience to hear the theme and be done with it instead of risking people’s attention from wandering elsewhere. In past classes I have been taught to summarize using entire quotes and large amounts of context. This chapter helped me learn about the proper use of list summaries which I have not really used often.
My approach to summarizing in the past has probably been between the list summary and the one sentence summary. In the past, it was recommended to me to not dwell on summarizing works and instead just get to the point, so I feel that I was more leaning towards short summaries like the one sentence summary such that my whole paper wasn’t just a summary of a piece that I was analyzing.
One point in this chapter that was extremely helpful was the idea to always have an agenda when you’re writing. It stated that the writer should mold their summary so that it is catered to the points that they are making while still giving enough context about the original author. I think another helpful point made in this chapter was using signal verbs that fit the action. I didn’t think too much earlier of how saying “he says” or “she believes” can be draining for a reader. I feel that reading should have talked more in depth about how to create an effective list summary. I feel that it kind of just said that the list summary should have a goal and that is it.
My approach to summarizing in the past has been to write the key points of the text and, simplify it through the way that I understood the text. In my previous classes I was taught to condense the text to the most important points, and to keep the summary very general. The most helpful point in this chapter was to suspend my own point of view in order to more thoroughly understand the text. Additionally making sure that I understand what the text actually states and to not confuse it with something I believed it said. Another important point was to not drain the passion that the text has through using verbs that don’t fit the action. Especially because that would be an unjust summary of the actual text. The least helpful point was to quote the text just because I normally already try to practice quoting when I can.
In the past, my approach to summarizing is straightforward and simple. I would simply read through the given text once, and take down all the key points in an outline, followed by details for each point. I made sure my summary allowed an audience who did not read the text to be able to fully understand the intention of the text. From my past classes, I’ve been taught to summarize texts to as concise as possible, but not leaving out any important details. Essentially, it’s skimming down a piece of text, leaving behind only the necessary portions for understanding. In “The Art of Summarizing”, the chapter I found the most helpful/important was “Summarizing Satirically”. In the past, I strictly based my summaries off a neutral/objective point of view, worried that a too biased view could affect the reader’s perception on the piece of text. In this section, it speaks of how summarizing satirically sometimes can lead to an imbalance; this imbalance, contrary to belief, can be beneficial as to make a logical point in one’s text.