There are various methods to writing a summary of a specific paper.  How you read the paper, the ideas you want to focus on, and how objective you want to be all play crucial roles when writing a summary.

When reading the paper it’s important to know the authors point of view and what kind of audience you want to be.  The two methods of reading a paper are referred to as reading for the grain and against the grain, reading for the grain means acting as the ideal audience for the writers purpose, to be for the idea that is being presented and maybe even thinking of supporting ideas to improve and build upon the idea presented by the author.  Reading against the grain is challenging the author.  For each idea presented you think of a counter or rebuttal, you want to challenge the author and think of all the angles the author doesn’t want the reader to notice.

After reading with and against the grain your next focus should be on the vocabulary that you use, there are many different approaches to the vocabulary but one should be aware of the differences between “The author presents” and “The author argues” making sure that you stay objective is the largest goal when writing a summary.

A&B Ch 3 skill 3.1 and 3.2

When reading a paper, one thing you should look for is the author’s use of rhetoric, or his use or persuasion.  Every paper will in one form or another try to persuade you to think or act in the way that the author wants you to.  Being able to know what tactics the author is using, as well as identifying what he is trying to persuade you to do is key in analyzing any paper.

One of the more basic of tasks that the author will do to curve your thinking in using a very specific angle of vision.  He will put you in the perspective that most effectively conveys his point while masking as much of the opposing view as possible.  This can be done in various ways.  Through effective use of imagery the author will specifically describe things in only the way that he needs you to see them.  In the book it mentions two views of a tundra plain in Alaska.  The first focuses on a company’s point of view, mentioning the temperature, the length of time that it is cold and the flatness of the area.  The opposing view would describe the same area as booming with life, tons of animals as well as other creatures that happily thrive in that area.

A&B Ch 18 Skills 18.2 & 18.4

When writing any form of paper, the vocabulary that you choose to use is of utmost importance.  For example when you are writing a persuasive paper you would choose to use as clear and unambiguous language as possible to make sure that the reader does not get confused and does not lose focus on the topic at hand.  When writing a more open form paper however the vocabulary that you choose to use will be quite a bit different.  Choosing your vocabulary in an open form paper is meant not to convey a point, but a feeling, you want the reader to think about various related topics when you are writing your paper and you want them to think about why they care about your story or experience in the first place.  In a closed form paper you would use a short sentence to quickly and clearly get across a message.  In an open form paper you will be more inclined to add much descriptive language to add another sense to the information that is at hand.  One example that I really like in the A&B book was describing wild Iguanas.  The message that the writer is referring to is that when an Iguana dies the color in its skin goes away.  However the way he describes the iguanas, comparing them to stain glass windows or a heap of precious stones, then how he describes how the color goes away when the iguana dies using words like “the flame is put out” and “dead as a sandbag” adds more of a sense of how it feels to see the color drain away from the iguana.

A&B chapter 18 skill 8.1

When writing a good story, its good to make sure that you know the difference between an effective story and an “and then narrative” and how to make sure that your writing is an effective interesting narrative, one good way of doing this is to follow these 4 rules

1) It must have a depiction of events through time, in short you must have an event that you are trying to convey. This can be a significant event in your life, a lesson that you learned, a fictional tale that you came up with, but you need to be telling your audience something.

2) The story must have connectedness, when writing your story you need to think of what are the important points, how did you get from one point to another and what information is relevant. For example if you were writing a story about preparing in the summer for the next season of football, you would mention the things that you did for that training, but you probably wouldn’t mention the vacations that you went on.

3) It must have tension or conflict, If you are going through the story without some sort of event that you are leading up to, then it doesn’t draw the reader in, it becomes simply a tale to let someone know, when you add tension or conflict, it helps the reader know what it is that they are reading for or what to expect.

4) Resolution, Recognition or retrospective interpretation, One you finish the tension or conflict you need to wrap everything, fix the conflict, come to terms with the ordeal or learn something from the event.

A&B chapter 6 response

Writing a personal narrative is a lot different than writing a persuasive paper in school.  Where the persuasive paper is closed form and driven by the thesis, the personal narrative strives to express its purpose throughout the story interwoven with the story.  When writing the personal narrative, you must also be aware of the flow of the story.  A good story should have a clear beginning slowly rising to the climax of the story, an overarching event that brings out the lesson or the story that the author learned, then lower back down while reflecting on the lesson that was learned.  When writing the personal narrative, it can be really easy to fall into an “and then” trap where the story moves from point to point with little or no clear topic or lesson that the author had learned. 

If you don’t know how to start or don’t know what to do there are 7 easy steps that you can follow to make a quick skeleton of the story.  First you must choose a story that you want to share or an experience where you learned something.  Next you need to determine what your reaction to the story is, what do you want to convey to the reader.  Follow that with questioning that reaction that was biased to the emotions at that time, and focus on what changed with the passage of time.  Next answer the question that you have asked or respond to the reaction.  Fifth analyze the reaction, and question and have different views and other things that were learned.  Finally show what you have learned and the epiphany that came with it, and come to terms with that epiphany.