1、Summary WritingCharacteristics of a Good Summary: A good summary has the following characteristics:Proper Citation: The summary begins by citing the title, author, source, and, in the case of a magazine or journal article, the date of publication and the text.Thesis Statement: The overall thesis of

2、the text selection is the authors central theme. There are several aspects to an effective thesis statement:- It comprises two parts: a) the topic or general subject matter of the text, and b) the authors major assertion, comment, or position on the topic.- This central theme is summarized clearly a

3、nd accurately in a one sentence thesis statement.- The thesis statement does not contain specific details discussed in the text.- The thesis statement is stated at the beginning of the summary.Supporting Ideas: The author supports his/her thesis with supporting ideas. Use the following basic guideli

4、nes when summarising supporting ideas:- Cover all of the authors major supporting ideas.- Show the relationships among these ideas.- Omit specifics, such as illustrations, descriptions, and detailed explanations.- Indicate the authors purpose in writing: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. If t

5、he passage is a persuasive piece, report the authors bias or position on the issue.- Omit all personal opinions, ideas, and inferences. Let the reader know that you are reporting the authors ideas.Grammar and the Mechanics of Writing: Grammar and related concerns ensure that, as a writer, you commun

6、icate clearly to your reader. The following are particularly important:- Restate the ideas in your own words as much as possible. Avoid direct quotations.- Use transitional words for a smooth and logical flow of ideas.- Edit and re-write your work.- Check your grammar, punctuation, and spellingLengt

7、h: The length of a summary depends on how long the original document is. It may vary between one third the original text and one tenth. Steps in Writing a Summary: Initially, summary writing can seem like a challenging task. It requires careful reading and reflective thinking about the article. Most

8、 of us, however, tend to skim read without focused reflection, but with time and effort, the steps listed here can help you become an effective summary writer.Read the articleReread the Article.- Divide the article into segments or sections of ideas. Each segment deals with one aspect of the central

9、 theme. A segment can comprise one or more paragraphs. Note: news magazine articles tend to begin with an anecdote. This is the writers lead into the article, but does not contain the thesis or supporting ideas. Typically, a feature lead does not constitute a segment of thought.- Label each segment.

10、 Use a general phrase that captures the subject matter of the segment. Write the label in the margin next to the segment.- Highlight or underline the main points and key phrases.Write One-Sentence summaries.- Write a one-sentence summary for each segment of thought on a separate sheet of paper.Formu

11、late the Thesis Statement.- Formulate a central theme that weaves the one-sentence segment summaries together. This is your thesis statement.- In many articles, the author will state this directly. You may wish to take his direct statement of the thesis and restate it in your own words. Note: In new

12、s magazine articles, the thesis is often suggested through the articles title and sub-title.- In other articles, you may have to write your own one-sentence thesis statement that summarizes this central theme.Write Your First Draft.- Begin with a proper citation of the title, author, source, and dat

13、e of publication of the article summarised.- Combine the thesis statement and your one-sentence segment summaries into a one-to-two-paragraph summary.- Eliminate all unnecessary words and repetitions.- Eliminate all personal ideas and inferences.- Use transitions for a smooth and logical flow of ide

14、as.- Conclude with a “summing up” sentence by stating what can be learned from reading the article.Edit Your Draft. Check your summary by asking the following questions:- Have I answered the who, what, when, why, and how questions?- Is my grammar, punctuation, and spelling correct?- Have I left out

15、my personal views and ideas?- Does my summary “hang together”? Does it flow when I read it aloud?- Have someone else read it. Does the summary give them the central ideas of the article?Write Your Final Draft.A Sample Summary of “National Security Justifies Censorship” By Roger S. Thomas Introductio

16、nThe article National Security Justifies Censorship by Elmo R. Zumwalt and James G. Zumwalt, appears in Censorship, a book in the Opposing Viewpoints Series. The article asserts that information that is secret and vital to the security of the nation should not be released to the press. The arguments

17、 made by Zumwalt Senior and Junior are summarized below.Summary Although many journalists contend that the First Amendment guarantees unrestricted printing freedom, the authors believe the press has gained more power than the framers of the Constitution foresaw and therefore neglected to install saf

18、e guards that would protect national security. According to the authors, the power of the media has gone far past what the constitutional framers expected; consequently, several acts since the writing of the Constitution have been implemented to deal with the lack of protection regarding national se

19、curity. The authors continue to affirm that even though significant risk exists when confidential information is released to the press, this danger has remained unresolved by the courts. The authors cite an example to prove this point. The CIA during the Reagan administration recognized Muhamar Quad

20、affi as a known terrorist and a potential threat to national security in a classified document. The Washington Post somehow had the document disclosed to them, and they soon published the information. Several months after the operation had been abandoned, the CIA found Quadaffi responsible for the b

21、ombing of a West Berlin discotheque. Military action had to be taken because of the earlier release of the classified document. The operation incurred military casualties. The authors then offer a two-part solution: (1) make the publication of classified information a punishable offense, and (2) inc

22、orporate a code of ethics into media guidelines that safeguards national security. The paper ends by discussing how ethics are the responsibility of good journalism.Conclusion Elmo R. Zumwalt and James G. Zumwalt assert that the media are overpowered and the national security is underprotected. They

23、 believe that the government and the media must take steps to assure a disaster does not occur.The first sentence of a summaryYou are expected to identify the title of the text and the author in the first sentence, as well as the authors thesis or controlling idea. A general format for the first sen

24、tence is as follows:In the article “title of Article,”, Authors name + primary verb + main idea.Example: In the article “How Children Fail,” John Holt argues that most children fail because they do not develop their full potential.The most commonly used primary verbs include: 1. claim 2. recommend 3

25、. argue 4. report 5. show 6. insist7. explain 8. describe 9. suggest 10. believeModel Summaries of ArticlesOriginal passageThe following passage was written by Marc Lacey and published in New York Times on November 12, 2004. Using a New Language in Africa to Save Dying OnesSwahili speakers wishing t

26、o use a “compyuta”as computer is rendered in Swahilihave been out of luck when it comes to communicating in their tongue. Computers, no matter how bulky their hard drives or sophisticated their software packages, have not yet mastered Swahili or hundreds of other indigenous African languages.But tha

27、t may soon change. Across the continent, linguists are working with experts in information technology to make computers more accessible to Africans who happen not to know English, French, or the other major languages that have been programmed into the worlds desktops.There is economic reason for the

28、 outreach. Microsoft, which is working to incorporate Swahili into Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and other popular programs, sees a market for its software among the roughly 100 million Swahili speakers in East Africa. The same goes for Google, which last month launched , offering a Kenyan ve

29、rsion in Swahili of the popular search engine.But the campaign to Africanize cyberspace is not all about the bottom line. There are hundreds of languages in Africasome spoken only by a few dozen eldersand they are dying out at an alarming rate. The continents linguists see the computers as one impor

30、tant way of saving them. UNESCO estimates that 90 percent of the worlds 6,000 languages are not represented on the Internet and that one language disappears somewhere around the world every two weeks.(242 words)SummaryIn the article “Using a New Language in Africa to Save Dying Ones”(New York Times,

31、 November 12, 2004), Marc Lacey reports that linguists and computer experts are working to develop computers that work in Swahili and other African languages, so that many Africans can use computers in their native languages. Economics is one reason for doing so. Computer companies such as Microsoft

32、 and Google see potentially huge market for their products in Africa. Another important reason is to save African languages that are in danger of dying out.(88 words)Here is another model summary of a magazine article:How to Heal a HypochondriacBy Michael D. Lemonick Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 It happe

33、ns to every medical student sooner or later. You get a cough that persists for a while or feel a funny pain in the stomach or notice a tiny lump under the skin. Ordinarily, you would just ignore it but now, armed with your rapidly growing store of medical knowledge, you cant help worrying. The cough

34、 could mean just a cold, but it could also be a sign of lung cancer. A twinge might be internal bleeding. The lump is probably a lymph node but is it bigger than it should be? Could it be Hodgkins disease? For doctors in training, nurses and medical journalists, hypochondria is an occupational hazar

35、d. The feeling usually passes after a while, leaving only a funny story to tell at a dinner party. But for the tens of thousands who suffer from true hypochondria, its no joke. Hypochondriacs live in constant terror that they are dying of some awful disease, or even several awful diseases at once. D

36、octors can assure them that theres nothing wrong, but since the cough or the pain is real, the assurances fall on deaf ears. And because no physician or test can offer a 100% guarantee that one doesnt have cancer or multiple sclerosis or an ulcer, a hypochondriac always has fuel to feed his or her w

37、orst fears.Hypochondriacs dont harm just themselves; they clog the whole health-care system. Although they account for only about 6% of the patients who visit doctors every year, they tend to burden their physicians with frequent visits that take up inordinate amounts of time. According to one estim

38、ate, hypochondria racks up some $20 billion in wasted medical resources in the U.S. alone. And the problem may be getting worse, thanks to the proliferation of medical information on the Internet. They go on the Web, says Dr. Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Wo

39、mens Hospital in Boston, and learn about new diseases and new presentations of old diseases that they never even knew about before. Doctors have taken to calling this phenomenon cyberchondria. Most physicians tend to think of hypochondriacs as nuisances patients they are just as happy to lose. But a

40、 few clinicians, like Barsky and Columbia University neuropsychiatrist Dr. Brian Fallon, have begun to take the condition more seriously. Its not correct to say theres nothing wrong with a hypochondriac, Fallon asserts. There is something wrong, but its a disorder of thought, not of the body. And, a

41、s he points out, disorders of thought are neither imaginary nor untreatable. Thats something Fallon realized a little more than a decade ago. He was studying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when he noticed it had a lot in common with hypochondria. Both disorders, he says, involve intrusive, worr

42、isome thoughts, the need for reassurance and a low tolerance for uncertainty. Psychiatrists had lately come to think that OCD could be treated with Prozac and similar drugs, and Fallon decided the medications might work for hypochondria as well. With only 57 subjects, the study was too small to be d

43、efinitive, but it was certainly promising: about 75% of those who got the drug showed significant improvement. But so did many in the placebo group, which led Fallon to take an even closer look. His conclusion: hypochondriacs may actually represent three different groups whose problems look superfic

44、ially similar. Those in the first really do have a variant of OCD. Those in the second have a problem more like depression, often triggered by something that makes them feel guilty an affair, perhaps or by a loss, like the death of a close relative. And the third group consists of people who somatiz

45、e which means they focus an inordinate amount of attention on their bodies. A pain that most people wouldnt even notice feels like a punch in the nose to those in this group. In all cases, though, the descent into hypochondria takes the form of a self-reinforcing spiral. You notice a symptom, decide

46、 its unusual and begin exploring for more. Since we all have minor twinges from time to time, when you go looking for more, you find them. You build a case in your own mind that somethings wrong, says Barsky. Even if a doctor assures you it isnt true, you have the symptoms to prove to yourself that

47、the doctor is mistaken. The key to treatment is disrupting the cycle. That can be tough, however, since doctors rarely tell hypochondriacs the truth about their disorder. When Fallon tried to recruit study subjects through their doctors, he got nowhere; physicians evidently didnt want to embarrass o

48、r anger their patients by suggesting they might be hypochondriacs. To avoid stigmatizing their patients, Fallon and Barsky avoid the H word altogether. Fallon calls it heightened illness concern, and Barsky doesnt use any label at all. The first thing I do, says Barsky, is acknowledge the patients s

49、ymptoms and say we have no good explanation for them. Then he suggests that the patient do some psychological work, which he tells them is often helpful in such situations. His preferred technique is cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients are trained to force their attention away from the s

50、ymptoms. Just as focusing on a pain makes it seem more significant, ignoring it can make it seem much less, says Barsky. Patients are also instructed to counter panicky thoughts with self-reassurance, reminding themselves, for example, that stomach pain almost never means stomach cancer. Both cognit

51、ive therapy and medication seem to work, and at this point its hard to say whether one is better than the other. Nobodys done a comparative trial, says Fallon, although Barsky and I are working on that. Both men agree that their primary-care colleagues arent very well attuned to the problem. Things

52、are improving, says Barsky, but theres not a heck of a lot of education about hypochondria in medical school. We teach doctors that their job is to find disease and weed out those who are physically well. They have no time for hypochondriacs. It neednt take as much time as they think, though. Its no

53、t hard to identify a hypochondriac, says Fallon, if you have the right antenna out. And once a hypochondriac is identified and properly treated, no one is happier than his or her doctor. 1044 words Summary of “How to Heal a Hypochondriac”In “How to Heal a Hypochondriac” (Time, September 30, 2003), M

54、ichael Lemonick reports on research into ways of dealing with hypochondria, a thinking disorder that makes healthy people believe that they are suffering from one or more serious diseases. Not only do hypochondriacs genuinely suffer from their disorder, but they create a significant burden on the he

55、alth-care system. Research suggests that hypochondriacs fall into three categories: those who have a variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder, those whose hypochondria was triggered by a stressful life event, and those who are hypersensitive to any physical symptoms. Cognitive therapy, in which pate

56、nts are trained to direct their attention away from their symptoms, and antidepressant medication both seem helpful in treating hypochondria. The most difficult part of treatment is suggesting that a patient suffers from hypochondria without angering or embarrassing him or her. 138 wordsArticleChild

57、ren Must be Taught to Tell Right from WrongWilliam KilpatrickMany of todays young people have a difficult time seeing any moral dimension (道德層面) to their actions. There are a number of reasons why thats true, but none more prominent than a failed system of education that eschews (回避) teaching childr

58、en the traditional moral values that bind Americans together as a society and a culture. That failed approach, called “decision-making,” was introduced in schools 25 years ago. It tells children to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. It replaced “character education. (品格教育)” Character education didnt ask children to reinvent the moral wheel (浪費時間重新發(fā)明早已存在的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)); instead, it encouraged them to practice habits of courage, justice and self-control.In the 1940s, when a cha