English Question
Your two-page weekly summary essay should have three main parts:
Summary: After completing the assigned readings ask yourself: What are the main arguments? What is the point this book/article/chapter is trying to make? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book/chapter is about, what would you say? If someone asked what are the topics in the subject/topic area that this article/book/chapter discussed, what would you say? Are there vague or sweeping generalizations that aren’t backed up with evidence? Are arguments very one-sided with no acknowledgment of other viewpoints?
Assessment: After summarizing, it is helpful to evaluate/assess what was read. Reading materials are divided into logical presentation sections (i.e. a beginning, a middle, and an end). Summarize the main points of the section(s) you evaluate as having the most relevant/important material. It might be helpful, the following questions are suggestions: What have you learned about the subject? What is(are) the issue(s)? Is there consensus/disagreement: in what areas, what about that consensus/disagreement? What areas are still being researched? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? Is the evidence based on a few studies or many? Does the author use a good mix of sources of information (primary and secondary)?
Reflection: Once you’ve summarized and assessed, you need to ask how it fits in the class and/or your research. How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic or the theory? Does the author offer sound reasons for reaching conclusions? How timely is the source? But be aware that some books/articles become dated when new research is available, but another source can be quite sound 50 or 100 years later.
No more than one summary may be submitted per week (do not fall behind) and every Saturday at 11:59 pm.
The objective of this assignment is to help you write about the issues, what authors/empirical evidence shows, and what the discipline considers worth arguing (discussing, testing) about; only then will you be able to develop your own point of view and develop questions for your own research.
Format: Typed and double spaced with appropriate citation. There is a required number of pages, two pages per week, of high-quality work, which should be sufficient. You can go over the page limit by half of a third page. Writing more than the required 2 pages will not result in a better grade, especially if valuable space is used addressing tangential issues (albeit important to the writer).
