Purpose: To practice the skill of writing a summary of a short article. Summarization is an important skill to understand a person’s main ideas in oral and written communication in school and in everyday life. Understanding main ideas is key to reading comprehension.
Task:
Write a one-paragraph summary of ” ‘Helicopter Parenting’ Hysteria: Is it as widespread as we think?”
To plan your summary, decide what the main idea for the whole article is (the thesis), and then list the other main ideas that the author gives to support this thesis. Follow the outline for a summary (given below) and remember the “important points to remember” that are explained in the next section.
Bring your paragraph to class as a soft copy on your computer, or as a hard printed copy. You will get and give feedback from your classmates.
A sample of a summary that highlights the first sentence, main points in the body, and the concluding sentence.( tthe link below )
When writing a summary, these are the important points to remember.
Do not copy the writer. This is plagiarism. You need to paraphrase his/her ideas in your own words accurately, clearly, and concisely. Only key concept vocabulary may be copied, such as “helicopter parenting”.
In the first sentence, include the author’s full name, the title of the article, and the author’s thesis.
In the body, include only the main ideas. Exclude examples and details.
Do not include your opinion or reaction. You are only reporting what the author has written.
Include transitions between ideas for smoother writing.
Write a concluding sentence as the last sentence that rephrases the thesis.
There is no length requirement, but it needs to include the necessary content. As a guideline, a summary for this length of reading would be about one page double-spaced.
Outline for Writing a Summary Paragraph
1.) Start with the HEADER FORMAT for an academic assignment. This format is shown HERE or under “How to format a writing assignment”.
2.) For the summary, follow this outline:
Title:
Summary of “article’s title” (center on the page) For this assignment, the title is
Summary of ” ‘Helicopter Parenting’ Hysteria: Is It As Widespread As We Think?”
1st sentence: Include title of article, author’s first and last name, and the main idea of the whole reading. The main idea is the THESIS of the reading.
Main idea #1: Paraphrase one of the main ideas. Use your own words and borrow only key concept vocabulary. Delete detailed examples. Include only the main idea. Write concisely but capture the whole idea. No personal opinions or reactions.
Main idea #2: Same instructions as main idea #1.
Main idea #3: Same instructions as main idea #1
Continue until all the main ideas are included.
Include the author’s last name at least one time more within the summary (this reminds the reader that these are the author’s ideas, not yours).
Concluding sentence: Rephrase the author’s thesis in a different way than the 1st sentence. Include the author’s last name.
Criteria for success: Homework credit will be given to those who bring a paragraph to class to be reviewed. Your peers will evaluate how well you met the TASK criteria listed above.
