Summary Paragraph Using Citations

Today's assignment is to write a paragraph that summarizes the article you have chosen.

The paragraph should include:

• author and article
• a topic (idea) sentence that introduces the general point of the article
• a couple of sentences that set the stage, give background info, or define the basic scenario
• a number of detail sentences that communicate the article's main reasons of support for the point of the article
• a number of explanation sentences that explain the significance of those details
• a final sentence or two that wraps up the summary of the article's main point

Important: MOST OF THE SUMMARY SHOULD BE PARAPHRASES. You should only quote essential words and phrases, challenging or controversial ideas, particularly well-phrased points, or especially for concepts that you will discuss further in the paragraph. What and when to quote comes with experience, so don't get overly concerned with this concept at this point; we will talk about it more in the future. Just be sure to mostly use paraphrases and quote a couple of times when the point seems important.

The paragraph should be first written as a google doc and submitted for editing. This first draft will be scored, so do a thorough job of proofreading before submission.

The final draft should be posted on your blog. The post should also include a link to the source article your paragraph summarizes and some sort of relevant image.