Summary Paper
Series Assignment
English 500
Goals: Over the course of the semester, you will write a series of Summary papers. These papers have four major goals:
Become a more precise and nuanced reader.
Develop a graceful, precise, and concise critical voice.
Apply MLA style flawlessly.
Understand new concepts.
Assignment: Write a 2-4 page summary of a critical or theoretical text we have read. Each summary should engage a text assigned during the previous two weeks.
Offer a graceful and precise summary of one critical or theoretical reading. This should be carefully grounded in quotations from the text, but be sure to explain what the quotations mean!
Your summary should be accurate and concise. It should offer no critique of any kind, but as clearly, objectively, and forcefully as possible present the author's argument. This is an exercise in objective and accurate reading.
For some texts, you will be able to offer a comprehensive summary of an entire argument. Other texts might be too long or complex, and in such a case you should focus on a single concept or one particular argument.
Strategies: Do not create elaborate introductions or conclusions. Begin your paper by simply writing a single sentence that identifies the author and the title of the text you are writing on. If you are not writing a comprehensive summary, also state the particular argument or concept you will focus on.
Format: Your paper should rigorously follow all MLA style guidelines, including but hardly limited to the following:
Neatly typed, printed single-sided, with an elegant serif font (Times New Roman or Garamond are ideal).
Title and heading.
Page numbering.
Line spacing (everything must be double-spaced).
Margins.
Paragraph spacing.
Correct format for short quotations with in-text citation.
Correct format for long “block” quotations with in-text citation. Be warned, however, that block quotations in these papers are almost always an ineffective technique.
You must include a Works Cited list, and it must be properly formatted.