Do's & Dont's
Should be written in your own words.
Do
The practice of taking someone else's work and passing them off as your own.
Plagiarism
What is a summary?
A shorter passage that sums up the information in a longer passage.
Give supporting details
Dont
However, Also, On top of that.
Transition words
what do you do to combine the sentences in your summary?
Add a transition
Explain why you are writing
Dont
The central or most important point of the text.
Main idea
List at least five things you should never include in your summary.
examples, illustrations, data, repetition, personal comments, anecdotes, quotations, similes, metaphors, supporting details
Must be shorter than the text
Do
Confirms the main idea of the paragraph.
Concluding sentence
Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin.
The main idea of this passage is:
a) Jill loves Mexican food.
b) The Pizza Shop has the best pizza in town.
c) Jill will choose a place by flipping a coin.
d) Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.
d) Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.
Give general background information
DONT!
A sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph in which it occurs.
Topic sentence
San Francisco is located on the coast of California in an area often called the Bay Area. The weather is generally very mild, seldom getting really cold or really hot. Its mild climate is one reason many people live there. It rarely snows in San Francisco and generally does not get below freezing during the winter. Even in the middle of summer, temperatures may be in the mid 80s with a cool breeze from the bay keeping the weather very comfortable. The main idea of this passage is:
a) San Francisco has many neat things to do.
b) The weather in San Francisco is generally very mild.
c) Many people choose to live in California.
d) It seldom snows in California.
b) The weather in San Francisco is generally very mild.