Definition and Examples of a Written Summary of Text

Definition and Examples of a Written Summary of Text A summary, also known as an abstract, precis, or synopsis, is a shortened version of a text that highlights its key points. The word summary comes from the Latin, sum. Examples of Summaries A Summary of the Short Story Miss Brill by Katherine MansfieldMiss Brill is the story of an old woman told brilliantly and realistically, balancing thoughts and emotions that sustain her late solitary life amidst all the bustle of modern life. Miss Brill is a regular visitor on Sundays to the Jardins Publiques (the Public Gardens) of a small French suburb where she sits and watches all sorts of people come and go. She listens to the band playing, loves to watch people and guess what keeps them going and enjoys contemplating the world as a great stage upon which actors perform. She finds herself to be another actor among the so many she sees, or at least herself as part of the performance after all....One Sunday Miss Brill puts on her fur and goes to the Public Gardens as usual. The evening ends with her sudden realization that she is old and lonely, a realization brought to her by a conversation she overhears between a boy and a girl presumably lovers, who comment on her unwelcome pr esence in their vicinity. Miss Brill is sad and depressed as she returns home, not stopping by as usual to buy her Sunday delicacy, a slice of honey-cake. She retires to her dark room, puts the fur back into the box and imagines that she has heard something cry. -K. Narayana Chandran. A Summary of Shakespeares HamletOne way of discovering the overall pattern of a piece of writing is to summarize it in your own words. The act of summarizing is much like stating the  plot of a play. For instance, if you were asked to summarize the story of Shakespeares Hamlet, you might say: Its the story of a young prince of Denmark who discovers that his uncle and his mother have killed his father, the former king. He plots to get revenge, but in his obsession with revenge he drives his sweetheart to madness and suicide, kills her innocent father, and in the final scene poisons and is poisoned by her brother in a duel, causes his mothers death, and kills the guilty king, his uncle. This summary contains a number of dramatic elements: a cast of characters (the prince; his uncle, mother, and father; his sweetheart; her father, and so on), a scene (Elsinore Castle in Denmark), instruments (poisons, swords), and actions (discovery, dueling, killing). -Richard E. Young, Alton L. Becker, and Kenneth L. Pike. Steps in Composing a Summary The primary purpose of a summary is to give an accurate, objective representation of what the  work  says. As a general rule, you should not include your own ideas or interpretations. Paul Clee and Violeta Clee Summarizing condenses in your own words the main points in a passage: Reread the passage, jotting down a few keywords.State the main point in your own words and be objective: Dont mix your reactions with the summary.Check your summary against the original, making sure that you use  quotation marks  around any exact phrases that you borrow. -Randall VanderMey, et al. Here...is a general procedure you can use [for composing a summary]: Step 1: Read the text for its main points.Step 2: Reread carefully and make a descriptive outline.Step 3: Write out the texts thesis or main point. . . .Step 4: Identify the texts major divisions or chunks. Each division develops one of the stages needed to make the whole main point. . . .Step 5: Try summarizing each part in one or two sentences.Step 6: Now combine your summaries of the parts into a coherent whole, creating a condensed version of the texts main ideas in your own words. -(John C. Bean, Virginia Chappell, and Alice M. Gillam, Reading Rhetorically. Pearson Education, 2004) Characteristics of a Summary The purpose of a  summary is to give a reader a condensed and objective account of the main ideas and features of a text. Usually, a summary has between one and three paragraphs or one hundred to three hundred words, depending on the length and complexity of the original essay and the intended audience and purpose. Typically, a summary will do the following: Cite the author and title of the text. In some cases, the place of publication or the context for the essay may also be included.Indicate the main ideas of the text. Accurately representing the main ideas (while omitting the less important details) is the major goal of the summary.Use direct quotations of keywords, phrases, or sentences. Quote the text directly for a few key ideas; paraphrase the other important ideas (that is, express the ideas in your own words.)Include author tags. (According to Ehrenreich or as Ehrenreich explains) to remind the reader that you are summarizing the author and the text, not giving your own ideas. . . .Avoid summarizing specific examples or data unless they help illustrate the thesis or main idea of the text.Report the main ideas as objectively as possible...Do not include your reactions; save them for your response. -(Stephen Reid,  The Prentice Hall Guide for Writers, 2003) A Checklist for Evaluating Summaries Good summaries must be fair, balanced, accurate, and complete. This checklist of questions will help you evaluate drafts of a summary: Is the summary economical and precise?Is the summary neutral in its representation of the original authors ideas, omitting the writers own opinions?Does the summary reflect the proportionate coverage given various points in the original text?Are the original authors ideas expressed in the summary writers own words?Does the summary use attributive tags (such as Weston argues) to remind readers whose ideas are being presented?Does the summary quote sparingly (usually only key ideas or phrases that cannot be said precisely except in the original authors own words)?Will the summary stand alone as a unified and coherent piece of writing?Is the original source cited so that readers can locate it? -John C. Bean On the Summary App  Summly Upon hearing, in March of [2013], reports that a 17-year-old schoolboy had sold a piece of software to Yahoo! for $30 million, you might well have entertained a few preconceived notions about what sort of child this must be...The app [that then 15-year-old Nick] DAloisio designed, Summly, compresses long pieces of text into a few representative sentences. When he released an early iteration, tech observers realized that an app that could deliver brief, accurate summaries would be hugely valuable in a world where we read everything - from news stories to corporate reports - on our phones, on the go...There are two ways of doing natural language processing: statistical or semantic, DAloisio explains. A semantic system attempts to figure out the actual meaning of a text and translate it succinctly. A statistical system - the type DAloisio used for Summly - doesnt bother with that; it keeps phrases and sentences intact and figures out how to pick a few that best encapsulate the entir e work. It ranks and classifies each sentence, or phrase, as a candidate for inclusion in the summary. Its very mathematical. It looks at frequencies and distributions, but not at what the words mean. -Seth Stevenson. The Lighter Side of Summaries Here are some...famous works of literature that could easily have been summarized in a few words: Moby-Dick: Dont mess around with large whales, because they symbolize nature and will kill you.A Tale of Two Cities: French people are crazy.Every poem ever written: Poets are extremely sensitive. Think of all the valuable hours we would save if authors got right to the point this way. Wed all have more time for more important activities, such as reading newspaper columns. -Dave Barry. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem. -Douglas Adams. Sources K. Narayana Chandran,  Texts and Their Worlds II. Foundation Books, 2005)Richard E. Young, Alton L. Becker, and Kenneth L. Pike,  Rhetoric: Discovery and Change. Harcourt, 1970Paul Clee and Violeta Clee,  American Dreams, 1999.Randall VanderMey, et al.,  The College Writer, Houghton, 2007Stephen Reid,  The Prentice Hall Guide for Writers, 2003John C. Bean, Virginia Chappell, and Alice M. Gillam  Reading Rhetorically. Pearson Education, 2004Seth Stevenson, How Teen Nick DAloisio Has Changed the Way We Read.  Wall Street Journal Magazine, November 6, 2013Dave Barry,  Bad Habits: A 100% Fact-Free Book. Doubleday, 1985Douglas Adams,  The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980

Tips on How to Save College Relationships After Graduation

Tips on How to Save College Relationships After Graduation There was a time when one of the only reasons women attended educational institutions, was to find themselves a husband! Of Course, times have changed, and female students are there to learn and attain the qualifications needed for their chosen career. However, that doesn’t mean college romances are a thing of the past. In fact, according to USA Today 28% of married graduates met their spouse at college! That statistic is even higher for religious institutions where as many as 60% of such romances end in marriage. Looks like those people knew some hacks on how to save college relationships after graduation. Dating in college is not like dating in the real world. It is not always plain sailing. Relationships and indeed day to day life play out within a campus bubble and this can spell trouble after graduation. Many alumni struggle to make it once they are out in the adult world and facing the stress of a career and other responsibilities the cracks begin to show. However, if you are determined to stay with your current partner, the following tips might help you. Tips on How to Save College Relationships After Graduation Talk About the Future Preemptively – One of the best tips on how to save college relationships is to talk about your future plans as early as possible. Don’t wait until the last day of studying to discuss where you see the relationship going. Discuss the situation a few months before graduation rolls around and make sure you both see the same future. It might be a tough conversation but be open and honest with each other. Do you plan to move close to each other? If not, are you prepared to have a long-distance relationship? These are questions which need to be asked. Is Exclusivity Important to You? – One of the biggest reasons why college relationships fail is because one or both partners cheat. This can be an especially big temptation if you go to different towns or states after graduation. What if we took cheating out of the equation? Is exclusivity important to you? A growing number of young people are experimenting with open or polyamorous relationships. It’s not for everyone, but for some it is a great way to stay together after studying ends. Be Prepared to Embrace Change – Another of our favourite tips on how to save college relationships is to be ready to embrace change. College is totally different from the every day grind and sometimes the change can be overwhelming. You and your partner may find yourselves developing different interests and veering off on your own path. That’s okay and it is no cause for alarm. However, you do need to be prepared for this change. Give each other time to grow and find the right path. Be supportive and you can find your way together as a couple. Always Communicate – Graduation is a huge transitional period in our lives, so we must make an effort to communicate our plans and expectations. Its a bad idea to ignore each other only because you are afraid to face your problems. Try to be sincere with each other about your feelings and plans. Never Sacrifice Your Dreams – Sometimes after diplomas are handed out, you and your partner will be headed home to different cities. Long-distance doesn’t work for everyone, so it may seem like one of you has to make the move if your romance is to have any hope of lasting. However, one of the biggest tips on how to save college relationships after graduation is to not make this mean you are sacrificing your dreams. If one partner has to be the one to leave their dreams behind to be with the other, then eventually resentment will bubble up to the surface and that can be the kiss of death for any affair. Compromise is key to a successful relationship, so make sure you both have equal importance and priority when it comes to making your dreams come to life. Sometimes It Is Right to Say Goodbye Although there are plenty of tips on how to save college relationships after graduation, it is important to decide if it is really the right thing to do. Some relationships are not meant to last beyond college and that is perfectly okay. Sometimes the right thing to do is say goodbye after graduation. Here are three common indicators that your college romance may not be long lasting: You Have Different Goals – Have you started to think about life after college. What is the next step? Will you head out of state? Are you planning on getting into your chosen career immediately? Are you considering a year out to travel the world? Whatever your plans involve it is important that your partner shares those goals. If one of you is dedicated to building a career at home while the other is intent on backpacking across Australia, then your relationship is not on track for survival. Something Doesn’t Feel Right – Usually when a relationship is coming to its natural end, something starts to feel a little off. It could be that some of your partner’s quirks that were once cute now get on your nerves, or maybe you just don’t communicate the way you used to. Whatever it is, if you don’t feel right it usually indicates that its game over. Once you realise this, it might be the perfect time to make the break. You Can’t Imagine the Future Together – Once finishing college most of us start to think more seriously about settling down. That often means imaging the kind of life your future holds. Marriage. Kids. A home in the suburbs. Who do you see standing by your side? If it is not your current sweetheart, then alarm bells should be ringing. If you can’t picture yourself married to that person then it is unlikely that your relationship is going to flourish after you graduate. Keeping a college romance alive is not always easy, but hopefully with these tips on how to save college relationships you can enjoy the next stage of your lives together. Good Luck!