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For your second paper, you will
summarize either: Ø
“The Perils of Obedience,” by Stanley
Milgrim (316-329) or Ø
“The Stanford Prison Experiment,” by
Philip Zimbardo (347-360) A summary should include
the thesis of the article being summarized, the main subordinate ideas, and
important details. A summary should
NOT include editorial commentary; this is the one essay for which I’ll ask
you to keep your opinions to yourself. There are two main purposes of a summary essay. 1) To inform a reader who has not read the
article what it’s about, so the reader can determine if it’s an article he or
she would wish to pursue further. 2)
To help a reader who has already read the article understand it, particularly
if the article is difficult to understand or its main points are hard to
determine because of length, poor writing, or poor organization. If an
article is confusing or poorly organized, it’s up to you to bring order and
coherence to it in your summary.
Remember—don’t mention that the article is hard to understand (that’s
the kind of editorial commentary to be avoided). However, if you have to present the points of the article in a
different order than the author does, feel free. What I will
evaluate: 1)
Accuracy—this is the most important quality of a
good summary. You must reflect the
article accurately. If you don’t,
then your summary will not fulfill either purpose of a summary. Inaccuracies in reporting the article
result in an automatic “C,” so read carefully. 2)
Clarity—summaries should be easy to
understand. One of the purposes of a
summary is to shed light on a difficult piece; you will negate this purpose
if you make it difficult for the reader to follow your summary. 3)
Brevity—summaries should be free from clutter,
unnecessary words and details. Use
concise language. Discuss only the
most important parts of the essay.
Leave the minutiae for another day and another essay. 4)
Thoroughness—although you’re trying to be brief, you
want to make sure you cover all major points. 5)
Style—summaries are tedious reading at best,
and I’ll be reading about 10 summaries of each article if students choose
evenly among the two. Furthermore,
since this a summary assignment, each essay should cover approximately the
same material. The best essays will
stand out by virtue of the quality of their writing, not just by what they
say. In addition to being
grammatically correct and concise, you should try to work on creating
effective variety in sentence length and structure. Subordinate.
Coordinate. Since you don’t
have to worry about creating brilliant thoughts for this essay, you can work
on demonstrating your ability to create effective prose. This does NOT mean using big words for the
sake of using big words. Nor does it
mean you should try to be vague and/or abstruse for the sake of looking
intelligent. Above all, be clear and
concrete. Other: 1)
In your introductory paragraph, you
should at least introduce the author and title of your essay. The reader needs to know what article
you’re summarizing. The reader should
also know the origin of the article, particularly if it’s a chapter from an
author’s larger study. 2)
Even though the only source you’ll use
is in the textbook, you should cite it as you would any source, including
both parenthetical citations and a works cited page. 3)
Your essay should be about 750-1000
words. 4)
Authors, both male and female, are
referred to by their last names, i.e. “Haskell points out that women’s
films…” 5)
Spell check and proofread. Sloppiness, although not my primary concern,
detracts from your authority as a writer and my enjoyment of your essay. Due: Monday, February 2
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