Week Three NOTES

from Academic Writing (Third Edition) by Janet Giltrow.


First we must understand CITATION. Whenever a piece of writing contains long parenthetical interruptions with only names or years in them, Scott et all 1994; Scott 2008, we may ask ourselves “What kind of writing is that?”

The parenthetical patches are a condensed, concentrated way of telling us that somebody other than the present writer has some something: they signal citation.
Another kind of citation can be seen when an author attributes a statement or idea to another speaker: “In German political thought, Fritz Stern describes a mood of
“cultural despair.”

However, we have to know that citation does not only take place in scholarly writing. Let’s look at some examples from our daily encounters:
-So thing guy comes in and says is that your car and I’m like yeah and he goes you gonna leave it there and I’m like what???
- So they say the urban coyotes are getting pretty bad.
- The weatherman says showers in the morning but then clearing in the afternoon.

We need to recognize that like scholarly writing, in our everyday interactions within society, we too borrow, adapt and learn from what other people have said. We are constantly sewing what we have heard, read and seen into our own utterances.
CITATION: essential to enter into the scholarly conversation. Situates the writer within a larger discussion. Can bolster, or add confidence to an idea(S), or create doubt and uncertainty within already established ideas(s).

SUMMARY

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

You own words, main points, significantly shorter.
Summary is not just for researchers but allows us to enter the scholarly conversation.

P43 / 44. Demonstrate what ‘language cues’ to look for when attempting to summarize a passage.

Getting the “Gist”

In this phase of summary we try to predict what should be remembered in preparation for writing a more extensive summary.

You make notes along side your source text to answer this question: if I were reading this with the intention of summarizing, what would I estimate as important from each paragraph?

Avoid writing in full sentences and straight copying, the notes only capture the GIST – the point or the basis – of each section.

*try two paragraphs from “Ecocide...”

Recording Levels
When we only summarize in “Gist” we miss key details.

*Read example on page 48.

While we cannot cite ALL the details, as this would make our summary too long, we need to determine what details are important to our summary.
The details that are important are when they give examples for more ABSTRACT ideas.

*Read example of abstraction on page 49.

When we read we need to first determine the GENERAL, or ABSTRACT level of a paragraph (high level), and then work away through the paragraph looking for the details (low level).

HIGH LEVEL (abstract / general) and LOW LEVEL (details)

In this case, when we encounter an abstract or ‘high level’ idea, we need to ask WHAT IS THAT? This question will help to guide our summary.

Usually the patterns of scholarly paragraphs begin with high-level or ‘difficult’ ideas. We must be patient and keep reading, all the while anticipating the lower levels that will give us a firmer grasp of what the author is talking about.

As well as representing content, the summary:
Attributes these statements as originating with another writer (Weisman 1994).
Characterizes the action of the original by explaining how the author’s main point develops.

Describes the development of the discussion.

TIPS:

How to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries
Practice summarizing the following essay. It might be helpful to follow these steps:
• Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is.
• Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay.
• Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

There are several ways to integrate quotations into your text. Often, a short quotation works well when integrated into a sentence. Longer quotations can stand alone. Remember that quoting should be done only sparingly; be sure that you have a good reason to include a direct quotation when you decide to do so.

Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words
Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information.

A paraphrase is...
• Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
• One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
• A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...
• It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
• It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
• The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.

6 Steps to Effective Summary

Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
1. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
2. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
3. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
4. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
5. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing?
These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing.
Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

EXAMPLE:
The original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.

A legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).

A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

The same techniques we use for close reading can help us summarize. Here is a re-cap from last week:

Close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read.

How to Do a Close Reading


Discover

When you close read, you observe facts and details about the text. You may focus on a particular passage, or on the text as a whole. Your aim may be to notice all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, structural elements, cultural references; or, your aim may be to notice only selected features of the text—for instance, oppositions and correspondences, or particular historical references. Either way, making these observations constitutes the first step in the process of close reading.
Interpret

The second step is interpreting your observations. What we're basically talking about here is inductive reasoning: moving from the observation of particular facts and details to a conclusion, or interpretation, based on those observations. And, as with inductive reasoning, close reading requires careful gathering of data (your observations) and careful thinking about what these data add up to.

How to Begin:

1. Read with a pencil in hand, and annotate the text.
"Annotating" means underlining or highlighting key words and phrases—anything that strikes you as surprising or significant, or that raises questions—as well as making notes in the margins. When we respond to a text in this way, we not only force ourselves to pay close attention, but we also begin to think with the author about the evidence—the first step in moving from reader to writer.

2. Look for patterns in the things you've noticed about the text—repetitions, contradictions, similarities.
What do we notice in the previous passage? But so what?

3. Ask questions about the patterns you've noticed—especially how and why.
To answer some of our own questions, we have to look back at the text and see what else is going on.
Close Reading Practice (adapted from Dr. Colette Colligan)

A. Choose short section of text on which to perform “close reading”
B. Make observations, using these categories:
LOCATE: the topic sentence or thesis statement of the paragraph.
RECHECK: Is this topic sentence or thesis statement re-stated in the last sentence of the paragraph?

1. Genre e.g., novel or poetry? epic, science fiction, romance, realism, magic realism, mystery, letter
2. Point of View / Narrative Perspective
e.g., first person, third person (fixed or unfixed), third person omniscient, intrusive narrator, unreliable narrator, dialogue
3. Tone / Mood
e.g., ironic, satiric, sentimental, unemotional, etc.
4. Page Design
e.g., typeface, white space, etc.
5. Figures of Speech
e.g., simile, metaphor, alliteration, hyperbole, understatement, pun, etc.
7. Style
e.g., diction, accented speech, complex syntax
8. Any other observations?

C. Analyze the implications of your observation(s)