Project 1: ACADEMIC SUMMARY
This Assignment Measures the Following Course Objectives:
2. Organize essay content into introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs.
3. Construct unified, coherent, and well-developed paragraphs with precise topic
sentences.
4. Apply grammar and usage rules correctly.
PURPOSE: Introduces students to college-level argumentative (secondary) sources, active
reading strategies, and skills for summarizing a source using a database resource. Introduces
basic rhetorical ideas of audience, context, purpose. Introduces essay-writing strategies,
including basic structure, transitional phrases, and chronological organization.
GOALS: Students will identify the main claims, supporting evidence, and rhetorical situation
(audience, purpose, context) of an argument, put that information in their own words, and
produce a descriptive summary for a specified audience. Students will compose unified
paragraphs with clear and specific topic sentences.
Subject/Topic Students will choose one article from a provided assortment to use for
this assignment (see Canvas).
Intended
Audience
Academic audience (professors and peers)
Minimum Requirements:
Source
Requirements
One (1) argumentative article (see Canvas).
Length
Requirements
2-3 pages
Specifications Includes the major claims and all supporting evidence
Accurately describes the audience, context, and purpose of
the article
Includes unified paragraphs with clear topic sentences
All information is written in the student’s own words (no
quotations)
Information is arranged in accurate chronological order
Format/Style MLA
One of the most important skills any college writer needs is the ability to summarize what they
have read effectively. When you can put an author’s ideas into your own words, you truly
understand the material. You need to develop the skill of being able to analyze and position that
claim for your own audience.
The Analytical Summary goes a step beyond a general summary. Instead of simply describing
the article’s points neutrally, you will evaluate the writer’s understanding of the rhetorical
situation and how effectively the writer addressed that situation.
For a complete summary of the article, be sure to include:
All major claims
All reasons
All evidence
As you discuss the claims the article you choose to use makes and evidence used to support
those claims, analyze its effectiveness for:
Intended audience
Context
Purpose
The strongest summaries will
Present the article’s argument accurately
Use consistent signal phrases to introduce the article’s ideas
Use clear transitions to lead your reader through the summary
Present a descriptive account of the article, so that a reader would not need the original
article to understand.
The strongest analyses will
Make an argument about the article’s effectiveness
Demonstrate your analysis of the article’s rhetorical situation
Show the relationship between the rhetorical situation and the writer’s claims, reasons,
and evidence
