Step 4 – Identify and Summarize the Argument from Your Sources
1) Place a heading at the top of your page to include:
- Your Name
- Course Title
- Professor’s Name
- Assignment Title
- Today’s Date
2) Name your topic. For example, Iron Work. (See Step 1 if you have forgotten your topic.)
3) Locate Your Sources :
- 1 scholarly journal article (This is from Step 1.)
- 1 internet article (This is from Step 2.)
4) Provide the following for your scholarly journal article so that both you and your professor can find it.
· author
· article title
· journal title
· link – Use the Stable URL provided on JSTOR and EBSCO sites. For the internet article, where available, provide a Stable URL.
5) Identify the Argument in Each of Your Sources: Again, this will be:
- 1 scholarly journal article (This is from Step 1.)
- 1 internet article (This is from Step 2.)
6) Paste or type the author’s argument under the relevant source information. You might find that the argument is one sentence, or it might be a few sentences. Use quotation marks, page numbers if available, and double-spacing.
7) Summarize or state the argument in your own words. In other words, if you were telling a friend about this article, how would you tell them the author’s thesis? You might have to read farther in order to summarize effectively. Often reading the first page and the last page provide the best background for summarizing the argument.
Begin your argument summary with these words: The author argues that ______.
Each article should look like this:
Author: Mara Hvistendahl
Article Title: Rebuilding a Treasure Ship
Journal Title: Archaeology
Link: http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41780343
Argument
“China’s leaders are seizing on history as a tool to influence the nation abroad. Through a careful, calculated celebration of Zheng He and his travels, the government hopes to project an image of itself as open and benevolent – a powerful but peaceful nation interested in trade, not domination. But history and archaeology don’t always cooperate.” (40)
Summarized Argument
The author argues that political leaders in China are attempting to use history to gain support for their aims, but they get history wrong. Current leaders claim 15th century China was motivated primarily by peaceful trade. Archaeological and historical evidence demonstrates that the China of the past was an interested in conquest and expansion of power as in trade.
Note: The quotation is more than 3 lines long, so technically it should be formatted in block quotation form. This is not necessary for this exercise.
8) Use the rubric at the end of Submit Your Assignment as a checklist while you work and again before you turn it in.
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask your professor.
Assignments must be submitted as a Word document. This means that the file name will end in .doc or .docx as in the following example: Johnson_Step_4.doc.
9) When you have completed and proofread your work, submit your work for feedback and grading as a .doc or .docx.
Rubric Name: Step 4 – Identify and Summarize the Argument from Your Sources Rubric 60 Points (25 points per source & 10 points for assignment as a whole)
