Relocating Sacredness in Shanghai

Short Written Assignment
Summary of article assigned from your group presentation

Guidelines for Writing a Summary of an Article or Book:
The point of a summary is to concisely and accurately summarize the original author’s main points and the theoretical concepts and types of evidence/material the author uses to make those points. A summary should preserve the original author’s argument (the logic and sequence of ideas) and the proportions and relationship between ideas in the original article.
Identifying an author’s main points and argument is the first important step in reading. After that, you might argue with, build from, add your opinion; but not for this assignment.

Suggested steps:

1. Read the article to identify the main points; highlight or underline key phrases, concepts, and terms.
How to locate main points and concepts? Read strategically and analytically. Pay particular attention to introductions (of the article and of sections) and look for phrases such as: “This article is about”, “My argument is”, “My aim is to”, “in this section, I focus on”, etc.

2. Read the article again and take notes. Write down the page numbers of ideas and quotations. If you quote a phrase or sentence, use quotation marks and write down the page number on which the quote is found. It often is useful to construct your notes as an outline of the article, such as: I. Introduction; II. [Title of Section #1], etc., with subpoints under each.

3. Write the summary: Note: This is not an opinion paper or research paper. Instead, it is a summary of the article author’s aim, main points and concepts. Therefore, if you insert your own opinions or opinions of someone else other than the author, it will confuse things. So please follow these guidelines:

a. In the first sentence or two, write the main idea (thesis or argument), subject (topic), and secondary supporting points of the article; include the author’s name so that your readers will understand that this is a summary of an article (resist the desire to start with a “catchy” generalization, etc.).

For instance: “Focusing on the case of the transformation of traditional food in the 1980s and 1990s, John Chan examines changes in . . . “. In other words, rather than phrasing something as a fact, instead phrase it to make clear that it’s the author’s argument, point, concept, etc.

b. In the rest of the summary, you will explain how the author explains, supports, and illustrates his/her main point. It’s useful to retain, as much as possible, the structure and organization of the article within your summary. For instance, you might break up the summary into paragraphs, based on the sections of the article. Since the purpose is to summarize the author’s aim, main points and concepts, and materials, you will need to condense or delete details.

c. Your summary will paraphrase and sometimes quote the author’s words:
1. Paraphrase: Using your own words, explain so that your readers will understand the original author’s point, opinion, or position; cite the page number(s) for the idea.
2. Quote (verbatim): When quoting, use quotation marks and cite the page(s) on which the quote is found. It often is useful to quote a phrase or sentence in which the author summarizes his/her purpose or explains primary concepts (but don’t include long quotes)

For instance: The author analyzes “the rise of dakou culture in the context of the interrelated process of globalization and marketization of Chinese culture” (de Kloet, 609).

d. Include a full citation for the article in a footnote or at the end in the bibliography (don’t know how? See Oncourse Resources, Class Guidelines, “Citation Guidelines”). For instance: de Kloet, Joeroen. 2005. “Popular Music and Youth in Urban China: The Dakou Generation.” China Quarterly 181:610-25.

e. After the Summary: Write down a ideas you already have for the group presentation. If you’ve located useful supplementary resources, you may list them here.

5. Print out, read, and revise your summary. Checklist:
Does it follow the guidelines? Does it give your readers a good sense of the original author’s main point and of the article as a whole?
Have quoted the author accurately? Have you written down page numbers?
Checked for grammar, etc.?
Included a full citation for the article at the end (on in a footnote)?
Did you include some preliminary ideas for the group presentation?