33 Selective Summary Writing
What is a Selective Summary?
Any article can be summarized selectively. Unlike a global summary; however, you do not summarize all the subtopics and main ideas. Instead, your task is to summarize only what the author says about one or two subtopics discussed in the article. A prompt is provided to you , indicating the selected focus. You must follow this prompt in order to write the summary.
This sort of summarizing closely resembles how students use sources in college-level research papers, like the ones you will write in ESL 117, ESL 118, and beyond. This assignment provides a chance to develop particularly useful academic skills:
a) Effective use of a prompt and adherence to assignment guidelines.
b) Intensive reading of an article to separate focused information from secondary or unnecessary information.
c) Further practice of note-taking and paraphrasing skills.
Prompt Example:
The text to be summarized is Lauren Cassani Davis’ “When Mindfulness Meets the Classroom”. You are to summarize only the information on why mindfulness is being used in elementary schools, and the the scientific evidence concerning mindfulness’ efficacy for children. |
Summary prompts will indicated focused information that will be dispersed in various areas of the article. Therefore, you must do intensive reading and group main ideas that may be located in different sections, paragraphs, and/or pages of the article. Many of these ideas will be repetitive, but others won’t.
Attribution
As with any summary, the first sentence in the introductory paragraph must include an initial attribution to the author, title, as well as the main idea of the entire article. The attribution rules apply throughout the summary. What is different is that immediately after the first sentence, your summary will need to indicate the narrower scope indicated in the prompt. When you read a prompt, you will notice that the article will include information that is not directly relevant to the prompt of this summary. The length of the summary depends on you and your judgment on which information is relevant and necessary to address the prompt
As in a Global Summary, it is necessary to keep clear who is saying any particular piece of information—that is, when the article’s author is saying something, and when the author is reporting what someone else says. For example:
Davis says that Mark Greenberg, a psychologist at Penn State University, is skeptical about the true impact of mindfulness use among elementary school children because there is not enough research yet on this area.
The rules for attribution to the “owner” of this idea also apply here. The first time you include someone’s name, it should be the complete name and include information about who the person is; thereafter, use only the family name (e.g., Greenberg). The example above would be the first time Greenberg’s name was used in the summary.
Narrowing the Subtopics in the First Paragraph
The first sentence of a selective summary is no different from that of a Global Summary. However, the second sentence must narrow the focus (similar in concept to the structure of an introduction to an essay). One (but not the only) way to do so can be to begin this way:
“In doing so, Davis… ”
Important
- Do not copy the main ideas textually from the article. This is called plagiarism. You must not do it.
- Do not get assistance from anyone else. This is grounds for failure of the assignment. The only exception is to do some collaboration and sharing with partners during class discussions, specific activities directed by your instructor in which you are allowed to use AI, and in the Canvas Discussion Group.
- In addition, do not use AI or any software that translates or otherwise provides artificially generated language that is not yours.
If you are caught in any way not producing your own English language sentences, the incident will be reported.
Requirements for the Drafts:
- Typed, double-spaced
- 1-inch margins, top, and bottom, left and right
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- If it is longer than one page, the pages must be stapled.
- Length: There is no required length, but if you’ve reached a full third page of text, in other words, more than approximately 700 words, it is probably too long. Typically, Summary # 2 is two pages in length, or just a bit longer than 2 pages, double-spaced, or between 500-650 words long. In other words, it will be about the same length as the Global Summary.
No Conference and Optional Final Draft
- There will be no formally scheduled conferences for this summary, however, you will be allowed one optional revision of the summary after it has been read and graded.
- If you decide not to submit a final draft, there won’t be any penalty. Your grade will be the same as the first draft’s grade.
- Any individual meetings with your instructor to discuss the summary must be initiated and arranged by you. In addition, you must have specific questions.
- Whether you meet with your instructor or not, the due date for an optional (revised) Summary 2 is one week after the first draft has been returned to you.
