Summary

Summarizing the ideas of others is a key skill for writers and thinkers in any discipline to show comprehension. Summary is a “call”: it says, “I understand.” It not only reflects what a reader has learned but also gives writers a place to build insights and address assumptions about the world. College courses routinely use summary as a stand-alone assignment to get students exercising this essential thinking skill. Summary is also used as part of longer single and multiple source assignments that grow from the premise that a summary provides a starting point for the discussion of a given topic.

Good summary takes practice; it involves condensing, rewording, and citing text material carefully. It is deceptively simple: readers and writers sometimes assume that the art of summary is an already-mastered skill because it’s covered so often in grade school. But while recalling facts and ideas from written texts can be groomed in the early school years, this makes up only the basics of summary. As you read more sophisticated texts and work toward attaining complex knowledge and language, your precision in recalling and incorporating the ideas of others gets more complicated. In fact, many writing errors are blunders of mistaken or partial understanding of intricate readings. And who wants that to happen? Before you incorporate the ideas of other writers and scholars, you should routinely practice summary so you are sure you really “get” what you read.

An important step in the reading process, summary makes you smarter. Each time you seriously and actively engage with texts, you jump-start your thinking and whet your appetite for more knowledge. As a college student, you develop your understanding through the use of long and short summaries, listing techniques, annotations, and annotated bibliographies of all types of sources. Then, you’ll move toward integrating these summaries into in-class essays, single source papers, and research projects that ask you to extend your understanding into analysis and synthesis of source material. In this way, you add your own voice to the existing literature on a particular subject.

Go ahead. Read. Summarize so you’re sure you’ve got your sources covered. Then, join the conversation.

Angelique Johnston, English Faculty and Composition Co-Coordinator

Analysis

Whether writing a poem, a picture book, or an article, authors are always mindful of the effect their words will have on their readers. And writers use a number of different techniques and strategies in order to create their desired effect. While no two people will experience a piece of writing in exactly the same way, we can better understand any piece of writing by carefully analyzing the effect it has on us and determining what the author is doing to create that effect.

Careful analysis will address the choices that an author has made and explain the effects of those choices. If you are writing an analytical essay, you should think about the “how” and the “why,” rather than just the “what” of the piece you are analyzing. In an analytical essay, you will probably want to determine the author’s purpose and audience, and then examine how the content, organization, and language of the author work to support that purpose. The words authors use, the assumptions they make, the jokes they tell, even the evidence they use to support their argument can help (or hurt) their ability to achieve their purpose.

Catharine Ganze-Smith, English Faculty

Synthesis

At this point in your life, you’ve already encountered— and probably have practiced yourself—synthesis in a variety of forms. If you have studied earth science and biology, then you know about photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into chemical energy and store it as sugar to be used later. You participate in this process by breathing in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. If you play or listen to music, then you know about synthesizers: electric keyboards that produce a wide array and combination of sounds. And any time you compare and contrast two or more things, or arrive at a conclusion based on different pieces of information, then you have practiced synthesis. So, you already know a bit about what synthesis means: to create something by bringing together two or more things in some way. This prior knowledge can help you understand any writing assignment that asks you to synthesize sources.

In a synthesis essay, your task is to draw upon and integrate various sources for either or both of the following purposes: to inform and to persuade. For both purposes, you move beyond summary (in which you restate the main ideas of your sources) and arrive at some conclusion based on your sources.

In informative synthesis, you are making sense of a topic (such as a historical event, a prominent theory, or a contentious debate, to name only a few) for the reader so that he or she can understand it better. Instead of relying on only one source, you use and cite multiple sources for a fuller, even deeper explanation of your topic. However, your role as writer is not to take sides or argue with the sources or about the topic. You are, instead, more like a mediator in a conversation, letting the reader know who is saying what, and why, and making sense of the big picture.

In argumentative synthesis, your purpose is to persuade: you are expected to state a claim, offer reasons, and cite evidence in support of a position or perspective. In this type of essay, you will need to be careful that your claim reflects your voice—as someone who has read, considered, and weighed the merits of various points of view—and is not a regurgitation of your sources.

For both essay types, informative and argumentative, remember that summary is not synthesis. A series of separate summary paragraphs is not sufficient or acceptable for a synthesis essay. Whether you are explaining or arguing, you are making something new—in your voice, according to your own purpose, and following your own arrangement of ideas—from the source material you have read.

See MLA, APA, Chicago, or  ACS in this handbook for guidance with integrating quotations and documenting source material correctly, according to whichever citation style your professor requires.

Amy Burtner, English Faculty and WAC Program Coordinator

Research

Modern technology has given us access to unprecedented amounts of information, and we regularly use the Internet to find and read material that will help us make informed decisions. We check Rotten Tomatoes to determine whether or not a film is worth seeing, read reviews of a band’s new album, and compare prices for airline tickets. This is research. Research projects at MCC enable students to explore the physical sciences, confront actively contested social issues, or participate in the scholarly discourse of a field. Researching material, synthesizing information, and producing new knowledge in a paper, project, or presentation is a rewarding experience that hones a unique way of learning, thinking, and understanding the world.

Undergraduate research is a recognized and proven learning methodology and a high-impact teaching practice. It offers students opportunities to participate in research and creative endeavors. Working with faculty, undergraduates engage in active learning in the classroom, laboratory, library, studio, and field. Through these experiences, students share in the excitement of discovery, develop important skills, and explore career choices. They get to know faculty members and connect with a disciplinary community. Students have the opportunity to express work through publication, performances, exhibits, or presentations, and can, therefore, share their work with audiences beyond Monroe Community College.

The Undergraduate Research, Scholarly Inquiry, and Creative Activity (URSICA) Program, therefore, aims to foster a culture of research and cultivate ways students can have a “hands-on” educational experience while promoting academic exchange, including:

• Explore a passion
• Define goals, interests, and potential career directions
• Gain more depth in a field of study
• Contribute to the “ongoing conversation” of a discipline
• Identify interdisciplinary connections
• Develop problem-solving skills
• Make professional connections and gain professional experience
• Gain broader perspective on the world
• Develop insights into themselves, including their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses
• Find a voice
• Inspire their peers
• Succeed at MCC and beyond

By engaging in research activities, students are more academically successful, learn and retain material more effectively, collaborate with peers, and are more actively engaged in their education. Research develops critical thinking, imagination, and intellectual independence, and cultivating these skills promotes the type of civic engagement that serves students well beyond the classroom.

Thomas Blake, English Faculty and URSICA Co-Chair