444 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Lesson 4:Connect to Your Knowledge with
“Source Summaries”
Prepare by Writing Out “Source Summaries”
Women are more constrained by society than
men are.In 19th-century England, one’s status in
society had to do with breeding rather than
ability.
Love is blind and often irrational.Independence can open one to new experi-
ences, but can also lead to tragic isolation
and inability to connect emotionally with
others.Intelligent planning pays off.Great achievements require great losses.To accomplish great things, we must
conquer our fears.FeminismSocial statusLoveIndependenceStrategic
planningLossBraveryJane complains about what society expects
of her, and that men aren’t held to such high
moral standards.
Jane is disgusted by how she is treated by
Rochester’s houseguests.Rochester marries Jane while literally blind.
Jane overlooks Rochester’s previous marriage.
Orphaned as a child, Jane learns that she
must fend for herself, and that others don’t
necessarily have her best interests in mind.
She doubts Rochester’s love for her at first,
and takes an assumed name to avoid reveal-
ing herself to Reverend St. John Rivers.Operation Overlord was a monumental
achievement. Thousands of soldiers had to
keep it secret. Not since 1688 had an invading
army crossed the English Channel. Over
800 planes brought paratroopers, and
another 300 dropped 13,000 bombs. Within
weeks, 20,000 tons of supplies per day were
being brought ashore.
By nightfall, 100,000 soldiers had landed,
but over 9,000 were dead or wounded.
Many went ashore knowing that they would
die. From D-Day until Christmas 1944,
Allied soldiers captured German prisoners
at the rate of 1,000 per day.Book, Person, or Event D-DayorOperation OverlordJune 6, 1944, Normandy, France
Themes Theses Details
Good writers support their claims with good examples. Well-chosen and well-analyzed examples often
mean the difference between a mediocre essay and a great one. If you ever have trouble thinking of good
examples, spend some time in the months before the SAT writing out “source summaries” such as those
below. These help you to connect to good examples from your studies and experience—novels, historical
events, people, cultural movements, and so on.Asource summaryis simply a summary of the key ideas about a topic: themes, theses, anddetails,that you
can use in your essay. Look carefully at the two examples below. Notice that each focuses only on the informa-
tion that you would use in an essay on the given theme. It includes the important details you need to mention
in order to sound like you know what you’re talking about.
Sample Source Summaries
Book, Person, or Event Jane Eyreby Charlotte Bronte
Themes Theses Details