From Inquiry to Academic Writing A Practical Guide, 3rd edition

160 CHAPTER 7 | FRom SummARy To SynTHESiS

are writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think

and how they act.

2. Arguably, reliance on blogging and posting on Twitter and Facebook
   can foster some bad habits in writing.


3. But at least one major study demonstrates that the benefits of using
   the new media outweigh the disadvantages. This study indicates that
   students write lengthy, complex pieces that contribute to creating sig-
   nificant social networks and collaborations.

■ (^) Select examples to illustrate the author’s argument
A summary should be succinct, which means you should limit the num-
ber of examples or illustrations you use. As you distill the major points of
the argument, try to choose one or two examples to illustrate each major
point. Here are the examples (in italics) you might use to support Thomp-
son’s main points:

1. electronic media give students opportunities to write more than in
   previous generations, and students have learned to adapt what they
   are writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think
   and how they act. Examples from the Stanford study: Students “defined
   good prose as something that had an effect on the world. For them, writ-
   ing is about persuading and organizing and debating” (para. 7).


2. Arguably, reliance on blogging and posting on Twitter and Facebook
   can foster some bad habits in writing. Examples of these bad habits
   include critics’ charges of “narcissistic blabbering,” “bleak, bald, sad
   shorthand,” and “dehydrated language” (para. 1). Thompson’s descrip-
   tion of texting’s “haiku-like concision” (para. 8) seems to combine praise
   (haiku can be wonderful poetry) with criticism (it can be obscure and
   unintelligible).


3. But at least one major study demonstrates that the benefits of using the
   new media outweigh the disadvantages. Examples include Thompson’s
   point that the writing in the new media constitutes a “paradigm shift”
   (para. 5). Andrea Lunsford observes that students are “remarkably adept
   at what rhetoricians call kairos — assessing their audience and adapting
   their tone and technique to best get their point across” (para. 6).
   A single concrete example may be sufficient to clarify the point you want
   to make about an author’s argument. Throughout the essay, Thompson
   derives examples from the Stanford study to support his argument in the
   final two paragraphs. The most concrete, specific example of how the new
   media benefit students as writers appears in paragraph 6, where the pri-
   mary research of the Stanford study describes students’ acquisition of im -
   portant rhetorical skills of developing writing that is opportune (kairos)
   and purposeful. This one example may be sufficient for the purposes of
   summarizing Thompson’s essay.

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