WRiTing A SummARy 161■ (^) Present the gist of the author’s argument
When you present the gist of an argument, you are expressing the author’s
central idea in a sentence or two. The gist is not quite the same thing as
the author’s thesis statement. Instead, it is your formulation of the author’s
main idea, composed for the needs of your own argument.
Thompson’s observations in paragraph 8 represent his thesis: “But it’s also
becoming clear that online media are pushing literacy into cool directions.
... [T]he proliferation of new forms of online pop-cultural exegesis — from
sprawling TV-show recaps to 15,000-word videogame walkthroughs — has
given [students] a chance to write enormously long and complex pieces of
prose, often while working collaboratively with others.” In this paragraph,
Thompson clearly expresses his central ideas in two sentences, while also
conceding some of the critics’ concerns. However, in formulating the gist of
his argument, you want to do more than paraphrase Thompson. you want
to use his position to support your own. For example, suppose you want to
qualify the disapproval that some educators have expressed in drawing their
conclusions about the new media. you would want to mention Thompson’s
own concessions when you describe the gist of his argument:
GISTIn his essay “On the New Literacy,” Clive Thompson, while acknowledging some aca-
demic criticism of new media, argues that these media give students opportunities
to write more than in previous generations and that students have learned to adapt
what they are writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think
and how they act.Notice that this gist could not have been written based only on Thomp-
son’s thesis statement. It reflects knowledge of Thompson’s major points,
his examples, and his concessions.■ (^) Contextualize What you Summarize
your summary should help readers understand the context of the
conversation:
• ^ Who is the author?
• What is the author’s expertise?
• ^ What is the title of the work?
• Where did the work appear?
• ^ What was the occasion of the work’s publication? What prompted
the author to write the work?
• What are the issues?
• ^ Who else is taking part in the conversation, and what are their
perspectives on the issues?
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