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

162 CHAPTER 7 | FRom SummARy To SynTHESiS

Again, because a summary must be concise, you must make decisions

about how much of the conversation your readers need to know. If your

assignment is to practice summarizing, it may be sufficient to include only

information about the author and the source. However, if you are using

the summary to build your own argument, you may need to provide more

context. your practice summary of Thompson’s essay should mention that

he is a journalist and should cite the title of and page references to his

essay. you also may want to include information about Thompson’s audi-

ence, publication information, and what led to the work’s publication. Was

it published in response to another essay or book, or to commemorate an

important event?

We compiled our notes on Thompson’s essay (key claims, examples,

gist, context) in a worksheet (Figure 7.1). All of our notes in the worksheet

constitute a type of prewriting, our preparation for writing the summary.

Creating a worksheet like this can help you track your thoughts as you

plan to write a summary. (you can download a template of this worksheet

at macmillanhighered.com/frominquiry3e.)

Here is our summary of Thompson’s essay:

In his essay “On the New Literacy,” Clive Thompson, while

acknowledging some academic 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.

FiGURe 7.1 Worksheet for Writing a Summary

Key Claim(s) examples Gist Context

1. electronic media
   prompt more stu-
   dent writing than
   ever before, and
   students use their
   writing to make a
   difference.


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


3. But one major
   study shows the
   benefits of new
   media on student
   writing.

The Stanford study:

Students “defined

good prose as some-

thing that had an

effect on the world”

(para. 7).

Complaints of

“bleak, bald, sad

shorthand” and

“narcissistic blab-

bering” (para. 1);

texting can be

obscure.

A “paradigm shift”

(para. 5) to fluency

in multiple formats

and skill in assess-

ing and persuading

audiences.

In his essay “On the

New Literacy,” Clive

Thompson, while

acknowledging

some academic criti-

cism of new media,

argues that these

media give students

opportunities to

write more than in

previous genera-

tions and that stu-

dents have learned

to adapt what they

are writing in order

to have some tan-

gible effect on what

people think and

how they act.

Thompson is a

journalist who has

written widely on

issues in higher

education. His essay

“On the New Lit-

eracy” appeared in

Wired in August 2009

(http://www.wired

.com/techbiz/people

/magazine/17-09

/st_thompson).

under consideration

is the debate that he

frames in his open-

ing paragraphs.

The gist of Thompson’s

argument.

07_GRE_5344_Ch7_151_210.indd 162 11/19/14 1:59 PM