Instructions for a Summary/Response Writing

As its name suggests, a Summary/Response writing should be divided into two sections.  The first is a summary.  In one, thorough paragraph, you should re-state, in your own words, the most important elements of the text you’re summarizing.  A good first sentence for a summary might go something like this, "In her essay 'Turning Boys into Girls,' Michelle Cottle uses wit and sarcasm to make a serious point: America's obsession with unrealistic body images has gotten out of control."  Following this sentence, which identifies the main claim of an essay, the summary should present Cottle's support for her claim.  Basically, a summary should provide all of the text's key content in a smaller package, and should not present analysis or opinion about the original text (save that for the "response" part of the assignment). 

My colleague in the English Department, Rolf Samuels, has developed an excellent acronym to describe the main qualities of a successful summary: the SPRUCED summary:

Selective                       —  chooses the important material from the text

Proportional                  —  provides the same weight to material as the original fairly provides

Rephrased                    —  uses different language than the original text uses

Unbiased                      —  represents the original text as it is, without critique or judgement

Complete                      —  covers all the material in the original text

Exact                           —  portrays the text material precisely, without misunderstandings

Documented                 —  provides the MLA citation for the original text

The process of summarizing a text should go something like this: read the text attentively, underlining and taking margin notes.  Read the text attentively a second time, taking notes on a separate piece of paper.  These notes should identify main points, secondary points, lower order points, and support for points.  After that, you may write a draft of the summary.  If you feel the draft has turned out precisely, you may turn in that draft.  However, that draft may not feel right to you—it might be biased, disproportional, inexact or incomplete.  If that’s the case, you’ll probably want to tinker with it or rewrite it until it seems to represent the original text well.

The response is the second section of this assignment.  In this, you should fairly, personally critique the original text.  In two to four paragraphs, you should identify the point-of-view of the original text.  Identify what seem to you to be its purposes.  If some of the original text’s claims seem questionable to you, then the response should question them.  If some of the original text’s claims are unsupported, or if the support doesn’t really prove the claim, then the response should identify these problems. 

This sounds like a calculated process—as if you, the reader, should take apart the original text with surgical precision.  It’s true that you should think closely and critically about the original text, but the response should also be personal.  It should represent your identity as a reader.  From what perspective do you come to the text?  What beliefs and values form your response?  That’s why the response is called a response and not a critique.  It’s your voice speaking back to the author of the original text.  You need not present a definitive answer to the text, but should raise the questions, problems, and issues for further exploration that your close reading of the text raises.