Daniel Richardson

Professor Jesse Miller

ENG 110

Journals

11 October 2017

Journal 10, The Art of Summarizing

In this latest chapter of They Say/I Say, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, the authors highlight the significance of summarizing the work of another author when one references in it their work, a trying dilemma for the grade school student, and writers alike, stating that many writers “fear that devoting too much time” to the ideas of others, “takes away from [that of] their own” (pg. 30). In fact, Graff and Birkenstein observe that oftentimes, students focused on only what the author at hand said, rather than that argument, or how it relates to the discussion at hand, causing instructors to “discourage their students from summarizing at all” (pg.36). However, this chapter is not to solely focus on what writers do wrong, but rather to provide a clinic in how to ultimately master “the art of summarizing.”

Before constructing a successful summary, one must initially come to a more neutral mindset. Mentioning the importance of balancing the work of the author, as well as your own, Birkenstein and Graff assert to write a good summary, one must be able to distance their own beliefs and put themselves “in the shoes of someone else” (pg.31).  In stating this, they most likely mean that when one comes to involve their own views in the summarization of others’ work, the results begin to skew, and the truths become distorted. One could relate this to obtaining news from a partisan news source, as an NBC or Fox News, rather than a more moderate outlet. After all, it is rude, as they suggest on (page 33), to enter a conversation with others and angrily start berating them, as it is boring just to repeat them.

Overall, I found the list of verbs at the end of the chapter to be most helpful to me, as they will come to be one of my biggest allies in summarizing the work of others. I also found the section on how to set up your argument through your summary to be most insightful.