How long should the summaries be?
A. Long enough to convey the main points of the article without going into too much detail. There unfortunately is no magic number of pages. For some articles, half a page is enough; for others, a page and a half would be better. • Q. Thats too vague. How will I know if the summary is long enough? A. When you think youre done, read it, and ask yourself if youve provided enough information for the reader to (1) understand the event youre summarizing and (2) realize its importance. • Q. What if (1) I don’t understand the event I’m summarizing or (2) it’s not important? A. Use a different article. • Q. Should I use my own words, even if the author of the article uses really good words that I like a lot better than mine? A. Yes, you should always use your own language for work you submit for a grade. One of the reasons I ask you to write summaries is so you can learn how to distill detailed accounts of current events into something short and meaningful. • Q. What, were supposed to learn so
