英語作文Summary方法大匯總

1、Summary WritingCharacteristics of a Good Summary:A good summary has the followingcharacteristics:? Proper Citation: The summarybegins by citing the title, author, source, and, in the case of a magazine or journal article, the date of publication and the text.? Thesis Statement: The overall thesis of

2、 the text selection is theauthor s central theme. There are several aspects to an effective thesis statement:- It comprises two parts: a) the topic or general subject matter of the text, and b) the author s major assertion, comment, or position on the topic.- This central theme is summarized clearly

3、 and accurately in a one sentence thesis statement.- The thesis statement does not contain specific details discussed in the text.- The thesis statement is stated at the beginning of the summary.? Supporting Ideas: The author supports his/her thesis with supporting ideas. Use the following basic gui

4、delines when summarising supporting ideas:- Cover all of the author s major supporting ideas.- Show the relationships among these ideas.- Omit specifics, such as illustrations, descriptions, and detailed explanations.- Indicate the author s purpose in writing: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain

5、. If the passage is a persuasive piece, report the author s bias o r position on the issue.- Omit all personal opinions, ideas, and inferences. Let the reader know that you are reporting the author s ideas.? Grammar and the Mechanics of Writing: Grammar and related concernsensure that, as a writer,

6、you communicate clearly to your reader. Thefollowing are particularly important:- Restate the ideas in your own words as much as possible. Avoid direct quotations.- Use transitional words for a smooth and logical flow of ideas.- Edit and re-write your work.- Check your grammar, punctuation, and spel

7、ling ? Length: The length of a summarydepends on howlong the original document is. It may vary between one third the original text and one tenth.Steps in Writing a Summary: Initially, summary writing can seem like a challenging task. It requires careful reading and reflective thinking about the arti

8、cle. Most of us, however, tend to skim read without focused reflection, but with time and effort, the steps listed here can help you become an effective summary writer.? Read the article? Reread the Article.- Divide the article into segments or sections of ideas. Each segment deals with one aspect o

9、f the central theme. A segment can comprise one or more paragraphs. Note: news magazine articles tend to begin with an anecdote. This i s the writer s lead into the article, but does not contain the thesis or supporting ideas. Typically, a feature lead does not constitute a segment of thought.- Labe

10、l each segment. Use a general phrase that captures the subject matter of the segment. Write the label in the margin next to the segment.- Highlight or underline the main points and key phrases.? Write One-Sentence summaries.- Write a one-sentence summaryfor each segment of thought on a separate shee

11、t of paper.? Formulate the Thesis Statement.- Formulate a central theme that weaves the one-sentence segment summaries together. This is your thesis statement.- In many articles, the author will state this directly. You may wish to take his direct statement of the thesis and restate it in your own w

12、ords. Note: In news magazine articles, the thesis is often suggested through the article s title and sub -title.- In other articles, you mayhave to write your own one-sentence thesis statement that summarizes this central theme.Write Your First Draft.- Begin with a proper citation of the title, auth

13、or, source, and date of publication of the article summarised.- Combine the thesis statement and your one-sentence segment summaries into a one-to-two-paragraph summary.- Eliminate all unnecessary words and repetitions.- Eliminate all personal ideas and inferences.- Use transitions for a smooth and

14、logical flow of ideas.- Conclude with a “ summingup” sentence by stating what can be learned from reading the article.Edit Your Draft. Check your summaryby asking the following questions:- Have I answered the who, what, when, why, and how questions?- Is my grammar, punctuation, and spelling correct?

15、- Have I left out my personal views and ideas?- Does my summary“ hang together ” ? Does it flow when I read it aloud?- Havesomeoneelse read it.Does the summarygive them the central ideasof the article?Write Your Final Draft.A Sample Summary of “National Security JustifiesCensorship ”By Roger S. Thom

16、asIntroductionThe article "National Security Justifies Censorship" by Elmo R. Zumwalt and James G. Zumwalt, appears in Censorship, a book in the Opposing Viewpoints Series. The article asserts that information that is secret and vital to the security of the nation should not be released to

17、 the press. The arguments made by Zumwalt Senior and Junior are summarized below.SummaryAlthough many journalists contend that the First Amendment guarantees unrestricted printing freedom, the authors believe the press has gained more power than the framers of the Constitution foresaw and therefore

18、neglected to install safe guards that would protect national security. According to the authors, the power of the media has gone far past what the constitutional framers expected; consequently, several acts since the writing of the Constitution have been implemented to deal with the lack of protecti

19、on regarding national security. The authors continue to affirm that even though significant risk exists when confidential information is released to the press, this danger has remained unresolved by the courts.The authors cite an example to prove this point. The CIA during the Reagan administration

20、recognized Muhamar Quadaffi as a known terrorist and a potential threat to national security in a classified document. The Washington Post somehowhad the document disclosed to them, and they soon published the information. Several months after the operation had been abandoned, the CIA found Quadaffi

21、 responsible for the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque. Military action had to be taken because of the earlier release of the classified document. The operation incurred military casualties.The authors then offer a two-part solution: (1) make the publication of classified information a punishable

22、 offense, and (2) incorporate a "code of ethics" into media guidelines that safeguards national security. The paper ends by discussing how ethics are the responsibility of goodjournalism.ConclusionElmo R. Zumwalt and James G. Zumwalt assert that the media are overpowered and the national s

23、ecurity is underprotected. They believe that the government and the media must take steps to assure a disaster does not occur.The first sentence of a summaryYou are expected to identify the title of the text and the author in the first sentence, as well as the author ' s thesis or controlling id

24、ea . A general format for the first sentence is as follows:In the article title of Article, ” , Author ' s name + primary verb + main idea.Example: In the article “HowChildren Fail ,“ John Holt argues that most children fail because they do not develop their full potential.The most commonly used

25、 primary verbs include:1. claim 2. recommend3. argue 4. report5. show6. insist7. explain8. describe 9. suggest 10. believeModel Summaries of ArticlesOriginal passageThe following passage was written by Marc Lacey and published inNew York Times onNovember 12, 2004.Using a New Language in Africa to Sa

26、ve Dying OnesSwahili speakers wishing to use a “compyuta” as computer is rendered in Swahili have been out of luck when it comes to communicating in their tongue.Computers, no matter how bulky their hard drives or sophisticated their software packages, have not yet mastered Swahili or hundreds of ot

27、her indigenous African languages.But that may soon change. Across the continent, linguists are working with experts in information technology to make computers more accessible to Africans who happen not to know English, French, or the other major languages that have been programmed into the world &#

28、39; s desktops.There is economic reason for the outreach. Microsoft, which is working to incorporate Swahili into Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and other popular programs, sees a market for its software among the roughly 100 million Swahili speakers in East Africa. The same goes for Google, w

29、hich last month launchedwww.google.co.ke ,offering a Kenyan version in Swahili of the popular search engine.But the campaign to Africanize cyberspace is not all about the bottom line. There are hundreds of languages in Africasome spoken only by a few dozen eldersandthey are dying out at an alarming

30、rate. The continent ' s linguists see the computers as one important way of saving them. UNESCOstimates that 90 percent of the world ' s 6,000 languages are not represented on the Internet and that one language disappears somewhere around the world every two weeks.(242 words)SummaryIn the ar

31、ticle “Using a NewLanguage in Africa to Save Dying Ones” (New York Times, November 12, 2004), Marc Lacey reports that linguists and computer experts are working to develop computers that work in Swahili and other African languages, so that many Africans can use computers in their native languages. E

32、conomics is one reason for doing so. Computer companies such as Microsoft and Google see potentially huge market for their products in Africa. Another important reason is to save African languages that are in danger of dying out.(88 words)Here is another model summary of a magazine article:How to He

33、al a HypochondriacBy Michael D. Lemonick Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003It happens to every medical student sooner or later. You get a cough that persists for a while or feel a funny pain in the stomach or notice a tiny lump under the skin. Ordinarily, you would just ignore it but now, armed with your rapid

34、ly growing store of medical knowledge, you can't help worrying. The cough could meanjust a cold, but it could also be a sign of lung cancer. A twinge might be internal bleeding. The lump is probably a lymph node but is it bigger thanit should be? Could it be Hodgkin's disease?For doctors in

35、training, nurses and medical journalists, hypochondria is an occupational hazard. The feeling usually passes after a while, leaving only a funny story to tell at a dinner party. But for the tens of thousands who suffer from true hypochondria, it's no joke. Hypochondriacs live in constant terror

36、that they are dying of some awful disease, or even several awful diseases at once. Doctors can assure them that there's nothing wrong, but since the cough or the pain is real, the assurances fall on deaf ears. And because no physician or test can offer a 100%guarantee that one doesn't have c

37、ancer or multiple sclerosis or an ulcer, a hypochondriac always has fuel to feed his or her worst fears.Hypochondriacs don't harm just themselves; they clog the whole health-care system. Although they account for only about 6% of the patients who visit doctors every year, they tend to burden the

38、ir physicians with frequent visits that take up inordinate amounts of time. According to one estimate, hypochondria racks up some $20 billion in wasted medical resources in the U.S. alone.And the problem may be getting worse, thanks to the proliferation of medical information on theInternet. "T

39、hey go on the Web," says Dr. Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, "and learn about new diseases and new presentations of old diseases that they never even knew about before." Doctors have taken to calling this phenomen

40、on cyberchondria.Most physicians tend to think of hypochondriacs as nuisances patients they are just as happy to lose. But a few clinicians, like Barsky and Columbia University neuropsychiatrist Dr. Brian Fallon, have begun to take the condition more seriously. "It's not correct to say ther

41、e's nothing wrong with a hypochondriac," Fallon asserts. "There is something wrong, but it's a disorder of thought, not of the body." And, as he points out, disorders of thought are neither imaginary nor untreatable.That's something Fallon realized a little more than a dec

42、ade ago. He was studying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when he noticed it had a lot in common with hypochondria. "Both disorders," he says, "involve intrusive, worrisome thoughts, the need for reassurance and a low tolerance for uncertainty." Psychiatrists had lately come t

43、o think that OCDcould be treated with Prozac and similar drugs, and Fallon decided the medications might work for hypochondria as well. With only 57 subjects, the study was too small to be definitive, but it was certainly promising: about 75% of those who got the drug showed significant improvement.

44、But so did many in the placebo group, which led Fallon to take an even closer look. His conclusion: hypochondriacs may actually represent three different groups whose problems look superficially similar. Those in the first really do have a variant of OCD. Those in the second have a problem more like

45、 depression, often triggered by something that makes them feel guilty 一an affair, perhaps or by a loss, like the death of a close relative. And the third group consists of people who somatize which means they focus an inordinate amount of attention on their bodies. A pain that most people wouldn'

46、;t even notice feels like a punch in the nose to those in this group.In all cases, though, the descent into hypochondria takes the form of a self-reinforcing spiral. You notice a symptom, decide it's unusual and begin exploring for more. Since we all have minor twinges from time to time, when yo

47、u go looking for more, you find them. "You build a case in your own mind that something's wrong," says Barsky. Even if a doctor assures you it isn't true, you have the symptoms to prove to yourself that the doctor is mistaken.The key to treatment is disrupting the cycle. That can b

48、e tough, however, since doctors rarely tell hypochondriacs the truth about their disorder. When Fallon tried to recruit study subjects through their doctors, he got nowhere; physicians evidently didn't want to embarrass or anger their patients by suggesting they might be hypochondriacs.To avoid

49、stigmatizing their patients, Fallon and Barsky avoid the H word altogether.Fallon callsit "heightened illness concern," and Barsky doesn't use any label at all. "The firstthing I do,"says Barsky, "is acknowledge the patient's symptoms and say we have no good explanat

50、ion for them." Then he suggests that the patient do some psychological work, which he tells them is often helpful in such situations.His preferred technique is cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients are trained to force their attention away from the symptoms. "Just as focusing on

51、a pain makes it seem more significant, ignoring it can make it seem much less," says Barsky. Patients are also instructed to counter panicky thoughts with self-reassurance, reminding themselves, for example, that stomach pain almost never means stomach cancer. Both cognitive therapy and medicat

52、ion seem to work, and at this point it's hard to say whether one is better than the other. "Nobody's done a comparative trial," says Fallon, "although Barsky and I are working on that."Both men agree that their primary-care colleagues aren't very well attuned to the p

53、roblem. "Things are improving," says Barsky, "but there's not a heck of a lot of education about hypochondria in medical school. We teach doctors that their job is to find disease and weed outthose who are physically well. They have no time for hypochondriacs." It needn't

54、 take as much time as they think, though. "It's not hard to identify a hypochondriac," says Fallon, "if you have the right antenna out." And once a hypochondriac is identified and properly treated,no oneis happier than his or her doctor.1044 wordsSummary of “How to Heal a Hyp

55、ochondriac ”In "Howto Heal a Hypochondriac ” （Time, September 30, 2003）, Michael Lemonick reports on research into ways of dealing with hypochondria, a thinking disorder that makes healthy people believe that they are suffering from one or more serious diseases. Not only do hypochondriacs genui

56、nely suffer from their disorder, but they create a significant burden on the health-care system. Research suggests that hypochondriacs fall into three categories:those who have a variant ofobsessive-compulsive disorder, those whose hypochondria was triggered by a stressful life event, and those who

57、are hypersensitive to any physical symptoms. Cognitive therapy, in which patents are trained to direct their attention away from their symptoms, and antidepressant medication both seem helpful in treating hypochondria. The most difficult part of treatment is suggesting that a patient suffers from hy

58、pochondria without angering or embarrassing him or her.138 wordsArticleChildren Must be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong William KilpatrickMany of today' s young people have a difficult time seeing any moral dimension （道德層面 ）to thei r actions. There are a number of reasons why that ' s true,

59、but none more prominent than a failed system of educationthat eschews （回避）teachingchildren the traditional moral values that bind Americans together as a society and a culture. That failed approa ch, calledadecision- making,“ was introduced inschools 25 years ago. It tells children to decide for the

60、mselves what is right and what is wrong. It replaced acharacter education. （品格教育）“Character education didn ' t ask children to reinvent the moral wheel（浪費(fèi)時(shí)間重新發(fā)明早已存在的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)）;instead, it encouraged them to practice habits of courage, justice and self-control.In the 1940s, when a character education approach prevai