JOURNAL # 8
Journal (# 8): Explain why the lines and passages you’ve underlined are interesting and/or important in TS/IS? (20 min)
Journal (# 8): Explain why the lines and passages you’ve underlined are interesting and/or important in TS/IS? (20 min)
11 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 8”
The passages in the book, “They say I Say” I had highlighted the main ideas of each page or what the page was trying to convey across for the reader. The other thing I had highlighted throughout the chapter within the book was the main rules, or the general rules for the chapter “The Art os Summarizing” One rule that I had underlined was on page 31 and it states, “As a general rule, a good summary requires balancing what the original author is saying with the writers own words” (page 31). I thought that this was an important rule for the fact that writers have a tendency to not have a balance of summary between their own words to the original author. Another passage that I had underlined that I thought was important was on page 34 when it says, “A good summary, in other words has a focus or spin that allows the summary to fit with your own agenda while still being true to the text you are summarizing” (page 34). I thought this was important for the fact that it tells you in a sentence how to have a perfect or a good summary.
Something that I found interesting was on page 30, “lacking confidence, perhaps, in their own ideas, these writers so overload their texts with summaries of others’ ideas that their own voices get lost.” I found this interesting because if your writing something and you don’t know what’s going on then there is no way to put the “summary” in your own words. That was something that I always did. I had an idea but I would explain it too much and get lost in my own words. On page 35 the book talks about how your “They say” and “I say” need to be well matched. I took this as you can’t through in a random quote from somewhere and then try to explain or summarize the quote if you don’t understand the quote yourself. “They say” and “I say” need to be linked together and they cannot be opposite of each other. In the end the quote and summary need to help support each other.
Alex Smyth:
A simple flaw that most writers use when summarizing is that they only use their own idea which can lead to biases by abandoning the summary’s quote just to go into your own ideas, or the writer doesn’t have any confident in themselves so they do nothing but summarize. “They say I say,” describes that there is, “A general rule, a good summary requires balancing what the original author is saying with the writers own focus.” Just as the title suggest, you need to combine what they say into what you say to what they say. Some examples of how to summarizes is a list summary, which can be boring, but, “A list can be an excellent way to organize material – but only if, it’s organized around a larger argument that informs each item listed.” In the example list summary made from Sanford J. Ungar who uses seven common misconceptions that unmotivated college students from getting a liberal arts degree, listing out, in this case, 3 misperceptions of what is causing college students to not want to go for a liberal arts degree. There is also a satiric mode which, “Can at times be very effective form of critique.” A type of writing that makes you not have to worry about yourself ruining the argument in the summary.
I found on page 31 interesting when they talk about putting yourself in there shoes. Is interesting when they say tell the story like it’s your own as is use the context and turn it into what it means to you.
On page 36 when they state that most people when summarizing just repeat “and then he says… Then also he points out.. And then another thing he says is…And then..” is how I used to summarize a passage to someone or tell the reader what he was saying. I find this interesting. or challenging to break the habit.
I found the last passage on pg30 to be interesting when talking about writers having a lack of confidence and not using their own voice enough. It makes what you’re writing more x and y instead of something that could be creative and that would get you more into what you’re writing i believe. Another passage i found interesting was on g31 when talking about in order to have a good summary is balancing it. You should be able to use your voice and opinion but still have to rely facts. Kind of goes back to the passage on g30.
Journal 8
In this passage I find it interesting when the author mentions that many writers shy away from summarizing simply because they are to lazy to do so. They don’t want to go through the trouble of going back because they feel it will take away from their own idea. I find this interesting a lot because I can relate to this. (Pg30 P2).
In this passage I find it interesting that in order to write a good summary you have to play the believing game with yourself. The believing game is when you put yourself in someone else shoes and write from their view. As a writer you should not be able to so easily to tell that you agree or disagree with an idea. (Pg31 P1).
In this passage I find satiric summary interesting because it’s a different type of summarizing to me. In this type of summarizing “the writer deliberately gives his or her own spin to someone else’s argument in order to reveal a glaring shortcoming in it,” (Pg38 P1).
Journal 8
In this passage I find it interesting when the author mentions that many writers shy away from summarizing simply because they are to lazy to do so. They don’t want to go through the trouble of going back because they feel it will take away from their own idea. I find this interesting a lot because I can relate to this. (Pg30 P2).
In this passage I find it interesting that in order to write a good summary you have to play the believing game with yourself. The believing game is when you put yourself in someone else shoes and write from their view. As a writer you should not be able to so easily to tell that you agree or disagree with an idea. (Pg31 P1).
In this passage I find satiric summary interesting because it’s a different type of summarizing to me. In this type of summarizing “the writer deliberately gives his or her own spin to someone else’s argument in order to reveal a glaring shortcoming in it,” (Pg38 P1).
The first passage I underlined is, “As a writer, when you play the believing game well, readers should not be able to tell whether you agree or disagree with the ideas you are summarizing. If, as a writer you cannot or will not suspend your own beliefs in this way, you are likely to produce summaries that are so obviously biased that they undermine your credibility with readers.” (Graff, Birkenstein 31-32). When I would write papers in high school I would have to state my opinion and why I agree or disagree with a certain topic. I find it interesting that this book is giving the opposite advice to hide your opinion until you reach the end of the paper and until then to express your thoughts on both sides.
The second sentence I underlined is “But writers often summarize a given author on one issue even though their text actually focuses on another” (Graff, Birkenstein 35). This was another interesting sentence to me because sometimes when I would write a paper, or if I was reading a friend’s, many times I would notice they would state an author’s main focus but their own writing would completely reject the idea the author has. After reading this I will be more focused on what author’s ideas I am using that support my own.
9-24-18
Journal #8
Something I interesting was on page 36 where they are talking about a good summary is not just a list of the points that author is making. Using the normal First this.. Then that isn’t interesting. In my writing in high school I use to do that a lot not knowing how boring it actually was. I like how they also point out though that you can use a list but you should make sure that it has one broad topic and is broken down to be easy to understand and effective for the reader. The big point I found after all this reading is to make sure that we are using our own voice and making sure what we are saying fits how we would say it in the real world.
On Page 30 I found interesting that how some writers when reading an article either don’t take enough time to properly summarize the article or loose focus on their own focus. Writers can also overdue summarizing by only focusing on your opinion/focus and listing thing x thinks or y says and not having a clear focus. As a writer you have to be able to balance what an author says while saying your own opinion.
On Page 31 the writer talks about how if a writer can’t put themselves in other writers shoes you aren’t able to fully see what their focus is. If a writer can’t do this then they are writing a summary that is biased towards their opinion because they aren’t able to to others perspective.
page 31 para 2:
It important to step into the author’s shoes when summarizing their text because it shows the reader you know what you’re talking about, and it help you to get a new point of view on a topic. It also gives the reader some background knowledge about the topic.
page 36 para 1:This is important to me because I know I have summarized usually “he said” throughout the summary. I will take this into account when writing the PLT to make my text interesting to read. The typical summarizing technique is boring to the reader and will most likely not keep them engaged.
page 39 para 2:
This paragraph is helpful to me because I haven’t previously used action verbs when summarizing. I like this because it can keep the reader more engaged, and it is a way to portray the authors feeling in your text as did they for theirs.