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Writing summaries for Guest Lectures.

Writing a summary is an important academic skill. The strict word limit of a summary makes it necessary to make selections and decisions which require a thorough knowledge and understanding of the topic at hand: Only the most important and relevant aspects of the talk will be represented in the summary, and the summary's author first has to identify those. As a consequence, it requires more reflection and a deeper understanding to write 200 words than to write 1000.

In addition, the length constraint forces the author to think carefully about the words used and the grammatical structures employed. Unreflected writing wastes words and makes it difficult to complete the task effectively.

BEFORE STARTING TO WRITE THE SUMMARY:

• Step 1. Write a one-sentence description of the entire talk for yourself. What was the topic, what was the conclusion of the talk?
• Step 2. Structure the talk into sections (ideally between three and five). Describe the content of each of the sections in one sentence for yourself.
• Step 3. Give a one-sentence description of the argumentative structure of the talk (the "red thread").
• Step 4. For each of the sections you identified in Step 2, give a one-sentence description of how they fit into the argumentative structure described in Step 3.
• Step 5. For each of the sections you identified in Step 2, list all of the subtheses and claims made in the talk. (This will in general be much more than 200 words.)
• Step 6. Identify those subtheses and claims that are most relevant for the overall argumentative structure.

  WRITING A DRAFT OF THE SUMMARY:

• Step 7. Your summary should start with a one-sentence thesis statement with (a) the topic and subject matter of the text and (b) the speaker's main conclusion(s). This sentence will be a synthesis of the sentences you wrote down in Step 1 and Step 3.
• Step 8. After that, describe the speaker's line of argument towards the main conclusions, following the "red thread" identified in Step 3. Mention the most important supporting argument as identified in Step 6.
• A summary does not contain your personal opinions or conclusions.

  STYLISTIC ISSUES:

• The intended audience of the summary is a (fictitious) student from our class who did not go to the guest lecture. You may assume that the reader has a general knowledge about logic, but nothing that was specifically introduced in the talk can be taken for granted.
• Make sure that the argumentative structure of your text is clear and that a reader understands what you are writing. For each single sentence, ask yourself "Why is it there?", "What does it add to the summary?", "Does it connect to the previous sentence?". Useful words and phrases for this are "in addition", "moreover", "on the other hand", "however", "finally", "whereas". If you don't know what "coordination/subordination" (FANBOYS) means, try to find out. Also follow the usual stylistic rules of (a) avoiding the passive voice if possible and (b) using positive statements instead of negative statements.
• While none of the sentences should stand isolated, you should on the other hand be cautious with inferential connectives: if you write "because", "thus", "therefore", ask yourself whether this is warranted. Does the reader understand why this is a consequence, or would that need additional information that you didn't include?
• Step 9. In most cases, the draft produced in Step 8 will be longer than 200 words. In order to reduce the number of words, eliminate all unnecessary words and repetitions. Combine sentences, remove adjectives and adverbs unless they contribute to the content.

  Example 1. "To argue his point, Smith gave a very detailed example of Shakespeare's characteristic humour. In this example, he stressed particularly the effect of wordplay and allusion." (26 words) --- "To argue his point, Smith gave an example of Shakespeare's humour stressing the effect of wordplay and allusion." (18 words)

  Example 2. "There were many completely innovative proposals that were submitted to the committee." (12 words) --- "The committee reviewed many innovative designs." (6 words)

  Example 3. "It is clearly the case that the information-based economy demands employees who know how to learn logic applications." (19 words) --- "The new information-based economy demands employees who can learn logic applications." (12 words)

  Example 4. "The report of the committee was comprised of a list of essential skills needed by graduates of the Logic Programme." (21 words) --- "The committee's report listed essential skills for the Logic Programme graduates." (11 words)

  BEFORE SUBMITTING THE SUMMARY:

• Step 10. Give the summary to a third person and ask them to check whether they understand what you want to communicate.
• Step 11. Make necessary changes, proofread spelling and grammar thoroughly, and hand in.

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If you want to know more about writing summaries, you could try

• a google-search for "writing summaries"
• a google-search for "how to write a summary".

The following is a general impression of the grading scheme for the summaries we shall be using in Core Logic. Roughly one-third of the 50 points will go to each of the following points:

• Macrostructure

  This involves your thesis statement, your choice of the "red thread" and the general set-up of the summary. Grading will be in comparison to other students.

• Microstructure

  This involves the argumentative structure of the single sentences, stylistic issues, grammar and spelling.

• Individual topics made in the lecture.

  For this, we shall check your summary against the list of all important points from the lecture, weighted by the order of importance. In order to get points here, it is not enough to merely mention the point, but to embed it into the argumentative structure of the summary, so just dropping names in a parenthetical remark won't be enough. Note that due to the word limit of 200 words, you cannot include all of the important points, so it is near impossible to get a full score in this category.

The actual distribution of the 50 points will depend on the guest lecture. Currently, the range of 25-35 points correspond to decent summaries, more then 35 points are good and very good summaries.