Writing a Summary Tutorial

8/18/2019 Writing a Summary Tutorial

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Writing a Summary By: D. McManaman

The literacy test will require you to write a short

summary. But if you have learned how to write a basic 5

and 8 sentence paragraph, then this will be a piece of

cake.


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Consider the following point

!ou may be required to summari"e an article in less

than #$$ words. %ow would we do that& 'asy.

( good 5 sentence paragraph is about )$*+$ words.

( good 8 sentence paragraph is around #$$ words. o, you

simply write a paragraph on what you read. -ets beginwith the 5 sentence paragraph.

To do that, keep in mind the basic structure


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opening sentence

supporting detail

supporting detail

supporting detail

closing sentence


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#. /or an opening sentence, tell us what the article is about.

0. !our 1ob after that is to pick out three supporting detailsfrom the article. 2ake sure that they are three important

points.

3. Then write your concluding sentence.


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-ets say you are required to write a summary of #$$*#3$

words.

'asy. imply plan for a complete 8 sentence paragraph.

back up sentence (elaborates on the supporting detail)



(ll you do is add a sentence that elaborates on each

supporting detail. -ets call it a 4back up sentence.


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-ets say you are required to write a summary of about 3$$

words.

(ll you do is plan for a three paragraph summary. Begin with

your visual structure

Next Slide


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%ere is your plan6

/irst, you must decide what

each paragraph is going to

focus on.

-ets read the following

article on 7ot and 7orn


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7ot and 7orn ot a 9ood :dea

I've always told pot smokers that they are in for a very difficult future !hey are setting

themselves up for a life of suffering !his is true also for the student who clicks onto Internet

pornography " priest friend of mine recently told me that #$% of the confessions he receives

have to do with Internet pornography &ornography is highly addictive

irst mariuana It is true that mariuana is not physically addictive It is addictive

nevertheless !he addiction is of a psychological kind Now the physical effects of this drug

are well documented I would like to focus instead on the effects that this drug has on one's

character and personality development

!he first thing to consider is the addiction process *ne takes a drug in order to induce a

high +ut what goes up must come down and so it is only a matter of time before one comes

down from the drug induced high !his drop is referred to as being ,stoned, Note the

diagram below-


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Now the hori.ontal line represents the state of normalcy that is the state of feeling normal

!he high is not one's normal way of feeling When a person continues to use the drug what

happens eventually is that he soon comes down from the high but drops lower than the line

of normalcy In other words he becomes very stoned What that means is that he has to use

more of the drug to induce the same high he had previously +ut in coming down from that

high he drops even further below the line of normalcy "t this point we have a problem or

in order to get the same high as he previously had the drug user must smoke literally twice

as much /oreover in order to feel normal he must smoke as much mariuana as he used to

smoke at first when trying to get high !he addict must drink or smoke pot simply in order tofeel normal that is in order to cope with life's problems and difficulties!his is the case with pornography as well Serial killer !ed +undy speaks very poignantly of

the addiction process as it occurred in his life with respect to pornography 0e started off

reading the soft1core pornography the kind we find in drugstores 0e said that he began to

crave it more and more until he eventually moved on pornography of a harder nature (hard1

core) that is violent pornography 2ventually he began to wonder whether actually

physically raping someone would give him the same high that he was no longer able to get

by ust reading about it When he was old enough to drink it was alcohol that destroyed hisinhibitions and opened the door to the violent and tragic life that ensued 0e ended up raping

and killing 34 women one of whom was a twelve1year1old girl


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!he psychological effects of mariuana are well documented and all of them without

exception have been validated by former students of mine who were (and possibly are still)

heavily addicted to pot

'rodes logical thinking.

%allucination

-oss of (mbition

7ersonality (rrest

/ariuana erodes one's ability to think logically and deductively !he pot smoker becomesirrational that is a ,pot1head, 0e has a very difficult time drawing logically valid

conclusions 0e no longer reasons with ease Now it is 'rationality' that distinguishes us from

brute animals What this means is that the chronic drug user becomes more and more beastly

!he drug user also begins to hallucinate 0e may begin to hear voices such as people calling

his name !he students I know who used pot have all admitted to hallucinating Now whenyou begin to hallucinate you are on your way to mental illness It is the mentally ill that


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6oss of ambition is a very serious effect of mariuana use !he drug user does not readily see

this effect in his life but he eventually becomes disenchanted with life !hat is he becomes

bored with life It is ambition that gives us the energy to act and move forward in order to

achieve something in life It is through genuine achievement that we feel naturally high on

life Without ambition we're stuck like a car without fuel We're not going anywhere !he

drug user does not want to achieve anything What he wants is the feeling that he was

achieved something without the actual achievement 0e wants the feeling that his problems

are all behind him and that his life is all together (integrity) without actually solving his

problems and without actually being all together !he drug user does not accomplish

anything of real significance Instead of living for and promoting the common good he

becomes a parasite and will choose to benefit from the common good without actually

contributing to it

!he most grievous effect of drug use (and addiction in general) is7ersonality (rrest

&ersonality development stops *ne continues to grow physically but one does not grow and

develop psychologically !he drug user remains the age at which he first began to use the

drug If he started smoking pot at 78 he will remain 78 years old psychologically even when

he celebrates his 98th or 3$th birthday Now the pot smoker does not see this but everyone

around him does (provided they too are not addicts) :onsider the diagram below-


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!he green line represents those who continue to develop psychologically and personally !he

black line represents the pot smoker "t the grade # level the gap between the two is not as

noticeable +ut as time passes the maturity gap between the pot smoker and the non1user

gets wider and more noticeable +y the time the drug user is in *": any teacher with ust a

semblance of intuition can pick him out in a minute !hey look like they are in *": but

they are still back in grade # or grade ; !hey are ust not with the rest of the class

psychologically !hey laugh at okes that are not funny they suffer from an identity crisis

that is they do not know who they are and so they take on a role in order to provide

themselves with some sort of identity

Now life will only get increasingly more difficult " 78 year old boy cannot deal with the

problems of a 98 or 3$ year old man 0e cannot even deal with the problems of an 7; year

old +ut the drug user is psychologically 78 years old and so when he is an adult he finds

life very difficult to handle 0e cannot hold down his marriage he cannot hold down a ob

(he becomes disenchanted with his work)

We really only grow when we tackle life's problems and difficulties head on +ut this is ust


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;eve 1ust read an article on

mari1uana, addiction, and the

effects of smoking pot.!he addiction process

!he effects of smoking

pot

personality arrest


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!he addiction process

7

What=s the article about>

What=s a ?high@>

What is meant by ?stoned@>

Why the drug user gradually needs more

leave open


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!he effects of smoking pot


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personality arrest

how personality arrest is more noticeable

as time goes on

opening sentence on how we are going to

focus on personality arrest in more detail

why life will become more difficult

analogy with phys ed

:oncluding Sentence

3

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Writing a Summary Tutorial