Assignment Sheet—Summary and Synthesis Papers

ENGL 4342: Ecocritical and Social Justice Theory

You will write four of these short (5-6 page) papers throughout the semester, one for each Unit. Each paper is worth 20 points.

A summary(sometimes called a précis) is a shortened version of a text. It contains the main points in the text and is written in your own words. It is a mixture of reducing a long text to a short text and selecting relevant information. A good summary shows that you have understood the text and aren’t simply copying it (that would be plagiarism, not summary). For this class, you will perform a summary of the primary scholarly, or overtly theoretical texts for each Unit. Think through the following stages as you prepare your Summary:

  1. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
  2. Who is the author’s target audience?
  3. Which information is most relevant—not every single point an author makes should be included in your summary
  4. Distinguish between main ideas and supporting or subsidiary information.
  5. Rewrite the main ideas in complete sentences. Combine your notes into a piece of continuous writing. Use conjunctions and adverbs such as 'therefore', 'however', 'although', 'since', to show the connections between the ideas.
  6. Check your work.
  7. Make sure your purpose is clear.
  8. Make sure the style is your own.
  9. Remember to acknowledge other people's work—always cite.

Synthesis involves utilizing ideas from one text and demonstrating how they contradict, illuminate, highlight, expand, build on, move beyond, or enter into conversation with ideas from another text. You will take the ideas you summarized and apply them to the secondary, or less “academic” texts like novels, films, memoires, or essays from mainstream or popular sources.

You may end up spending the first half of your Paper summarizing and the second half synthesizing, or you may do both summary and synthesis as you move from author to author, whichever seems better to you.

Of these two components, Synthesis is the most important. Aim for making at least half or more (about 3 pages) of your paper Synthesis. Each paper is worth 20 points (9 possible points for summary, 9possible points for synthesis, 2 possible points for spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc.).

Summary and Synthesis Paper 1

  • Summarize the following Unit 1 authors: Noel Sturgeon’s Intro and Chapter 1, William Cronon, and David Mazel
  • Synthesize their ideas with the following Unit 1 authors: Michael Pollan, Barry Lopez, and Sean Penn

Summary and Synthesis Paper 2

  • Summarize the following Unit 2 authors: Carolyn Merchant, Jace Weaver, and Brit Russert
  • Synthesize their ideas with your choice of three of the following Unit 2 authors: Charlie Mann, Ginger Strand, Kevin Costner, James Cameron, Leslie Silko, Linda Hogan

Summary and Synthesis Paper 3

  • Summarize the following Unit 3 authors: Nancy Unger, Gloria Anzaldua
  • Synthesize their ideas with the following Unit 3 authors: Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Hunter Austin, Steven Soderbergh

Summary and Synthesis Paper 4

  • Summarize the following Unit 4 authors: Noel Sturgeon’s Chapters 4 and 5, Priscilla Ybarra, Mortimer-Sandilands & Erikson’ Introduction
  • Synthesize their ideas with the following Unit 4 authors: Edward Abbey, David Oates

ORAL PRESENTATION

You will each be required to give an oral presentation of one of your Summary and Synthesis Papers to the class. Yes, you may read directly from your paper if you prefer.Yes, you may choose to expand one part of your paper by bringing in some other text you’d like to synthesize (an ad, a film, a poem, a novel, a website, etc.) No, this is not simply to torture those of you who dislike public speaking. Like any other skill, speaking in public requires practice to do well, and it is one of those life skills we all need to master sooner or later no matter what career we end up in. Look on this as a chance to practice speaking in front of a sympathetic, non-judgmental audience who will not be deciding whether or not you get hired, promoted, funded, accepted, etc.

You will, however, get graded. The presentation is worth 10 points. It should last between 10-12 minutes.

Tips for Public Speaking:

  1. SLOW DOWN!! Nearly everyone speaks too fast when they’re nervous. No matter how slow your talking speed feels to you, it seems much faster to your audience. Time yourself reading your presentation aloud. It should take approximately two minutes to read a typed, double-spaced page.
  2. Make eye contact. Set your papers down on the podium as your read, keep your place with your finger, then every two or three sentences pause for a moment, take a breath, look up at your audience, then look back down and begin reading again. Also do this at the end of each paragraph. The pause will seem to last forever to you, but will go by in a flash for your audience. If you think looking your audience in the eye will make you even more nervous, sweep the room with your gaze, look at people’s forehead instead of in their eyes, or pick two or three friendly faces you can look at each time without feeling uncomfortable.
  3. Speak clearly and loudly enough for even people in the back of the classroom to hear you. Generally, the faster you speak, the more you mumble, and the harder you are to understand.
  4. Don’t fidget. That means don’t click a pen, lean on the podium, jingle the change in your pocket, twirl your hair, fidget with your jewelry, interject a lot of “um’s” and “uh’s,” or shift your weight back and forth. This is difficult because these are nervous habits and people are naturally nervous speaking publicly, but you can minimize this sort of thing by standing up straight, resting your hands lightly on the podium, following each line with one finger (that keeps one hand busy and out of trouble), and using the other hand to gesture as naturally as possible. If you’re comfortable enough to speak from index cards, go ahead, but it is perfectly acceptable at scholarly and professional conferences to read directly from a prepared presentation.

Oral Presentation Grade: /10

Name:______

Length of presentation:______(up to 2 points)

Summary/Synthesis:______(up to 5 points)

Oral Presentation Skills:______(up to 3 points)