Summary response assignment

The Summary Response builds on summary in two ways. First, before you can respond to a text, you must be able to summarize its main points. In other words, you must understand a text on its own terms before you can express an opinion about it. Second, the Summary Response expands textual meaning by including reader response. It’s the kind of reader response, however, that distinguishes a good Summary Response from a bad one. A good Summary Response incorporates personal response and supports and develops that response with evidence.

The Summary Response, then, asks you to go beyond mere summary in order to use it to make and support a point. This assignment asks you to write a Summary Response of a text from our next unit in Reader’s Choice, “Educational Policy.” There are 3 texts to choose from: “The Creative Spirit,” “American Values in Education,” or “School Violated Student’s Rights, British Court Rules Your purpose is to contextualize the topic, summarize the main argument of the text, and then make 2 points that persuade an academic audience that your opinion is reasonable.

– quote, paraphrase, and cite sources clearly and ethically. – write a thesis statement that integrates original opinion with information from the text. – support the thesis with a body of argument that integrates original supporting ideas with information from the text. – organize body of support logically, using paragraphs and transitions appropriately.

Writing demonstrates little or no awareness of audience and purpose. As a result, presentation/ genre, language, and evidence are not appropriate to the writing task and there is little or no evidence of revision strategies at any level.

Writing demonstrates emergent but inconsistent awareness of audience and purpose. Presentation/
genre meet some assignment criteria.
Language exhibits minimal proficiency at lexical and syntactic levels. There is some control of simple and compound sentences through multiple drafts, but revision exists mostly at lexical and syntactic levels rather than organizational level. Errors obscure meaning. Evidence is insufficient and occasionally not relevant to topics.

Writing demonstrates good awareness of audience and purpose. Presentation/ genre adequately meet all assignment criteria. Language is appropriate to writing tasks. Draft exhibits increasing facility and there is evidence of strategic revision at lexical, syntactic, and organizational levels. Errors and inappropriate usages still occur but do not obscure meaning. Evidence is relevant and consistently supports and develops topics. Writing demonstrates keen awareness of audience and purpose. Presentation/ genre, in addition to meeting all assignment criteria, exhibit ownership of the writing task as well as some degree of originality in task interpretation. Language is entirely appropriate to writing tasks. Draft exhibits strategic revision at lexical, syntactic, and organizational levels. Personal style is evident and almost always appropriate to writing tasks. Errors and inappropriate usages are infrequent. Evidence clearly and persuasively supports and develops topics. Writing demonstrates superior awareness of audience and purpose.

Presentations/ genres meet all assignment criteria, exhibit ownership of the writing task as well as originality in task interpretation. Language exhibits personal style entirely appropriate to writing tasks. Draft exhibits superior revision strategies at all levels. *Evidence is clear, persuasive and strategically weighted to different aspects/points of topics.