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Intensive Reading Intensive Reading PlusPlus

WRITING AN WRITING AN OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE SUMMARYSUMMARY

Writing an Objective Summary

Writing an objective summary involves recording the main ideas of a text while showing your understanding of the topic.

Objective means: No opinions No reactions No personal connections Just the facts!

What to Avoid in an Objective Summary Do not copy any part of the original

source. It is not long and detailed It does not include any opinions or

reactions

What should a complete paragraph include?

Main Idea sentence Most important idea of

original source Supporting detail sentences

A few details that relate to and support the main idea

Concluding sentence A summarizing sentence

Lets Practice:

You will read three objective summaries about “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, by J.K. Rowling.

After reading each summary:1. Analyze the characteristics2. Determine if the sample is a good or bad

representation of an objective summary3. Use evidence from the summary to

support your position.

See if you can tell what the difference is between this slide…

In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, Harry Potter is the most miserable, lonely boy you can imagine. He’s shunned by his relatives, the Dursley’s, that have raised him since he was an infant. He’s forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs, forced to wear his cousin Dudley’s hand-me-down clothes, and forced to go to his neighbor's house when the rest of the family is doing something fun. Yes, he’s just about as miserable as you can get.

Harry’s world gets turned upside down on his 11th birthday, however. A giant, Hagrid, informs Harry that he’s really a wizard, and will soon be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry also learns that, in the wizarding world, he’s a hero. When he was an infant, the evil Lord Voldemort killed his parents and then tried to kill Harry too. What’s so amazing to everyone is that Harry survived, and allegedly destroyed Voldemort in the process.

What did you notice about this summary?

See if you can tell what the difference is between this slide…

In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, Harry Potter is the most miserable, lonely boy you can imagine. He’s shunned by his relatives, the Dursley’s, that have raised him since he was an infant. He’s forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs, forced to wear his cousin Dudley’s hand-me-down clothes, and forced to go to his neighbor's house when the rest of the family is doing something fun. Yes, he’s just about as miserable as you can get.

Harry’s world gets turned upside down on his 11th birthday, however. A giant, Hagrid, informs Harry that he’s really a wizard, and will soon be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry also learns that, in the wizarding world, he’s a hero. When he was an infant, the evil Lord Voldemort killed his parents and then tried to kill Harry too. What’s so amazing to everyone is that Harry survived, and allegedly destroyed Voldemort in the process.

OPINIO

NS,

REACTI

ONS and

PERSONAL

CONNECTI

ONS

Retelling /detailed

this slide…

''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is a red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, , filled with the gruesome and sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel. A lot of things could have gone wrong, but none of them did: Chris Columbus' movie was an enchanting classic that did total justice to a story that was a daunting challenge. The novel by J.K. Rowling was muscular and vivid, and the danger was that the movie would make things too cute and cuddly, but it didn’t. Like an "Indiana Jones" for younger viewers, it tells a rip-roaring tale of supernatural adventure, where colorful and eccentric characters alternate with scary stuff like a three-headed dog, a pit of tendrils known as the Devil's Snare and a two-faced immortal who drinks unicorn blood. Scary, yes, but not too scary--just scary enough.

FACTS OPINIONS

What did you notice about this summary?

this slide…

''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is a red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, , filled with the gruesome and sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel. A lot of things could have gone wrong, but none of them did: Chris Columbus' movie was an enchanting classic that did total justice to a story that was a daunting challenge. The novel by J.K. Rowling was muscular and vivid, and the danger was that the movie would make things too cute and cuddly, but it didn’t. Like an "Indiana Jones" for younger viewers, it tells a rip-roaring tale of supernatural adventure, where colorful and eccentric characters alternate with scary stuff like a three-headed dog, a pit of tendrils known as the Devil's Snare and a two-faced immortal who drinks unicorn blood. Scary, yes, but not too scary--just scary enough.

FACTS OPINIONS

and this slide…

The movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, directed by Chris Columbus, is an Adaptation of J.K. Rowling's first popular children's novels. Harry Potter is a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents' mysterious deaths.

What did you notice about this summary?

and this slide…

The movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, directed by Chris Columbus, is an Adaptation of J.K. Rowling's first popular children's novels. Harry Potter is a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents' mysterious deaths.

Focuses on the main idea and only the details that support it

Brief

Objective

This Means…

Retell what happened in your own words

Do not include your opinion of the text

Include important details only

Why do we summarize:

Sometimes when we read, there is so much information in the text that we have to decide what is most important and worth remembering.

This is an important skill to have for writing essays and research papers. This is also a good skill to have when breaking down and understand complex material.

Remember, what is most interesting is not is not always always what is most important.

List the key points, important events, and the main idea of your text.

Decide how to put the information into a format that is concise and clear.

In your own words, summarize the story or article in a paragraph.

You must have a topic sentence and concluding sentence that states the main idea of the text.

After we determine what is most important:

How to write a summary:

Focus on the central ideas from the text Omit supporting or minor details Write only enough to convey the central

idea (4-5 sentences maximum) Organize the information clearly Restate the information in your own words-

DO NOT COPY FROM THE TEXT-THIS IS PLAGIARIZING

Do not include any opinions or personal thoughts

a) Read the article and then discuss how you would summarize it.

b) How would you write the topic sentence?

c) What would your essential/key ideas be?

“Stomp Out Bullying” Article

Writing The Topic Sentence

STEP #1: 3-Part Topic Sentence

a)a) NAME ITNAME IT: identify the title of the text and the author

b)b) VERB ITVERB IT: : use one of the following “summary” verbs- shows, describes, explains, discusses, lists, explores, illustrates, teaches, compares, states

c)c) CENTRAL IDEA (CI)CENTRAL IDEA (CI): : identify the central idea, or thesis, of the text

Name It Verb It Central Idea

“Stomp out Bullying” by Jennifer Dignan

shows Why bullying is a problem and how it can be solved

3-Part Topic Sentence for “Stomp Out Bullying”

If the text does not have subheadings:Pick 1-2 essential points from the beginning, middle, and end of the text

If the article does have subheadings:Pick 1-2 essential points from the introduction section and from each subheading

STEP #2: 3-5 Gathering Key Points

Thousands of teens are bullied every day. Many schools and organizations have

established anti-bullying programs to stop this problem.

To stop bullying, individuals should speak up when they are bullied or when they see bullying happen.

(Notice I wrote these statements in my own words.)

Essential/Key Ideas

Summary example:

The article “Stomp Out Bullying” by Jennifer Dignan shows why bullying is a problem and how it can be solved. The article discusses how one out of four teens is bullied. In fact, many schools and organizations have established anti-bullying programs to address this problem. To help stop bullying, students should speak up when they are bullied or when they see bullying happen.

(I added transitions to make my ideas flow together in a logical manner that makes sense for my reader.)