Academic Writing: Why You Need to Learn How to Summarize and Paraphrase Text/Articles

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Summarizing:

When writing academic papers, you will often need to condense the text of articles and books written by noted writers and researchers in your field. Often, a source may offer important information but may be a somewhat minor source for your paper.

Also, in all fields of study, most formal academic papers present a section called “Review of the Literature” or “Literature Review,” which presents one or two sentence summaries of the sources referenced in the paper.

Paraphrasing:

When writing academic papers, you will need to present the ideas formulated and research conducted by noted writers and researchers in your field, but in your own words and incorporating your own unique sentence structure and syntax.

Techniques You Will Use in Writing Academic Papers
Paraphrased text:

Use when the original writer’s research and ideas are important and integral to your paper, but the original wording of the text is undistinguished.

Summary:

Use for a minor source that strengthens a major source’s premise or adds another dimension to it, but is not relevant enough to warrant a full paraphrase or quotation.

Direct quotations:

Use when the quotation itself is so distinguished that rendering the text into a paraphrase would diminish its quality greatly. Do note that most academic text, even from noted writers and researchers, is mundane and should be paraphrased.

Inferences:

The ideas, concepts, and interpretations that the student takes away from the experts who have been quoted, paraphrased, and summarized in the paper. This technique reveals the depth of a student’s critical thinking skills because it demonstrates that he/she, as a researcher, is capable of more than just parroting someone else’s ideas.

Student’s own opinion:

The student offers his/her opinion on the topic, which has been supported by his/her sources as solid evidence. Usually, the student’s opinion (overtly stated or implied) has been stated in the thesis sentence and restated (in different words and more forcefully) in the conclusion.

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American Literature--Outline for "Steel Drivin' Man"

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Outline for “The Steel Drivin’ Man”

1. Background:

As a boy, John Henry had won his freedom after saving his former master from “a watery grave.” (Note: This seems to be a recurring theme in early African-American folk tales: the fantasy of the fair-minded former master who keeps his word. The reality, of course, was often much different.)

Evidently, he stayed on the plantation until he grew up, but the story does not delve too much into his boyhood.

2. John Henry grows up to be a mighty man, a strapping 6 feet tall, 250 pounds of muscle, but with a pure and good heart.

3. John Henry is employed by the “benevolent” Captain Walters, a railroad contractor, as a steel driver.

4. John Henry falls in love with Lucy, a slave back on the plantation where he grew up.

So John Henry works very hard so that he can earn enough money to buy Lucy’s freedom and marry her. He earns three silver dollars per week wielding his 10-pound hammer, the heaviest hammer on the job site.

5. Complication: A Yankee Agent comes to town and dangles a “steam-drill,” a new invention, in front of Captain Walters that reportedly can do the job of 10 steel drivers.

(Note: This implies that if the Civil War hadn’t abolished slavery, the upcoming technological age might have been the impetus to end slavery.)

However, Captain Walters isn’t buying into this new-fangled device, but to get rid of the Yankee scoundrel, once and for all, he...

6. Makes a wager with the Yankee, betting that John Henry could outwork the steam-drill.

The terms of the wager: if John Henry outworks the steam-drill, the Yankee would pay Captain Walters $500.00. If the steam-drill wins, Captain Walters would order one of the machines. However, the Captain fails to set a specific time for when the challenge would take place.

7. Captain Walters tells John Henry about the bet with the Yankee (but conveniently omitting the terms) and makes a proposition:

He will pay John Henry $50.00 if he can outwork the steam-drill.

8. John Henry, anxious to win Lucy’s freedom and hand in marriage, accepts the challenge.

To prepare for the next day’s challenge, he cleans every speck of dirt from his hammer.

9. The Yankee, taking advantage of the Captain’s failure to set a time for early morning (the cool part of the day), shows up for the challenge at the hottest part of the day.

10. Despite the great heat and the obvious mechanized advantages of the steam-drill, John Henry outworks the machine, and wins the bet for Captain Walters.

11. However, victory comes at a price: John Henry dies, probably of heat exhaustion.

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American Literature: Summary of "Stagolee"

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"Stagger Lee" (Mississippi John Hurt)
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African-American Literature: Summary of "Stagolee"

As a five-year old child, Stagolee runs away from the plantation, where he had worked in the cotton fields, taking with him a guitar, a deck of cards, and a .44. As he grows up, so does his reputation. Stack, a bad-ass, has a tendency to get into bar brawls, which inevitably ends up with the other guy getting killed. The most famous brawl involves Billy Lyons (a real person killed by the real Lee Sheldon, also known as "Stagger" Lee), who becomes enraged after Stagolee wins all his money. Stagolee kills Billy and moves in with Billy’s wife. Everyone fears Stagolee, even the law, but one sheriff, a white man, is not about to let a “n____r” get away with murder, so he has a coffin prepared for Stagolee. When the sheriff tries to round up his deputies, they simply refuse to go after Stagolee. They place their guns on the shelf, and the sheriff tries to arrest Stagolee by himself, but Stagolee kills him. It turns out that Stagolee is immune to death (even after being lynched and hung by a new sheriff, who eventually learns the way things work with regard to Stagolee), and even Death fears him, and, thus, leaves him alone.

One day, 30 years later, St. Peter summons Death and orders the quivering guy with the scythe to get Stagolee. But Death is too scared, so The Lord arranges for St. Peter to get together a work crew to build a giant death thunderbolt. Even the Lord is a bit fearful of Stagolee and doesn’t even know how to spell his name (hence, all the variant spellings of Stagolee’s name: Stackolee, Stagger Lee, Stack-o-lee, Stagolee, Stag-o-lee, Stack, Stag). The giant thunderbolt finally kills Stagolee, who is then laid out in an expensive casket. Everyone mourns him, the funeral lasting three days and three nights, complete with song and dance. Because he was such a legend, an ordinary cemetery will not do, so they create one just for him and buried him there.

Stagolee breaks out of his grave and tries to find Heaven. After searching for a long time, he discovers St. Peter playing bridge with Abraham, God, Mrs. God, and Jonah. Peter tells Stagolee that he’s not welcome in heaven. He asks, “Where all the colored folks at?” St. Peter says that they have all been sent to Hell, that colored folks aren’t welcome in Heaven because they had too much fun playing jazz and the blues instead of pious hymns.

So Stagolee goes to Hell, where he finds a rollicking party. Stagolee tries to go head to head with the Devil, who doesn’t understand Black Folk much, but the Devil simply gives up his pitchfork to Stagolee, who puts it away on the shelf.

Stagolee becomes the new ruler of Hell.

Exaggerations in "Stagolee":

--The bad-ass five-year-old boy running away and surviving, even thriving

--Stagolee’s super human strength

--Stagolee not dying, even after being hung

--Death fearing him

--Stagolee rising from the dead

--God fearing Stagolee

--The Devil fearing Stagolee

--The Devil giving up without a fight

--Stagolee taking the place of the Devil.

"Stagolee" retold in 1969 (by Julius Lester (links to the author's home page, blog, and photographs), during the Vietnam War, Hippie and Black Power Movements (Flower Power), and Student Protests:

The above summary does not address the Vietnam War, but Julius Lester retold this legendary story to offer a commentary on the times, particularly the war, race relations, emerging technology (references to computers and the computerization of death), music of the times, and hypocrisy.

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