Posted: April 26th, 2016

How to write a book summary?

In Unit 3, you will submit a rough draft of Essay 1. This essay is a summary and response to a reading from The Prentice Hall Essential Guide for College Writers. In the brief writing for this unit, you will practice summarizing an essay, an important skill in college and workplace writing. You will summarize an essay from the Reid text that is about your topic of interest. See Topics of Interest in Resources for a list of the essays appropriate for each topic of interest. You will also find a list in the Reid text, pages ix–xi.

To complete this assignment successfully, follow these steps:

Review The Prentice Hall Essential Guide for College Writers, Chapter 5, pages 99–113 and 117–140. You will find an explanation of what a summary is, and examples of summaries of essays.
Select an essay on your topic of interest from the Topics of Interest document (located in the Resources area) and read it, using both active and responsive reading strategies.
Write a two to three paragraph (100–300 words) summary of the article. Use APA format for your summary. Include the following:
The name of the author and the title of the essay in the first sentence or so.
A statement of the main ideas in the article in your own words, and a brief quotation.
“Author tags” to introduce the author’s quotations or ideas.
Your summary should not include specific examples or data, or your own opinions and reactions to the essay.
When you have finished your summary, submit it to your instructor.