Writing - summaries

WRITING A SUMMARY

When writing the summary there are 5 main requirements:

1. Open with a thesis statement and include the name of the source .

2. Cover all the main points as a condensed whole using transition words.

3. Present your material in a neutral fashion.

4. Present the material in your own words.

5. Finish the summary using a concluding sentence that starts with a concluding transition word.

Also

> Do not include anything that does not appear in the original.

> Do not include your own comments or evaluation.

> Be sure to identify your source.

> Ensure you have all the correct punctuation marks and your spelling is correct.

> Ensure you are using the correct grammar forms.

For example:

The social roles theory of Yoder et al., suggests that social contexts have different gender role expectations and those gender role expectations can maximize or minimize gender differences. For instance, there are three competing hypotheses as to why and in what situations certain people hold doors for others. The gender neutral stance hypothesizes an equal amount of door holding would consistently be done by both sexes for both sexes. Chivalry is associated with male roles and is another hypothesis that predicts that men hold doors open for women as an act of helpfulness. Yet another stance looks at male dominance and how it is expressed in door holding behavior. This stance adds to the social role theory hypothesizing that door holding behaviors will be different depending on the emphasis on gender roles in the social context. The research done by Yoder, Hogue, Newman, Metz and LaVigne (2003) looks at door holding behavior in a dating situation as opposed to everyday life situations, predicting that males will hold open doors more often during a dating situation than in an everyday life situation. Seven hundred and sixty-nine mixed-gender, college-age, male-female pairs were unobtrusively observed in 16 different locations. The locations selected were places where either dating or non-dating couples were most likely to be found. These locations included shopping malls, universities and fast-good restaurants, for non-dating couples, and sit down restaurants and skate rinks, for dating couples. The amount of door holding for the other, either male of female, was measured. In an everyday context 55.2% more women, in the couples observed, held the door open for men than men did for women. In a dating context the reverse was found, 66.8% more men, in the couples observed, held the door open for women than women held the door open for men. This study contradicts studies done about 20 years ago, which suggests that door holding practices and gender roles have changed somewhat over the years in everyday life scenarios but remain similar in dating scenarios. Applying these results to the social role theory also suggests that door holding behavior may be different in dating versus everyday life scenarios because gender roles are more prominent in dating scenarios.