Elements of an Effective Formal Summary

“Formal,” in this case, means that the summary is meant to stand alone and that it is longer and more detailed than other summaries.

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Brief: For this assignment, about 250 words

238 words

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Objective: Uses Attributive Tags

Attributive tags make it clear whose ideas are whose. The simplest tags are perhaps “He says” or “She writes that,” but they can be much more informative than that:

“Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his

1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that…”

Whose opinions are these?

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr, writing for Atlantic Monthly, discusses the possible effects the Internet might have on cognition, arguing that the Web is reducing our “capacity for concentration and contemplation” (82). The Internet is becoming pervasive in that it both absorbs and recreates media in its image and also reprograms external media to be like itself. Google and its efforts to systematize information gathering are a prime example of the internet’s danger. Google’s ultimate goal of creating an artificial intelligence that would make us fully connected to the world’s information might not make us better off. Of course, this may be unfounded worry, but the reading and thinking fostered by the Internet might cost us something dear as humans. We may be trading in our ability to think deeply and make real connections (Carr 87).

Attributive tags make paraphrases and summaries clear.

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr, writing for Atlantic Monthly, discusses the possible effects the Internet might have on cognition, arguing that the Web is reducing our “capacity for concentration and contemplation” (82). He demonstrates how pervasive the Internet is becoming, that it both absorbs and recreates media in its image and also reprograms external media to be like itself. He looks at Google and its efforts to systematize information gathering. Carr questions whether Google’s ultimate goal of creating an artificial intelligence that would make us fully connected to the world’s information would indeed make us better off. Though he recognizes it may be unfounded worry, he maintains that the reading and thinking fostered by the Internet might cost us something dear as humans. We may be, he wonders, trading in our ability to think deeply and make real connections (Carr 87).

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Paraphrased: Uses quotations sparingly

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Uses Present Tense

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Coherent: Uses Transitions

Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books Program and editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, argues in his 1940 essay “How to Mark a Book” that efficient readers annotate, highlight, and write on their books. Adler claims that while anyone can merely purchase a book, “full ownership” doesn’t transpire until the consumer has written in it. By separating the “soul” of a book from its physical “body,” Adler assures his readers that books are not ruined by these markings. To support this claim, Adler gives three reasons for marking books: (1) marking keeps readers “awake,” (2) it facilitates thinking actively, and (3) it helps readers remember both the book and their thoughts. Furthermore, the physical act of writing, Adler argues, helps the reader enter into a conversation with the author, additionally pointing out that page margins, end papers, and spaces between the lines are perfect places for this writing. Adler gives a list of suggested annotation methods, including underlining; drawing lines, stars, asterisks, or doodles in the margins; numbering sequences of ideas or cross-references found in the text; circling and highlighting key phrases; and writing questions, observations, and other reflections in the margins. Adler finishes his article by addressing some counter-arguments; as he does so, he reasserts his claim that marking books is worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, because the result is that the books become “as much a part of you as your head or your heart.”

Self-Contained: Identifies source clearly.