Journal #9: The Art of Summarizing

In the chapter titled ‘The Art of Summarizing’ in the book They Say, I Say, the authors instruct writers on how to properly summarize other authors’ ideas in your writing piece. They begin by relaying several common mistakes. Writers need to focus on voicing their own opinion rather than simply summarizing the article. Other writers tend to not summarize the other ideas enough in fear of spending too much time on alternative views, or that they will not be able to properly restate the other opinion. Writers will also make the mistake of summarizing too much and forgetting to emphasise their own ideas. This gives the writing a sense of being a list and drowns the own writer’s voice. The authors advise balancing the representation of the original author’s ideas and highlighting the ideas that interest the writer and pertain to their argument. In order to properly summarize, the authors recommend working on seeing the original author’s ideas from their own perspective, otherwise you will end up with obviously one sided writing, which loosens your credibility with the reader. An ‘unfair distortion’ (Graff and Birkenstein 32) would make the writer appear to be extremely biased and untrustworthy. In addition, the authors advise to avoid quickly moving on from the summary, to it can properly address its merits to the reader. It’s important to encompass the actual ideas the author was trying to represent, rather than your interpretation of their ideas. However, it still must abide by your agenda. After explaining the importance of balancing the effect of your summary, the authors describe how to properly weave in a summary into your writing. A writer must first summarize the other general argument, their supporting claims, and then emphasise writer’s concerning details described in the summary. Make sure that the summary relate to what you’re saying. All in all, the authors recommend balancing your ideas and the original authors, making sure that each is properly represented in the writing.