15.6.4: Sample Lesson Plan on Summaries

Objective

Students analyze how a summary writer can use phrases to point out the role of different parts of a text in its overall argument.

Preparation

Have students read Chapter 3: Writing a Summary of Another Writer’s Argument on their own or (listen to the audio version by clicking the play button at the top of each page).

Group Exercise 

• Put students in groups and ask everyone to read the same summary from 3.8: Sample Summaries.
• Use 3.2: Introducing the Argument and the Main Claim, 3.3: Describing the Reasoning, 3.4: Describing How the Author Treats Counterarguments, and 3.5: Describing How the Author Limits the Claim as well as the annotations on the sample summary to identify where the sample summary introduces the argument and describes the reasoning, counterarguments, and/or limits. Students can use different colors for each.
• Ask students to discuss whether they agree on what role each part of the sample summary plays.

Class Discussion

• Does labeling the parts of the summary give them a clearer picture of the argument or lead them to any new observations about it?  
• Are there any places where it wasn't clear how a point fit into the overall argument?  How could the writer have introduced the point to make it clearer?

Optional Extensions

• Ask students to annotate their own summary drafts to see if they have described claims, reasons, counterarguments, and limits. If they are missing any of these elements, they can reread the argument to see if it included them or not.
• Ask students to draw a map of a sample summary using this Google Drawings argument map template.