A very common type of writing you will produce in your academic career involves carefully reading and developing a summary of a given text. The ability to engage in close reading— to identify salient (key) arguments and represent them fairly—is foundational to entering academic conversations as a competent and articulate participant. Summaries also serve an important role in helping other readers make sense of a difficult text.
As you learned from Greene and Lidinsky’s chapter, writing a summary involves a great deal of critical thinking and evaluation on the part of the writer. You must identify the author’s thesis (what Greene and Lidinsky call “the gist”), uncover how the key claims of that thesis are supported and developed, evaluate the conversational contexts of the author’s work, and, at all points, consider how your perspective affects your interpretation of the text.
In Essay #1, you will write a summary of an excerpt from educational philosopher Paulo Freire’s famous work Pedagogy of the Oppressed after working with peers in class discussion to understand this difficult text. Your audience will be educated peers who have read Freire’s essay but who need your assistance understanding its “gist” and supporting arguments.
Your summary essay should include those elements Greene and Lidinsky recommend:
- the conversational context of Freire’s argument,
- a clear statement of what you feel to be “the gist” of Freire’s argument,
- a description of the key claims of the text,
- relevant examples (direct quotations or paraphrases) taken from the text to support your interpretation.
As no summary is neutral, you will want to weave an evaluative thread throughout your summary that suggests to the reader your judgment of the value of Freire to your understanding of multiculturalism, education, etc.
