Academic Reading (AR)

Review--Writing a good paragraph

Homework assignments Part 3: Summarizing the article you have read

In AR, you are expected to write a summary of the article youwill read at home. Here is a tip for writing good summaries. As you have learned in the Academic Lecture Comprehension (ALC) course, a summary may consist of one or more paragraphs. Let’s review what a paragraph is.

paragraph:

A paragraph is a group of related sentences whose purpose is to express one basic, central idea (main idea). All the sentences in a paragraph should work together to build up the main idea.

A paragraph starts with an indentation. The first word of the first line begins a few spaces to the right of the beginning of the second line. (In multiple-paragraph writings, the start of a new paragraph can be indicated by leaving a blank line before a new paragraph instead of an indentation.)

structureof a paragraph—A paragraph consists of three parts:

topic sentence at the beginning (Introduction)

supporting sentences in the middle (Body)

concluding sentence at the end (Conclusion)

topic sentence:

A topic sentence introduces the topic of the paragraph (what the paragraph is about) and its main idea. It states what will be told in the paragraph.

supporting sentences

Supporting sentences support the main idea of the paragraph by giving specific details, examples, reasons, causes and effects, etc.

concluding sentence

A concluding sentence restates the main idea of the paragraph (i.e., the summary of what was told in the paragraph).

Sometimes it can be omitted especially when the paragraph is short, in AR it is advisable for you to include a concluding sentence for the purpose of practice.

transition expressions (logical connectors)

How sentences are related to each other is usually indicated by transition expressions, sometimes called logical connectors, such as for example (to give examples), as a result(to give results), first … second … third (to show order), on the one hand…/on the other…(to show contrast), etc.

Transition expressions (logical connectors) are importantfor writing a good summary.

Practice

Each of the following sample summaries consists of two paragraphs as required in Part 3 of each homework assignment in AR. The first paragraph summaries the article you have read before. The second short paragraph expresses your own personal reflection, comment, and opinion.

Make sure that the two summaries meets the requirements for writing a good paragraph you just reviewed. Identify and underscore the topic sentence and logical connectors in the summaries. Blanks are meant to be filled in by you.

Sample Summary 1

This article is about the Internet. Specifically, it explains how information travels through the Internet. Every Internet user is connected to a local Internet Service Provider (ISP). Local ISPs, in turn, connected to larger ISPs. As a result, they forma hierarchy of gigantic networks. When information travels through this hierarchy of networks, it is first broken down into packets. Each packet is given the sender’s address, the receiver’s address, and information on how to put them back together, It is then sent off. Every time it reaches a router, the router reads the receiver’s address and chooses the best route. Finally, when all the packets reach the receiver, they are put back into the correct order. The process is like sending a book, page by page, by postcard. This is just about all the text explains.

I found this text very useful to me for three reasons. First, I now know what a router does. Second, . Finally, I am interested in helping people who do not know much about Internet.

Sample Summary 2

This article explains how life is becoming harder and harder for cigarette smokers in the United States. For one thing, the cost of smoking is going up. The government finds that raising the cigarette tax is a relatively easy way to get more money. Because of the greater health risk for smokers, they frequently must pay more for health and life insurance. But the problems smokers face are not limited to money. Finding a place to smoke can be an even greater difficulty. For example, many restaurants do not permit smoking. In addition, smoking on buses is out, and now all smoking on commercial airline flights within the United States is prohibited. Smokers cannot light up at their desks anymore, either—in many cases they must leave the building and smoke outside. Therefore, American smokers need great determination to continue their habitthese days.

I wonder if this tendency is specific only to the United States. For example, in Japan, . I am now interested in what other countries do about smoking.