Part 1: preparation for writing a summary article
1, to ensure correct understanding of task requirements. After the teacher has assigned the task, you should read through the requirements and mark all the places you don't understand. If you have something unclear, or don't understand the purpose of solving the problem at all, ask the teacher to help you explain it.
2. Read this text critically. Writing a review article usually requires you to evaluate a book, an article, a movie, a painting or other types of text. No matter how you comment on any text, you need to be familiar with the core text. Understand the text thoroughly through reading and rereading. If your task is to comment on visual texts such as movies and paintings, you should watch the movies several times, or observe the painting carefully from different angles and distances.
3. Take notes when reading the text. Taking notes while reading can help you remember the main points of the article and help you think critically about the article. Remember several key questions when reading and try to answer them in your notes. What is the general content of the text?
What is the central idea of this text?
What makes you confused?
What is the purpose of this text?
Has the purpose of the text been achieved? If not, why not? If so, how to achieve it? Don't: summarize the plot. You should already be familiar with the plot.
Write down some ideas that may be written on paper: does he mean _ _? Does this have anything to do with _ _?
4. Reread your notes and find out the rules and problems. After reading the text and taking notes, scan your notes quickly to see which patterns and questions in the text impress you the most. Try to come up with the answer to the question you choose. For example, you may notice that Frankenstein's monsters are often more attractive than Dr. Frankenstein himself, so you can make a wise guess about the reasons behind them. Your answer to this question should be a key point of the paper, but remember that you don't need an impeccable argument at this time. As you think about the text further, the key points and arguments of your paper will gradually surface. Don't guess the author's mind, such as Mary? Shelley wanted to make Frankenstein's monster more attractive because.
Use your own interpretation to express. For example, Frankenstein's monster is more sympathetic than his creator, which makes readers think about who is the real monster.
Part 2: Search information
1, if necessary, find suitable second-hand information. If the teacher requires that the paper must use reference materials, you have to look up some materials. If you don't know what kind of information this assignment is suitable for, look at the task requirements or ask the teacher. Books, academic journal articles, magazine articles, news articles and some credible websites can all be used as alternative reference materials for papers.
Use the database of your school library instead of ordinary internet search. University libraries subscribe to many databases. These databases allow you to find some articles and other reference materials for free, which are usually not found by search engines.
2. Evaluate the literature and judge the credibility. Only reliable reference materials can be used in academic papers, otherwise the author's credibility will be greatly reduced. You can use the database of the library to find a large number of reliable documents. When judging whether a document is reliable, we need to consider the following points: the author of the document and its identity information. Select documents with the author's name and identity information. Identity information can explain why this person is qualified to speak as an authority of a certain subject. For example, an article about internal medicine diseases will be more credible if it is written by a doctor. If you find that a document does not indicate the author or the identity of the author, then the document is likely to be unreliable.
Quote. Think about whether the author has done enough research on this topic. Look at his bibliography or citation page. If there are few or no references, then this information is probably unreliable.
Prejudice. Think about whether the author has made an objective and well-founded exposition on this issue. How many times have you obviously taken one side in the discussion? How many times have you ignored each other's doubts or strict arguments? If these situations occur many times in a document, it means that it is not suitable as a reference document. However, it should be noted that literary criticism often shows a strong subjective preference and cannot be called "prejudice" because this field of literary research is subjective. Don't deny an author because he is partial to a certain point of view.
Read their arguments with a critical eye and make use of fully demonstrated viewpoints.
Date of publication. Think about whether the content of this document is the latest information in this regard. Paying attention to the date of publication is particularly important for scientific topics, because new technologies and new processes will invalidate some early discoveries.
Information in the literature. If you still have doubts about the credibility of this document, you can cross-check the information that contradicts the contents of the reliable document. If the information provided by this author conflicts with one of your reliable documents, then this information is not suitable for your article.
3. Read the resources. After all the reference materials are collected, you should read them, and you can adopt the same intensive reading strategy as reading the core text. Read it several times to make sure you understand it completely.
4. Take notes while reading. Colour or underline the important paragraphs, and you will find them later. When reading, you should also find some key information from the literature and write down the main points in your notebook. When quoting the contents of the reference intact, it should be clearly marked. Put quotation marks before and after the quoted content to indicate the relevant information of the document, such as the author's name, the name of the article or book, the page number, etc. Don't: Mark a phrase just because it sounds important or meaningful.
Important: Underline the phrases that support or weaken your argument.
Part 3: Writing Articles
1, try to write a draft. You have some opinions on the core text, and you have read the reference materials. Now you can prepare to write the main sentence. A good topic points out the main focus of an article and puts forward an arguable conclusion. You can also use multiple thematic sentences, the first sentence puts forward the general argument and the second sentence further expounds it. This article must include enough details. In other words, don't just say Momo is "good" or "effective", but what makes it "good" or "effective".
Put the main sentence of the article at the end of the first paragraph unless the teacher tells you to put it somewhere else. General academic papers will point out the main idea at the end of the first paragraph.
For example, the following main sentences analyze the purpose and effect of the movie Crazy Max. "Many action movies follow the same traditional pattern: an action hero (usually white and charming) acts by instinct and yells at others, and others can only obey or die. Crazy Max is impressive because it subverts this model. This film does not follow the conventional plot trend, but sets a number of protagonists for an action movie, several of whom are women, thus successfully challenging the preference standard of Hollywood summer blockbusters for boys. Don't: Write obvious facts, such as George's Crazy Max? Director Miller does not write subjective opinions. For example, Mad Max is the best film of 20 15.
Write down your point of view supported by arguments.
2. Make a rough outline according to your investigation notes. Making an outline before writing a draft can help you organize the materials at hand more effectively. The outline can be written in detail or in a rough way. Just remember that the more details are included in the outline, the more materials can be put into the paper. You can use a formal outline structure, such as Roman numerals, Arabic numerals and letters, to separate each item clearly, or you can draw an outline with a less formal "mind map". This method allows you to arrange your thoughts first, and then try to arrange them.
3. The article starts with an attractive sentence and goes straight to the point. You should get to the point quickly in your introduction. Think about what your article is about, and you can decide what to write in the introduction. Remember that the introduction should point out the main points of this review article and play a preview role. Don't: start with platitudes, such as modern society; Throughout history; Or according to the definition in the dictionary.
Start with an attractive fact, an interesting story or other relevant content that can catch the reader's attention. There are also some writing skills at the beginning, such as starting with a special detail related to the main point that can arouse the reader's interest, asking a question that will be answered at the end of your article, or listing an eye-catching data.
4. Provide some background information to guide your readers. Providing enough background information or context will help guide readers to read your paper smoothly. Think about what information readers need to know first in order to understand the content of the following paper. You can put this information in the first paragraph of the article. The background information will be different depending on the type of text you want to comment on. Don't: summarize the plot irrelevant to the paper.
Tailor an introduction for your readers. English professors' meetings definitely need less background information than blog readers. If you want to write a book review, you have to tell the reader the title, author and content outline.
If you want to write a film review, you must outline the content of the film.
If you want to comment on a painting or other static images, you must first give a brief description to the readers.
Remember the background information in the first paragraph to pave the way for the main sentence of the article. Explain all the background information that readers need to know about the topic of the article, and then narrow it down until you get to the point.
The main paragraphs of the article are used to discuss various parts of the article. Don't try to discuss many aspects of the text with a natural paragraph. Each main paragraph must focus on a specific aspect of the text. Every discussion should serve the core argument. Each main paragraph should meet the following requirements: put forward an argument at the beginning of each paragraph.
Use at least one example from the core text to support your argument.
Use at least one indirect example to support your argument.
6. Write the ending. Emphasize the point you want to prove at the end. Before you start writing, take some time to think about everything you have written before and how to finish it best. Here are some ideal ending ways of academic papers, which may be useful to you. For example, you can: summarize and review your main points about the text.
Explain how this theme affects readers.
Explain why this small theme you choose also applies to a larger theme or observation.
Call on readers to take action or continue to explore this topic in depth.
Put forward several new questions mentioned in your article. Don't: repeat what you wrote in the article before.
Abstract: The previous viewpoints are connected in series into a complete exposition.
Part four: Revising the article.
1, wait a few days before starting to modify the article. After writing the draft, take a rest for a few days to give your brain a rest. When you read this paper again, you will have a brand-new perspective. It is important to start writing as early as possible and set aside time a few days or a week before the deadline for revision. If you don't leave it this time, you will easily make some simple mistakes and your grades will be affected.
2. Leave yourself enough time to make a thorough revision, and all the places with unclear logic or vague arguments should be revised. You should consider all aspects of writing in the process of revision to ensure that readers can understand what you have written. Consider the following questions when revising: What is your main argument? How do you clarify the main points?
Who are your readers? Have you considered their needs and expectations?
What's your purpose? Did you achieve your goal through this article?
How strong is your argument? How can we strengthen the argument?
Is every part of the article related to the core argument? How to strengthen the connection between them?
Is there anything unclear about your language or organization? How to make your language or organization clearer?
Are there any grammar, punctuation or spelling mistakes? How do you correct these mistakes?
How will people who oppose your argument comment on this article? How do you respond to these objections in this article?
3. Finally, carefully proofread the printed final draft. Read aloud to make sure there are no clerical errors, grammatical errors, wordy or incomplete sentences, and no other minor mistakes that will deduct points. Once mistakes are found, they should be corrected in the article and then reprinted and handed in. If you submit your paper by email or online, ask your teacher or professor what format they prefer. If there are some specific text styles in your article, you can save them in PDF format and keep the style unchanged.
Ask friends, family members or other people you know to proofread your paper and give constructive suggestions. Professional writers will proofread it several times, so should you.
It is easier to write a brief introduction first, then continue to write the rest, and then go back and modify the brief introduction. If you can't figure out how to write the opening paragraph, you can leave an introduction place first.
Choose a writing strategy that suits you. For example, some people need an outline, while others think that an outline will hinder writing. Find the writing strategy that suits you best and make adjustments accordingly.
Write in your own language. Don't misuse words you don't know in order to appear knowledgeable, but use words you know correctly.
If possible, write as early as possible. The quality of the paper you write in a few nights is definitely much better than that you stay up all night, and your psychological pressure will be much less.
Narrow down the topic of discussion before writing. Many students choose big topics in order to have enough content to write, which is wrong. In fact, small topics are easier to discuss. For example, it is almost impossible to write an article to discuss whether the war itself is ethical, but it is possible to write an article to discuss whether we should participate in a certain war.
If the structure of your article is a bit confusing, you can make a new outline according to the topic sentence of each paragraph. Explain the relationship between topic sentences with one sentence above the outline. If you can't explain the relationship between them quickly, it means that the paragraph order of the article is a bit chaotic and needs to be reordered.
Remember that you don't have time to read through ten or twelve books related to the subject. Use the table of contents and indexes in the book to find the most useful chapters for you.
Warning articles rushed out often have logical loopholes and grammatical problems. I remember that your teacher has read hundreds of such student papers, so you can definitely see that you are in a hurry to hand in your work.
Indicate all quotations as accurately as possible, including quotations, data and opinions. When in doubt, it is better to mark more than the actual situation than to mark less than the actual situation, because if you don't mark the quotation, the article may be convicted of plagiarism.