SPAN 1000: Cultural Difference through Hispanic Literature (Long)

Composition 1: You will provide a summary and a response to an academic article or book chapter.

Writing a Summary

• Start with the thesis (main idea)
• State the author's main points using your words
• Refer to supporting evidence
• Do not critic
• Be concise

What are your Thoughts?

• What do you think of the author's interpretation of the text?
• Do you agree or disagree with the author
  • Opposing viewpoints foster the scholarly conversation
• What did you learn from the author's interpretation?
• How would you interpret the text?
• What questions are still unresolved?

Composition 2: Write your own analysis

Introduction

• State your thesis
• Provide a brief summary of the texts

Body - Compare and Contrast

• Make sure you are comparing "bananas" with "bananas"
• Discuss similarities
• Discuss differences

Body - Analyse and Interpret

• How are the two articles similar?
• What discrepancies do they have?
• Add your observations
• Did you find issues with the claims and findings?
• Were the authors' claims supported with evidence?
• Were the findings convincing?
• Do the articles contribute to the scholarly conversation?
• How do the authors interpret their findings?
• How would you interpret their findings?

Conclusions

Writing Methods

There are three main effective ways to use the work of others in your writing:  

Summarizing

Brief presentation, in your own words, of another author's main points as related to your writing.

Useful practice when:

You need only short passages or sentences to convey the meaning

You wish to draw your readers’ attention to particular points, conclusions or observations

Paraphrasing

Your interpretation of another author's words or ideas, usually shorter passages or paragraphs.

Useful practice when:

Meaning is more important than exact phrasing

Ideas or resources are more important than exact wording

Simplifying concepts will help your reader

Images & sounds

Quoting 

Your use of an author's exact words, terms, or phrases in direct quotes. 

Useful practice when:

Author’s words are very effective or significant

Author is a recognized authority

Exactness, accuracy, or conciseness matter

You are pointing to or analyzing the original text

Tip: Summarizing is also a good note taking strategy and allows you to test your understanding. The more deeply you understand a topic, the better you will be at paraphrasing and quoting.

Read actively! Take notes and make annotations. Learn more about when to paraphrase and when to quote.

Books

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippincott, 1960.

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

 Learn more:  Citing Books

Articles

Llanera, Tracy. "Rethinking Nihilism: Rorty Vs. Taylor, Dreyfus and Kelly." Philosophy & Social Criticism, vol. 42, no. 9, 2016, pp. 937-950.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Lukainoff, Greg and Jonathan Haidt. "The Coddling of the American Mind." The Atlantic, 1 Sept. 2015, pp. 42-52.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.

 Learn more:  Citing Periodicals

Web

University Libraries: University of Colorado, Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder, www.libraries.colorado.edu. Access 1 Jul. 2024.

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

 Learn more:  Citing Electronic Sources

* Note: in works cited pages, the second and subsequent lines of citations are indented by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent. Learn more about formatting.