Lecture 11 Writing a Summary
A Model Summary of an Article
Here is a model summary of a magazine article:
In “How to heal a Hypochondriac” (Time, September 30, 2003), Michael Lemonick reports on rearch into ways of dealing with hypochondria, a thinking disorder that makes healthy people believe that they are suffering from one or more rious dias. Not only do hypochondriacs genuinely suffer from their disorder, but they create a significant burden on the health-care system. Rearch suggests that hypochondriacs fall into three categories: tho who have a variant of obssive-compulsive disorder, tho who hypochondria was triggered by a stressful life event, and tho who are hypernsitive to any physical symptoms. Cognitive therapy, in which patients are trained to direct their attention away from their symptoms, and antidepressant medication both em helpful in treating hypochondria. The most difficult part of treatment is suggesting that a patient suffers from hypochondria without angering or embarrassing him or her.
ACTIVITY 1
Write an essay-length summary of the following article. Include a short introductory paragraph that states the thesis of the article. Then summarize in your three supporting paragraphs the three important areas in which study skills can be uful. Your conclusion might be a single ntence restating the thesis.
Power Learning
Jill had not done as well in high school as she had hoped. Since college involved even more work, it was no surpri that she didn’t do better there.
The reason for her so-so performance was not a lack of effort. She attended most of her class and read her textbooks. And she never misd handing in any assignment, even though it often meant staying up late the night before homework was due. Still, she just got by in her class. Before long, she came to the conclusion that she simply couldn’t do any better.
Then one day, one of her instructors said something to make her think otherwi. “You can probably build some sort of hou by banging a few boards together,” he said. “But if you want a sturdy home, you’ll have to u the right techniques and tools. Building carefully takes work, but it gets better results. The same can be said of your education. There are no shortcuts, but there are some proven study skills that can really help. If you don’t u them, you may end up with a pretty flimsy education.”
Jill signed up for a study-skills cour and found out a crucial fact – that learning how to learn is the key to success in school. There are certain dependable skills that have made the difference between disappointment and success for generations of students. The techniques won’t free you from work, but they will make your work far more productive. They include three important areas: time control, classroom note-taking and textbook study.
Time Control
Success in college depends on time control. Time control means that you deliberately
organize and plan your time, instead of letting it drift by. Planning means that you should never be faced with an overdue term paper or a cram ssion the night before a test.
There are three steps involved in time control. First, you should prepare a large monthly calendar. Buy a calendar with a large white block around each date, or make one yourlf. At the beginning of the college mester, circle important dates on this calendar. Circle the days on which tests are scheduled; circle the days when papers are due. This calendar can also be ud to schedule study plans. At the beginning of the week, you can jot down your plans for each day. An alternative method would be to make plans for each day the night before. On Tuesday night, for example, you might write down “Read Chapter 5 in psychology” in the Wednesday block. Hang this calendar where you will e it every day – your kitchen, bedroom, even your bathroom.
听力下载 The cond step in time control is to have a weekly study schedule for the mester – a chart that covers all the days of the week and all the waking hours in each day. Below is part of one student’s schedule:
十天学会abcTime | Mon. | Tues. | Wed. | Thurs. archenemy | anitFri.publishers | Sat. | Sun. |
6:00 A.M. | | | | | | | |
7:00 | Breakfast | Breakfastfestival | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | | |
8:00 | Math | STUDY | Math | STUDY | format是什么意思Math | Breakfast | |
peacecorps9:00 | STUDY | Biology | STUDY | Biology | STUDY | Job | |
10:00 | Psychology | ↓ | Psychology | ↓ | Psychology | | |
11:00 | STUDY | English | | English | | | |
12:00 | 卡耐基口才训练 Lunch | | Lunch | ↓ | Lunch | | |
|
| | | | | | | |
On your own schedule, fill in all the fixed hours in each day – hours for meals, class, job (if any), and travel time. Next, mark time blocks that you can realistically u for study each day. Depending on the number of cours you are taking and the demands of there cours, you may want to block off five, ten, or even twenty or more hours of study time a week. Keep in mind that you should not block off time that you do not truly intend to u for study. Otherwi, your schedule will be a meaningless gimmick. Also, remember that you should allow time for “rest and relaxation.” You will be happiest, and able to accomplish the most, when you have time for both work and play.
英语角活动