Summary Due:
Response Due:
Response Essay #1:
This essay will be drafted in parts.
First, write a summary outline and a one paragraph summary of either “Why
Consumers Have Been Choosing SUVs” or “Words that Wound.” Use the strategies
we discuss in class for finding topics, main ideas, and major details. Include
transitions to be sure to connect the ideas for your reader. Be sure to leave out any
unnecessary minor details.
Second, after you receive feedback on your summary, you will revise it to be included
in a 1-1 ½ page response essay.
Your response essay should include:
1. ) a brief (one paragraph) summary of the essay in your intro followed by a one sentence
thesis statement summarizing your response. Your summary must:
 contain a topic sentence with the title of the article, the name of the author, and
the main idea of the article.
 demonstrate that you have understood the main ideas and major details ideas of
the article.
 put the main ideas and major details into your own words.
Your thesis should assert a personal opinion about the main idea of the article.
2. ) 3-4 body paragraphs which respond to the reading. Each body paragraph must:
 begin with a topic sentence linking an idea of yours to an idea from the article.
 relate back to your thesis
 cite textual evidence in quotations and with a page number
 explain your thoughts about the textual evidence
 relate the topic sentence to a persona experience that explains your position
3. ) conclude the essay by reviewing your main points. Your conclusion must:
 restate your thesis in different wording
 avoid presenting an new ideas or opinions
 bring the essay to a close
Follow the standard font and formatting for the class, which can be found in the back of
your syllabus.
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Summary Assignment:
Before you turn in your summary and response essay, you will turn in a summary of your chosen
essay and the summary outline that goes with it. Your summary should be one paragraph that
asserts the main idea and the major details of the reading. Below, you will find the scoring
rubric for your summaries. Please turn this in with your summary and outline.
Needs
Revision
Unsatisfactory
Needs Minor
Revision
Satisfactory
Is there a summary outline with an
appropriate topic sentence and clear
and accurate main ideas?
0
1
2
3
Is there a topic sentence that gives the
title (in title case surrounded by
quotation marks), author’s name, and
the main idea?
0
1
2
3
Are there enough major details to
give a general understanding of the
article?
0
1
1
2
Are all major details in order as they
appear in the article?
0
0
1
2
Does the paragraph refrain from
offering personal opinions?
0
0
1
2
Does the conclusion give the author’s
final thoughts or the final detail from
the article?
Is the paragraph coherent (makes
sense to the reader)?
0
0
1
2
0
1
2
3
Is the summary formatted correctly?
(font, spacing, heading, etc…)
0
0
1
2
Total: ________/20
2
Name: _______________________________________
Response Essay Rubric:
Unsatisfactory
Needs
Revision
Paragraph #1: Is there an
appropriate topic sentence
introducing the summary?
Does the summary cover the major
details with clarity?
Does it refrain from including the
student’s opinions until the thesis? Is
there a clear and developed thesis?
Response Paragraph: Does each
paragraph begin with a topic sentence
that gives the student’s opinion of an
idea from the article?
Does each paragraph contain textual
evidence with a page number?
Is the reason for choosing/using the
textual evidence explained?
Does the student support their opinion
with personal experience?
Is the experience fully developed and
linked back to the topic
sentence/thesis?
MLA Style: Is it an appropriate
length?
Is the formatting correct?
Grammar and Usage?
Additional Comments:
3
Needs Minor
Revision
Satisfactory
Amberly Makovicka
Sara Lihz Dobel
English 0960
December 12, 2010
Summary Outline and Summary
Topic Sentence: In “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita: Claiming Identity,” Nell Bernstein argues
how some people have claimed racial identities, other than their own and that this is okay.

Some people are influenced by music and television, and they begin to mimic the things
they hear and see.

People claim to be races they are not because of association or they only claim to be half
of their ethnicity.

The suburbs are becoming more diverse and people in the suburbs are infatuated with
“city life.”

Some believe it’s too hard being white so they latch on to any race that they have in them
and claim it.
Concluding Thought: Being who you want to be is what the 21st century is all about.
In “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita: Claiming Identity,” Nell Bernstein argues that
some young people have claimed racial identities other than their own and this is not a bad thing.
Some young people are influenced by music and television, and then they begin to mimic the
things they hear and see while other people claim to be races they are not because of association
or they only claim part of their identity. Bernstein explains that as time goes by the suburbs are
becoming more diverse and people in the suburbs have become infatuated with the “city life”.
At the same time, others have found it too hard to be white or their own race, so they claim
another ethnicity, or only part of theirs to fit in. Bernstein believes that being who you want to
be is what the 21st century is all about.
*Notice the transitions (in bold) make the summary flow better.
Amberly Makovicka
4
Sara Lihz Dobel
English 0960
January 16
Sample Student Essay
1
In “Going Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita: Claiming Identity,” Nell Berstein explains how people
have claimed racial identities, other then their own. Some young people are influenced by music and
television, and then they begin to mimic the things they hear and see. Other people claim the
identity of the group of people they are associated with. Berstein explains that as time goes by the
suburbs are becoming more diverse, and people in the suburbs have become infatuated with the “city
life”. Berstein believes that being who they want to be is what the 21st century is all about. I also
believe that people should be able to choose who they want to be.
2
I agree with Berstein that people are influenced by what they see and hear. April, portrays a
perfect “cholita”, with her “dark lipstick”, “even darker lip liner,” and “baggy pants, blue plaid
Pendleton, and her bangs pulled back tight off her forehead” (292). Even though she looks and acts
like a cholita she is of “Anglo” descent (292). She has been influenced by the things around her and
has chosen to mimic and live out those things. I went to a very diverse middle school, and have seen
first hand that music and other forms of entertainment can influence how you act, dress, and talk.
There was a girl who transferred to my middle school in eighth grade from a private school and she
was always on time, always did her homework, and usually wore very close to what her old school
uniform was. Within the first three months she started dressing, acting, and talking like the people
she had become friends with because they listened and watched much different things then her
friends at her last school. Her changes to me were alright because she liked and was happy with the
person she had become.
3
I also believe , like Berstein, that people claim only part of their ethnicity to fit in. In the
essay Berstein says “a brown skinned girl with a Mexican father and a white mother claims her
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Mexican side while her light skinned sister claims white,” (293). The girls aren’t claiming
something they aren’t, they are simply claiming only part of their ethnicity to fit in. While I was in
high school I knew a girl named Kesha and she was half white and half African American but
claimed she was white. Kesha was for the most part was friends with white people so she found it
easier to fit in by only claiming her father’s ethnicity. Except for a few close friends she always told
people she was white, and was happy with the choice she made, so no one cared that she didn’t
always tell people the whole truth.
4
I have seen first hand and agree with Berstein that as the suburbs become more diverse, the
kids in the suburbs become “infatuated with the city life,” (293). Will is one example of such kids.
He lives in the suburbs and him and his friends call themselves “city people,” and they like the
“action,” that comes along with that denotation (294). They are bored with what they see and do
everyday so they are choosing to do what they are now seeing. When I was young I also lived in the
suburbs and as they became more diverse my friends in the neighborhood became infatuated with
what was going on. There were suddenly break-ins, drug deals going on across the streets and
fights. None of the kids in the neighborhood did any of those things they loved to hear about it and
make people perceive that they were doing it.
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It’s not always easy to fit in so sometimes people mimic the things they see and hear, or they
claim half of their identity to fit with the people they are associated with. Some kids become bored
with the life they are living in the suburbs so as the suburbs become more diverse they pick up the
things they see. People are finally breaking down the barriers that have gone on for many years and
are getting back to what the country was founded on, that is choosing who you want to be and not
having to deal with backlash from other people.
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Name: ____________________________
Date: _________________________
Reread the essay you used for your summary. Find a quotation (one sentence or less) that you
respond to strongly. It can be that you find the quotation particularly compelling, or it may be
that something about it rubs you the wrong way or you disagree with it for some reason. Be
careful if you are discussing Merline’s essay, that you are choosing quotations that support
Merlin’s main point, and quotations that support the critics. Be sure to put it in quotation marks
and to put the page number in parenthesis at the end.
A. Quotation #1 ________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
B. This quotation has a purpose within the essay; typically it’s an element that supports a major
detail. Which major detail from the essay does quotation #1 support?
______________________________________________________________________________
C. Do you agree with the quotation? Why or Why Not? Use 1-3 sentences to explain your
position as clearly as possible. Be sure you are giving reasons why.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
D. An integral part in forming your reasons is through personal experience. What we see and
experience in our lives shapes our opinions. Describe an experience that happened to you or that
you witnessed that helped to form your opinion about the major detail. Explain what it has to do
with your opinion :
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
E. Draft a single sentence stating, in your own words, the major detail being supported by
your quotation and your opinion of it.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Congratulations! You have successfully composed all of the pieces of a response body
paragraphs. Essentially what you are doing here is making an argument. You are agreeing or
disagreeing with details of the essay based upon evidence from the text and personal experience.
When you go to put the paragraph together you have a few options about order.
You will always begin with E: The Topic Sentence
Textual Evidence and an explanation (A & C)
Each paragraph will also contain:
and
Personal Experience (D)
These order of
these two pieces
can be switched!
A & C will always be paired within the sentence. A quotation from the text is like evidence in a
courtroom. You never see a lawyer stand up, present a gun into evidence and then sit back down
without telling you about it. They have to explain why it matters, why it’s important to them and
their case. You have to do the same. Your opinion is included in the topic sentence, so in C, you
are explaining how the textual evidence supports that opinion.
Within your response essay, you will have:
1 Introduction: It contains the paragraph of summary you revised from the first
assignment. At the end of the paragraph, you will add on a one sentence thesis
statement asserts the main idea of the article you summarized and your opinion
about that main idea.
2-4 Body Paragraphs: Each will contain a topic sentence that asserts one of the major
details from the essay and your opinion of that detail. You will then support that
opinion using both Textual Evidence and Personal Experience.
1 Conclusion: This will review your opinions of each of the major details and ultimately
remind us of your thesis. It will leave us with a parting thought and, perhaps, a
call to action.
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Purse Snatching
The issue not yet confronted is the barrier to being treated equally when it comes to money.
By: Donna Lopiano
1. It appears that we are at a crossroads in women’s sports. As Jesse Jackson said of the civil
rights movement, “We have moved from the battlefield of access to opportunity to the battlefield of access to capital.” Through government legislation like Title IX and the pressure of
societal sanction and criticism, we have removed the participation barriers that once confronted women in the world of sport, especially sport at government-supported educational
institutions. The right to play has been established. However, the issue that has not yet
been confronted is the barrier to being treated equally when it comes to money.
2.
Few see the fairness, for example, in our 1999 U.S.A. Women’s World Cup soccer champions being promised $12,500 if they won compared to the approximately
$300,000 received by male Word Cup champs. Now the U.S. women will receive
almost $50,000 as a result of the public outcry over how the event’s huge profits
(estimates hover at $2 to $5 million) would be spent. And few would argue against the
position that the women’s pro-tennis tour is more appealing and interesting to public than the men’s tour and should command equal if not higher salaries for its players.
Yet women’s professional tennis purses are 25 percent smaller than those of men.
3.
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players had trouble negotiating
minimum salary guarantees of $20,000 to $30,000 a year—a tiny fraction of what
most NBA players make. Meanwhile, it took almost 30 years for the NBA to average
10,--- spectators a game and only two years for the WNBA to reach that mark.
4.
Where are the women in auto racing at Indy, NASCAR, or CART events—truly the
most lucrative of all professional sports—when it comes to endorsements, winnings,
and the profits of team ownership? The answer is nowhere, since virtually no women
regularly participate in auto racing. With regard to salaries, profit sharing, or access to
significant dollars to being professional leagues or gain entry into high-stakes sports
competition, women are still behind the eight ball.
5.
Instead of paying women athletes what they’re worth, there seems to be a concerted
effort to sexualize them. By commenting on the looks of the U.S. women’s soccer team,
the media blatantly suggest that these athletes’ physical appearance is more important
and of greater interest than their athletic achievements. When Brandi Chastain took her
shirt off following the winning goal, displaying considerable muscle as well as a sports
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bra that more than covered the territory, the media acted like they were looking at a
Victoria’s Secret catalogue as opposed to a world championship soccer match. How many
women jog on city streets and work out in health clubs every day wearing less?
6.
The media and the medical establishment, despite evidence to the contrary, are quick
to posit that the reason for a spate of anterior cruciate knee injuries in women is because
women are physically inferior to men (our knees are ill-constructed and our hormones
wreak havoc on our bodies). Are these predominantly male professionals maybe too
eager to reinforce the strength and dominance of males and dismiss women in sports?
7.
I travel all over the country as a public speaker. I love talking to high school boys
because they reflect the male view before the veil of political correctness disguises their
true feelings. Young boys believe that it’s terribly important for me to acknowledge that
males are better athletes than females. Males jump higher, throw father, run faster,
dunk basketballs better, and are more interesting to watch than female athletes. They
listen intently as I ask, “Who is the better athlete, Mike Tyson or Sugar Ray Leonard?”
Initially struck silent by the question, they then respond with considerable chagrin,
“That’s not a fair question! Those are boxers in different weight classes. They don’t
compete against each other. They are both great boxers.” To which I quietly respond,
“Exactly.” Why the need to affirm male dominance? Why the need to hog the marbles?
8.
Women’s sport has proved it has a market. What the marketplace needs is people
who are willing to risk and share capital to exploit that market. one would think that sex
discrimination would take a backseat to making money and good business decisions. How
many more wildly successful events need to occur before people tlak positively about an
investment in the women’s sports market and act to take advantage of this opportunity?
When will questioning the physical ability of female athletes go away? When will efforts to
undermine the women’s sports industry cease? Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of
will and being gender blind when exploiting business opportunities. We’re not there yet.
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Major Details vs. Minor Details
Major Details
 General ideas that
support the stated main
idea of text.




Minor Details
 Specifics that illustrate
or support the major
details of a text.
Reasons
Points in an argument
Points of a comparison
Further elaboration of
main idea




Examples
Specific Details
Specific Instances
Statistics
Signal Words for Major and
Minor Details

Major Details








First, Second, Third
One
Another
Furthermore
Moreover
Next
Also
Minor Details







Finally Not all major and minor
details have signal words.

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For example
An example is
For instance
To be specific
That is
This means
Case in point
To illustrate
Transitions:
Transitions add clarity. They give a purpose to the order of your sentences. They explain the
relationship between ideas. Most of our conjunctions are transitions. As you are revising the
final draft of your summary, see if you can combine some sentences with conjunctions, or add
stand-alone transitions at the beginnings of sentence to add clarity and flow. Be careful not to
over-combine and end up with one big sentence. 
Types of Transitions:
CONTRAST
Combine Sentences to contrast:
But, or, nor, yet, (FANBOYS)
although, even if, even though, though (SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS)
while this may be true, in spite of (PHRASES THAT COMBINE)
Add a transitions phrase at the beginning of a sentence to contrast:
contrarily, however, on one hand, on the other hand, conversely, at the same time, while
this may be true
SIMILARITY
Combine Sentences to show similarity or addition:
and (FANBOYS)
as, as long as (SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION)
Add a transitions phrase at the beginning of a sentence to show similarity or addition:
in addition, also, another, equally important, again, further, last, similarly, in fact, as a
result
CAUSE
Combine Sentences to show cause or logic:
so, for (FANBOYS)
because, if, in order that, now that, since, (SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION)
Add a transitions phrase at the beginning of a sentence to show cause or logic:
therefore
TIME
Combine Sentences to show time:
before, until, when, whenever, while (SUBORDINATING CONUCTIONS)
Add a transitions phrase at the beginning of a sentence to show time:
Once upon a time, yesterday, sometimes, finally, etc…
12
Use Signal Words to identify major and minor details:
Dogs benefit humans in many ways1. First, dogs often act
as companions2, giving their owners love and attention3. This is
why they are called “Man’s Best Friend4.” Next, they protect
their owner’s property5. For example, they protect homes6, work
sites7, and junk yards8. They also work as seeing eye dogs,
assisting the blind9. For instance, they can assist the blind person
with crossing the street safely10 or maneuvering through a
crowded store11. Moreover, they assist paraplegics by fetching
their owners needed item12. A case in point is my friend, Bob,
who has a golden retriever that trails him all day long, picking
up dropped items13, such as his pens14, and fetching things, such
as the newspaper15, that Bob needs.
13
Response Review:
Key Terms:
Summary Outline
Thesis
Body Paragraph
Summary Topic Sentence
Topic Sentence
Conclusion
Main Idea
Textual Evidence
Transition
Major Detail
Tie Back
Signal Word
Minor Detail
Introduction
Lead In
Structure:
Introduction:
Summary topic sentence
All major details from the article
Thesis
Body Paragraphs: 2-3
Response topic sentence
textual evidence with a lead in and an explanation of your
opinion
personal experience with a transition and a tie back
Conclusion:
Restatement of the thesis
1-2 sentences per body paragraph reminding us of the most
important part of the paragraph.
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Name: __________________________
Date: __________________
“Abolish the Penny” Skeleton Outline
To help us write our first summary outline, you have a “skeleton outline” below. In the future, you
will need to type out your outlines and include labels and bullets, but since we’re just getting started,
you can fill this one in by hand.
Include: Title,
Author, and
Main Idea
First, draft a topic sentence that tells us the title, author, and main idea in one
complete sentence.
The bullets represent six major details from the article. For each major detail you
will write a short, simple sentence that conveys the author’s idea.
The first one should be pretty easy to find, so I’ve left it up to you to fill the whole thing in. Some of
the other bullets will give you hints. In the second bullet, Business is capitalized in bold black
letters. It should be the first word of your major detail sentence. In the third bullet, you’ve been
given a hint about what the sentence should be about, but since it may be difficult to start the
sentence with that word, it is there only as a guide.
Topic Sentence: _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Businesses ______________________________________________________________

(consumers) _____________________________________________________________

Other Countries _________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Lincoln ________________________________________________________________
Final Thought: ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
This is the author’s final
thought, not yours.
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