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As we discussed in class, over the weekend, you will be writing the rough draft of a summary-response essay. In the lab, we started summarizing Mimi Goat Have (150) Friends” by Robin Dunbar from What Matters in America, and you are going to finish the summary of that essay at home. As you write your summary, be sure to include the title of the essay, the author’s name, and his main point (thesis) in the first sentence. In the following sentences, summarize the details that he used to support his thesis.
Make sure that you have read and summarized the entire essay because, as we discussed in class, he made a very important point at the end of the essay. By the way, please remember that the summary should be written in your own words; do not simply copy sentences from the text. As you write your summary, start thinking about your reactions and responses to Dunbar essay. Now for the response part: * At the end of the summary, write down your overall opinion of the essay and what Dunbar had to say.
Make sure that your opinion (your thesis) is broad enough to over all the parts of the essay and that you can support your opinion in the rest of the paper. Please note that some writers may choose to start the second paragraph with the thesis and continue the discussion from there. That is another acceptable technique, but for this assignment, I am going to ask you to end the summary with your thesis. * At the beginning of the second paragraph of your essay, you are going to write a topic sentence that contains the first reason you agree or disagree with Dunbar.
That topic sentence will be followed by specific details that support your point. You may want to briefly quote something Dunbar mentioned to start your discussion, but you do not want your paper to be a series of quotes with Just a few of your ideas. We already know what Dunbar wrote; we want to know what you think. * The other paragraphs of your essay should follow the format of the first body paragraph. Make sure that you have clearly explained your ideas so that someone who has not read Dunbar essay can still understand your points. Remember: Assume an ignorant reader!