This is the first lesson in our "Writing Lessons" series, on summarizing and analyzing.

1. 2/25/13

2. • Please spend the next 5-10 minutes answering the
following questions on your own paper.
• Generally, I won’t collect journals; I may ask you to share your
answers.
• Today, I will collect your journals, for the feedback. Feel free not to
put your name on it.
• Why are you here (at the writing lesson)?
• What do you hope to gain by being here?
• What types of things do you want/need to study? What
are your area(s) of weakness, when it comes to
writing, especially writing about reading?
• Are you dedicated to becoming better at writing? Explain.

3. • What do you know about SUMMARY and ANALYSIS?
• What do these words mean?
• Why types of things are SUMMARY?
• What types of things are ANALYSIS?

4. What ANALYSIS IS What ANALYSIS IS NOT
• EXAMINATION • SUMMARY
• EXPLORATION • RETELLING
• COMPARISON • FACTS
• INFERENCE • (MERE) DESCRIPTION
• EVALUATION • LISTING
• JUDGMENT • DEFINITION
• PREDICTION • IDENTIFICATION
• HYPOTHESIS • RECITATION
• GENERALIZATION • OBSERVATION
• APPLICATION

5. • EXAMINATION—looking more closely
• EXPLORATION—trying to figure out ―why‖ (beyond what we’re
told)
• COMPARISON—within and outside of the story
• INFERENCE— ―Maybe the author had the main character do this
because…‖—educated guess
• EVALUATION— ―I agree/disagree with what this character did
because…‖
• JUDGMENT– ―I don’t think this character was written believably
because…‖
• PREDICTION– ―I think that the character’s reaction to this major
event will be…‖
• HYPOTHESIS– ―I suggest that x character did y because of…‖
• GENERALIZATION– ―X character’s behavior is typical of
teenagers because…‖
• APPLICATION– ―We can all learn from this character’s mistakes
and not…‖

6. • We’re going to read this story together.
• Be ready to summarize what we’ve read.
• Be ready to analyze what we’ve read.
• Consider these terms before/as we read:
• foreshadowing, flashback, setting, plot, characters, figurative
language, point of view (POV), style, theme

7. 1. Write-Around: With your partner/group, take turns
writing chronological sentences summarizing the story.
Use no more than 6-8 sentences.
2. Listing: With your partner/group, brainstorm and take
turns recording any analytical questions you have or
can come up with about this story.
3. Annotated Bibliography: On your own paper, write a
summary and analysis of this story. Each should be a
paragraph of 5-8 sentences. You will turn this in.
1. If you can correctly cite this story, add that at the top or bottom
for bonus points.

8. • These are some concepts we may discuss in future
classes:
• foreshadowing, flashback, setting, plot, characters, figurative
language, point of view (POV), style, theme
• What do you already know about them?
• Can you apply them to our story?