Sunday, August 12, 2007

What is the difference between a summary and a response?

A summary expresses the main points of something without personal opinion or critique. It is a very “just the facts, ma’am” type of document. For example, I might summarize my summer by saying, “I was very busy this summer. I traveled to Illinois and Texas, worked on several writing projects, and did some work around my house.” Notice that the summary doesn’t indicate whether I enjoyed my summer or what my favorite part of the summer was.

You can find more information about summaries here.

A response expresses personal opinion, such as agreement or disagreement, or critiques something. For example, I might respond to my summer by saying, “I was hoping my summer would be very relaxing, but an unexpected trip to Texas threw me off. After I got back from Texas, I was stressed out and didn’t get as much done around the house as I wanted to. I’m really disappointed that I didn’t finish painting the basement.” Notice that the response indicates several emotions: surprise (about the trip to Texas), feeling stressed out, and disappointment.

You can find more information about responses here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty good way of showing it it helped me :)

Anonymous said...

thanks I keep getting confused on what the differences between summery and a response to literature are

Hagrid said...

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Harry Potter said...

Thanks, it's very helpful

Anonymous said...

whatever that sucked like crazy