assignment day summary

The City of Ember

Jeanne duprau, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The City of Ember

44 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The City of Ember (2003) is the first novel in Jeanne DuPrau’s highly-esteemed middle grade science fiction series of the same name. Readers meet the 12-year-old protagonists Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow , newly assigned members of the city of Ember’s working class. In their new jobs as messenger and Pipeworks laborer, Lina and Doon begin to grasp the disturbing truth about their doomed city—and discover the chance to leave it for good. The novel examines the complexity of secrets, selfishness versus selflessness, and the importance of learning and curiosity.

DuPrau received several awards for The City of Ember, including the 2003 Kirkus Editor’s Choice award and the 2006 Mark Twain Award, and the novel was adapted for film in 2008. DuPrau is also the author of two other novels, several non-fiction books including a memoir , and short stories. This guide references the 2003 Random House edition of The City of Ember.

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Plot Summary

A brief prologue describes how anonymous Builders constructed the city of Ember for arriving inhabitants who would need to live there for at least two centuries. It is implied that it will be unsafe to leave the city before that much time has passed; to keep citizens safe, the only copy of instructions for leaving Ember will be placed in a locked box. The chief builder tells the assistant builder that each successive mayor of Ember will guard the lockbox without knowing its contents until the lock’s timer opens it automatically.

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Generations of inhabitants live in supposed peace in Ember. Each mayor conveys the importance of the secret box to the next. The seventh mayor, however, attempts to open the lockbox before its time; when he fails, he hides the box, then dies before revealing its existence to the next mayor.

The novel’s present time narrative begins in the Ember year 241. It is Assignment Day for a new group of graduates from Ember’s school, and Mayor Cole will lead the random drawing that reveals each child’s job assignment in the workforce of Ember. The 12-year-old Lina Mayfleet wants desperately to become a messenger. Messengers run the length and breadth of Ember every day, delivering messages from person to person, as no other communication device exists. Lina pulls the job of Pipeworks laborer instead.

The Pipeworks are a series of wet, dangerous tunnels and pipes far under Ember that usher water from the fierce underground river to homes and buildings. The generator that powers all of Ember is also in the Pipeworks; this generator supplies power and light. Light is one of Ember’s most important resources, as without electrical lights, the city is in complete darkness all hours of the day and night. Because no one has figured out how to make light portable, no one can leave the city, as it is surrounded by terrifying darkness.

Doon Harrow, Lina’s classmate, is assigned to be a messenger, but he is disgusted about his chosen role and claims in front of Mayor Cole that Ember is in danger: Blackouts and shortages are clear signs that someone needs to take action. Mayor Cole thinks Doon is just making trouble. After dismissal, Doon trades jobs with Lina, who is thrilled to be a messenger after all.

Lina loves her new job but begins to notice that Doon’s fears about shortages seem to be true. She sees how very old and reused everything is in Ember, and she hears rumors that the city is running low on light bulbs and vitamins. Doon is able to see the generator in his new Pipeworks job, but he quickly realizes he will not be able to fix it because no one knows how it really works.

One day Lina’s grandmother, her guardian since the death of her parents, becomes upset and confused. She digs through a closet looking for a box that she recalls her grandfather, the seventh mayor of Ember, muttering about on his deathbed. He claimed the box was very important. In the closet mess, Lina sees a box with a strange lock already unlocked and open. Her baby sister Poppy chewed up some of the paper inside, but Lina can tell that the document included a numbered list of instructions.

When their grandmother dies, Lina and Poppy move in with Mrs. Murdo, a neighbor. Lina shows the document to a few people, but no one thinks it is important except Doon. Together Lina and Doon carefully reconstruct the message and discover instructions for leaving the city. The original Builders always intended for the people of Ember to leave, and the city was not built to last indefinitely. To their shock, they also find out that Mayor Cole has a secret room in the Pipeworks where he hordes stolen food and supplies all to himself. When Lina and Doon attempt to reveal his wicked deeds, the city guards accuse them of lying and intend to put them in the Prison Room. Though they planned to share the news of the Instructions with all of Ember at the great celebratory annual Singing, they now realize they must flee the city as the Instructions indicate, leaving a note for all to follow.

In the rush to avoid the guards, Lina forgets to deliver the note. She, Poppy, and Doon leave the city by way of the river, then make a long climb up a path enclosed by rocky walls. They are shocked to learn in a discovered journal, written by one of the first inhabitants of Ember, that the Builders constructed the underground city to keep a new generation safely ignorant of the terrible, damaged world far above. When Lina and Doon emerge from the caves with Poppy, they experience the real outside for the first time. The night sky and moon are marvels to them, as is the sun when it rises. Looking for a way back in order to lead the others out, they find a crevice in the hillside high above Ember. Seeing their city’s tiny streets and lights far below makes it clear that Ember is actually built in a cavernous hole in the ground. They throw down the note, weighted, to the streets below.

In the last paragraph of the story, Mrs. Murdo finds the note and is about to open it.

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Quickly Teach How to Write a Summary With Clear Examples and Stems

How to write a summary with clear examples, a template, and a formula to help you teach summary writing to your elementary students.  

It’s the first day of school. You’ve given your students the classic summary writing assignment : “What I Did Over Summer Break.”

One student dives in and begins writing a personal narrative to rival War and Peace.

Another (maybe more than one) groans and lays their head down in despair.

You’ve seen this, right?

This summer vacation prompt might be one of the most difficult assignments we can give some of your elementary students. For others students, it might be the easiest.

You can listen to this post on the TeacherWriter Talks podcast.

Table of Contents

The Summary Writing Assignment From Days of Yore

This year, instead of giving the typical summary writing assignment, perhaps you could read an interesting article or story together, and have your students write a summary about that.

Now, in all honesty, and with full disclosure, I have to admit this assignment isn’t always the best choice either. Why? It’s because at the beginning of the year, students are out of practice with writing, and some may not have learned how to write a summary yet.

This blog will help you with a simple system to teach summary writing with ease, using templates, graphic organizers and a step-by-step plan.

How to Start Teaching How to Write a Summary at the Beginning of the School Year

First of all, define what a summary is for your students. Next, define what it isn’t. Last, don’t let them start writing until you’ve modeled the process and done a think aloud with them.

Teaching how to write a summary isn’t a one and done lesson. You’ll be revisiting pieces and parts of the summary time after time. You’ll know when your students finally have it, because they’ll be able to write a summary in just a few minutes.

How Fast Can a Student Write a One Page Summary?

It was the beginning of the year. My student cried and laid his head in his hands. He struggled with writing, didn’t like it, and gave some push back with every assignment.

Gradually, with accommodations, scaffolding, and several meetings in small group writer’s workshops, his writing began to emerge. His eyes sparkled every time he showed me how much his writing had improved.

One day, I gave an assignment, and this student turned it in inside of Google Classroom in about ten minutes.

I said, “Hey, I don’t think you could have done a stellar job so quickly.”

The student assured me, “Yes, I did my best, I edited and revised it, and I think it’s perfect.”

Not wanting to seem curmudgeonly, I pulled up the document and read it out loud with the student. I was so surprised and pleased because it was absolutely the best summary they had turned in that year. Wow!

At that moment, I knew the student understood how to write a summary that sparkled!

Things to Include in a Summary

• Main idea of the article in one sentence. 
• One or two important details.
• Transition words.

The students must read the article, once, twice, possibly three times before writing the summary. It all depends on the text complexity and the reading level of the student. You can read it with students, too. 

If you choose to read it with them, read it once to get the overall ideas. Read it a second time to annotate important points. Read it a third time to clarify any doubts and to really get to the understanding of the text.

What NOT to Include in a Summary

• Thoughts or reflections about the content.
• Conclusion statements are optional.

It’s important to make sure your students understand that summary writing and opinion writing are two different things. I use the acronym, JTFF.

Just the Facts, Friend!

If a student starts writing includes opinions, reminiscences, comparisons with their own experiences, etc., all you need to say is,

Grading tip: If a student adds opinions or personal thoughts to a summary, simply write the letters JTFF over that part of their writing. They’ll know what you mean.

Using a Template or Formula to Teach Summary Writing

• Graphic organizer to use while reading.
• Sentence stems for the introduction.
• Format to follow like a step-by-step guide
• Use scaffolds

This is where we get to the meaty part of the lesson. I’m going to lay out the parts of my simple system for teaching summary writing. You want to simplify writing a summary as much as possible, and this is how you can do it. It’s not a bad thing to use a template or formula.

In addition, have an entire blog post dedicated to some of the most effect Scaffolds for Teaching Writing  to help you differentiate the writing lessons for your students. You don’t need anything special to use them. You can incorporate them into your teaching today.

• Read the article to get the overall ideas.
• Read the article again using a graphic organizer. My suggestion is that you use the same graphic organizer for summaries every time. This prevents students from having to learn how to navigate a graphic organizer while they’re trying to learn to write a summary.
• Students annotate the text and make notes of important ideas in the graphic organizer.
• Use a sentence stem for the introduction. Include the article title, the author’s name, a verb such as “tells”, “reports,” “defines,” etc., and the main idea.
• Write the important points about the main idea in the summary, usually in the present tense.

Examples of Writing a Summary Sentence Introduction

The summary sentence template looks like this:

The article (or story) —Title of Article— by —Author’s Name— tells —Main Idea—.

For example:

The story The First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneberg tells about what happens when Sarah Jane Hartwell is afraid to go to her new school.

Another example: 

The blog article “Preventing Summer Slide”, by Suzanne Pitner gives several ideas to keep children entertained and learning during the summer break.

Yet another example:

According to the blog post “Santa Claus Tracking”, by Suzanne Pitner, NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955 as he makes his annual trip around the world.

A great way to practice this is to have your students write a one sentence summary starter about their favorite books, or books they read over the summer. Practice this all the time in every context of summary writing.

The Body of the Summary

For young learners, and for English learners, having a format or a template to follow is similar to having a recipe on hand. In the same way you follow a recipe step by step, students can follow a template step by step.

• First, write the opening summary sentence. (See the template above.)
• Next, add one or two important facts or details about the article or book.
• Finally, include transition words, or linking words.

Did you notice the simple yet obvious transition words I used in this template? That’s perfect for teaching elementary students how to write. Let them master the obvious transition words first. Later they can learn how to write more subtle, nuanced transitions.

Transition Words for Writing Summaries in Elementary School

These are a few ideas of transitions appropriate for younger grades. Your textbook, if you have one, may have more transitions and examples of linking words. I found these to be the simplest to implement in classes of 8 to 11 year-old learners.

• First, next, last
• First, second, third
• One thing, another thing, finally
• In the beginning, in the middle, in the end
• To begin, to continue, in the end

These summaries help them organize their thoughts in a sequential order that makes sense for the writing task at hand.

Summary Tool in Google Docs (TM)

Google Docs (™) has a tool to use to help teach summaries. Depending on the article, it may or may not provide a simple, one or two sentence summary. 

You can use this to identify key points to include while summary writing. It’s also a great way to get a classroom conversation going about the following questions:

• Is this an adequate summary?
• Did it give enough information to make the reader want to read the article?
• Is anything missing from this summary?

Please note that my impression of this tool is that it’s designed for web writing and short articles. It’s not a replacement for the actual summary you’ll be teaching your students to write.

Here’s how to access the Summary Tool in Google Docs (™).

• In your top bar, click on “View.”
• Click on “Show Outline.”
• Click on the “plus” sign next to the word Summary.

If you found this article helpful in teaching summary writing in your classroom, please consider signing up to receive my free handbook, Building Strong Writers With Simple Systems. You’ll be added to my email list so you won’t ever miss a post about teaching writing. Thanks, friend!

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How to Write a Summary (Examples Included)

Ashley Shaw

Have you ever recommended a book to someone and given them a quick overview? Then you’ve created a summary before!

Summarizing is a common part of everyday communication. It feels easy when you’re recounting what happened on your favorite show, but what do you do when the information gets a little more complex?

Written summaries come with their own set of challenges. You might ask yourself:

• What details are unnecessary?
• How do you put this in your own words without changing the meaning?
• How close can you get to the original without plagiarizing it?
• How long should it be?

The answers to these questions depend on the type of summary you are doing and why you are doing it.

A summary in an academic setting is different to a professional summary—and both of those are very different to summarizing a funny story you want to tell your friends.

One thing they all have in common is that you need to relay information in the clearest way possible to help your reader understand. We’ll look at some different forms of summary, and give you some tips on each.

Let’s get started!

What Is a Summary?

How do you write a summary, how do you write an academic summary, what are the four types of academic summaries, how do i write a professional summary, writing or telling a summary in personal situations, summarizing summaries.

A summary is a shorter version of a larger work. Summaries are used at some level in almost every writing task, from formal documents to personal messages.

When you write a summary, you have an audience that doesn’t know every single thing you know.

When you want them to understand your argument, topic, or stance, you may need to explain some things to catch them up.

Instead of having them read the article or hear every single detail of the story or event, you instead give them a brief overview of what they need to know.

Academic, professional, and personal summaries each require you to consider different things, but there are some key rules they all have in common.

Let’s go over a few general guides to writing a summary first.

1. A summary should always be shorter than the original work, usually considerably.

Even if your summary is the length of a full paper, you are likely summarizing a book or other significantly longer work.

2. A summary should tell the reader the highlights of what they need to know without giving them unnecessary details.

3. It should also include enough details to give a clear and honest picture.

For example, if you summarize an article that says “ The Office is the greatest television show of all time,” but don’t mention that they are specifically referring to sitcoms, then you changed the meaning of the article. That’s a problem! Similarly, if you write a summary of your job history and say you volunteered at a hospital for the last three years, but you don’t add that you only went twice in that time, it becomes a little dishonest.

4. Summaries shouldn’t contain personal opinion.

While in the longer work you are creating you might use opinion, within the summary itself, you should avoid all personal opinion. A summary is different than a review. In this moment, you aren’t saying what you think of the work you are summarizing, you are just giving your audience enough information to know what the work says or did.

Now that we have a good idea of what summaries are in general, let’s talk about some specific types of summary you will likely have to do at some point in your writing life.

An academic summary is one you will create for a class or in other academic writing. The exact elements you will need to include depend on the assignment itself.

However, when you’re asked for an academic summary, this usually this means one of five things, all of which are pretty similar:

• You need to do a presentation in which you talk about an article, book, or report.
• You write a summary paper in which the entire paper is a summary of a specific work.
• You summarize a class discussion, lesson, or reading in the form of personal notes or a discussion board post.
• You do something like an annotated bibliography where you write short summaries of multiple works in preparation of a longer assignment.
• You write quick summaries within the body of another assignment . For example, in an argumentative essay, you will likely need to have short summaries of the sources you use to explain their argument before getting into how the source helps you prove your point.

Regardless of what type of summary you are doing, though, there are a few steps you should always follow:

• Skim the work you are summarizing before you read it. Notice what stands out to you.
• Next, read it in depth . Do the same things stand out?
• Put the full text away and write in a few sentences what the main idea or point was.
• Go back and compare to make sure you didn’t forget anything.
• Expand on this to write and then edit your summary.

Each type of academic summary requires slightly different things. Let’s get down to details.

How Do I Write a Summary Paper?

Sometimes teachers assign something called a summary paper . In this, the entire thing is a summary of one article, book, story, or report.

To understand how to write this paper, let’s talk a little bit about the purpose of such an assignment.

A summary paper is usually given to help a teacher see how well a student understands a reading assignment, but also to help the student digest the reading. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand things we read right away.

However, a good way to process the information is to put it in our own words. That is the point of a summary paper.

A summary paper is:

• A way to explain in our own words what happened in a paper, book, etc.
• A time to think about what was important in the paper, etc.
• A time to think about the meaning and purpose behind the paper, etc.

Here are some things that a summary paper is not:

• A review. Your thoughts and opinions on the thing you are summarizing don’t need to be here unless otherwise specified.
• A comparison. A comparison paper has a lot of summary in it, but it is different than a summary paper. In this, you are just saying what happened, but you aren’t saying places it could have been done differently.
• A paraphrase (though you might have a little paraphrasing in there). In the section on using summary in longer papers, I talk more about the difference between summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Because a summary paper is usually longer than other forms of summary, you will be able to chose more detail. However, it still needs to focus on the important events. Summary papers are usually shorter papers.

Let’s say you are writing a 3–4 page summary. You are likely summarizing a full book or an article or short story, which will be much longer than 3–4 pages.

Imagine that you are the author of the work, and your editor comes to you and says they love what you wrote, but they need it to be 3–4 pages instead.

How would you tell that story (argument, idea, etc.) in that length without losing the heart or intent behind it? That is what belongs in a summary paper.

How Do I Write Useful Academic Notes?

Sometimes, you need to write a summary for yourself in the form of notes or for your classmates in the form of a discussion post.

You might not think you need a specific approach for this. After all, only you are going to see it.

However, summarizing for yourself can sometimes be the most difficult type of summary. If you try to write down everything your teacher says, your hand will cramp and you’ll likely miss a lot.

Yet, transcribing doesn’t work because studies show that writing things down (not typing them) actually helps you remember them better.

So how do you find the balance between summarizing the lessons without leaving out important points?

There are some tips for this:

• If your professor writes it on the board, it is probably important.
• What points do your textbooks include when summarizing information? Use these as a guide.
• Write the highlight of every X amount of time, with X being the time you can go without missing anything or getting tired. This could be one point per minute, or three per five minutes, etc.

How Do I Create an Annotated Biography?

An annotated bibliography requires a very specific style of writing. Often, you will write these before a longer research paper . They will ask you to find a certain amount of articles and write a short annotation for each of them.

While an annotation is more than just a summary, it usually starts with a summary of the work. This will be about 2–3 sentences long. Because you don’t have a lot of room, you really have to think about what the most important thing the work says is.

This will basically ask you to explain the point of the article in these couple of sentences, so you should focus on the main point when expressing it.

Here is an example of a summary section within an annotation about this post:

“In this post, the author explains how to write a summary in different types of settings. She walks through academic, professional, and personal summaries. Ultimately, she claims that summaries should be short explanations that get the audience caught up on the topic without leaving out details that would change the meaning.”

Can I Write a Summary Within an Essay?

Perhaps the most common type of summary you will ever do is a short summary within a longer paper.

For example, if you have to write an argumentative essay, you will likely need to use sources to help support your argument.

However, there is a good chance that your readers won’t have read those same sources.

So, you need to give them enough detail to understand your topic without spending too much time explaining and not enough making your argument.

While this depends on exactly how you are using summary in your paper, often, a good amount of summary is the same amount you would put in an annotation.

Just a few sentences will allow the reader to get an idea of the work before moving on to specific parts of it that might help your argument.

What’s the Difference Between Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Using Quotes?

One important thing to recognize when using summaries in academic settings is that summaries are different than paraphrases or quotes.

A summary is broader and more general. A paraphrase, on the other hand, puts specific parts into your own words. A quote uses the exact words of the original. All of them, however, need to be cited.

Let’s look at an example:

Take these words by Thomas J. Watson:

”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t as all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.”

Let’s say I was told to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quote about this statement. This is what it might look like:

Summary: Thomas J. Watson said that the key to success is actually to fail more often. (This is broad and doesn’t go into details about what he says, but it still gives him credit.)

Paraphrase: Thomas J. Watson, on asking if people would like his formula for success, said that the secret was to fail twice as much. He claimed that when you decide to learn from your mistakes instead of being disappointed by them, and when you start making a lot of them, you will actually find more success. (This includes most of the details, but it is in my own words, while still crediting the source.)

Quote: Thomas J. Watson said, ”Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” (This is the exact words of the original with quotation marks and credit given.)

Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the hardest parts about summarizing someone else’s writing is avoiding plagiarism .

That’s why I have a few rules/tips for you when summarizing anything:

1. Always cite.

If you are talking about someone else’s work in any means, cite your source. If you are summarizing the entire work, all you probably need to do (depending on style guidelines) is say the author’s name. However, if you are summarizing a specific chapter or section, you should state that specifically. Finally, you should make sure to include it in your Work Cited or Reference page.

2. Change the wording.

Sometimes when people are summarizing or paraphrasing a work, they get too close to the original, and actually use the exact words. Unless you use quotation marks, this is plagiarism. However, a good way to avoid this is to hide the article while you are summarizing it. If you don’t have it in front of you, you are less likely to accidentally use the exact words. (However, after you are done, double check that you didn’t miss anything important or give wrong details.)

3. Use a plagiarism checker.

Of course, when you are writing any summary, especially academic summaries, it can be easy to cross the line into plagiarism. If this is a place where you struggle, then ProWritingAid can help.

Just use our Plagiarism Report . It’ll highlight any unoriginal text in your document so you can make sure you are citing everything correctly and summarizing in your own words.

Find out more about ProWritingAid plagiarism bundles.

Along with academic summaries, you might sometimes need to write professional summaries. Often, this means writing a summary about yourself that shows why you are qualified for a position or organization.

In this section, let’s talk about two types of professional summaries: a LinkedIn summary and a summary section within a resume.

How Do I Write My LinkedIn Bio?

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. It offers you a chance to share a brief glimpse of your professional qualifications in a paragraph or two.

This can then be sent to professional connections, or even found by them without you having to reach out. This can help you get a job or build your network.

Your summary is one of the first things a future employer might see about you, and how you write yours can make you stand out from the competition.

Here are some tips on writing a LinkedIn summary :

• Before you write it, think about what you want it to do . If you are looking for a job, what kind of job? What have you done in your past that would stand out to someone hiring for that position? That is what you will want to focus on in your summary.
• Be professional . Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn has a reputation for being more formal. Your summary should reflect that to some extent.
• Use keywords . Your summary is searchable, so using keywords that a recruiter might be searching for can help them find you.
• Focus on the start . LinkedIn shows the first 300 characters automatically, and then offers the viewer a chance to read more. Make that start so good that everyone wants to keep reading.
• Focus on accomplishments . Think of your life like a series of albums, and this is your speciality “Greatest Hits” album. What “songs” are you putting on it?

How Do I Summarize My Experience on a Resume?

Writing a professional summary for a resume is different than any other type of summary that you may have to do.

Recruiters go through a lot of resumes every day. They don’t have time to spend ages reading yours, which means you have to wow them quickly.

To do that, you might include a section at the top of your resume that acts almost as an elevator pitch: That one thing you might say to a recruiter to get them to want to talk to you if you only had a 30-second elevator ride.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, though, you might want to skip this section entirely and focus on playing up the experience you do have.

Outside of academic and personal summaries, you use summary a lot in your day-to-day life.

Whether it is telling a good piece of trivia you just learned or a funny story that happened to you, or even setting the stage in creative writing, you summarize all the time.

How you use summary can be an important consideration in whether people want to read your work (or listen to you talk).

Here are some things to think about when telling a story:

• Pick interesting details . Too many and your point will be lost. Not enough, and you didn’t paint the scene or give them a complete idea about what happened.
• Play into the emotions . When telling a story, you want more information than the bare minimum. You want your reader to get the emotion of the story. That requires a little bit more work to accomplish.
• Focus. A summary of one story can lead to another can lead to another. Think about storytellers that you know that go off on a tangent. They never seem to finish one story without telling 100 others!

To wrap up (and to demonstrate everything I just talked about), let’s summarize this post into its most essential parts:

A summary is a great way to quickly give your audience the information they need to understand the topic you are discussing without having to know every detail.

How you write a summary is different depending on what type of summary you are doing:

• An academic summary usually gets to the heart of an article, book, or journal, and it should highlight the main points in your own words. How long it should be depends on the type of assignment it is.
• A professional summary highlights you and your professional, academic, and volunteer history. It shows people in your professional network who you are and why they should hire you, work with you, use your talents, etc.

Being able to tell a good story is another form of summary. You want to tell engaging anecdotes and facts without boring your listeners. This is a skill that is developed over time.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

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Writing Summaries

A summary is a short overview of the main points of a text. The purpose of a summary is to quickly give the reader or listener an idea of what this material is saying. You may find it helpful to create summaries of your own work, but more often, you will create summaries of material by other authors, such as articles, plays, films, lectures, stories, or presentations.

Why Summarize?

At some point in your classes, you will likely be given an assignment to summarize a specific text, an assignment in which summary is the sole intent. You will also use summaries in more holistic ways, though, incorporating them along with paraphrase, quotation, and your own opinions into more complex pieces of writing. You might summarize for several reasons, both in your time as a student and in your life outside of education.

Here are some common ones:

• A summary can show your understanding of the main points of an assigned reading or viewing, so your instructor might ask you to summarize in order to know that you’ve understood the material.
• You might summarize a section from a source, or even the whole source, when the ideas in that source are critical to an assignment you are working on and you feel they need to be included, but they would take up too much space in their original form.
• You might also summarize when the general ideas from a source are important to include in your work, but the details included in the same section as those main ideas aren’t needed for you to make your point. For example, technical documents or in-depth studies might go into much, much more detail than you are likely to need to support a point you are making for a general audience. These are situations in which a summary might be a good option.
• Summarizing is also an excellent way to double-check that you understand a text–if you can summarize the ideas in it, you likely have a good grasp on the information it is presenting. This can be helpful for school-related work, such as studying for an exam or researching a topic for a paper, but is also useful in daily life when you encounter texts on topics that are personally or professionally interesting to you.

What Makes Something a Summary?

When you ask yourself, after reading an article (and maybe even reading it two or three times), “What was that article about?” and you end up jotting down–from memory, without returning to the original article to use its language or phrases–three things that stood out as the author’s main points, you are summarizing. Summaries have several key characteristics.

You’re summarizing well when you

• Use your own words.
• Significantly condense the original text.
• Provide accurate representations of the main points of the text they summarize.
• Avoid personal opinion.

Summaries are much shorter than the original material—a general rule is that they should be no more than 10% to 15% the length of the original, and they are often even shorter than this.

It can be easy and feel natural, when summarizing an article, to include our own opinions. We may agree or disagree strongly with what this author is saying, or we may want to compare their information with the information presented in another source, or we may want to share our own opinion on the topic. Often, our opinions slip into summaries even when we work diligently to keep them separate. These opinions are not the job of a summary, though. A summary should only highlight the main points of the article.

First , it no longer correctly represents the original text, so it misleads your reader about the ideas presented in that text. A summary should give your reader an accurate idea of what they can expect if we pick up the original article to read.

Second , it undermines your own credibility as an author to not represent this information accurately. If readers cannot trust an author to accurately represent source information, they may not be as likely to trust that author to thoroughly and accurately present a reasonable point.

How Should I Organize a Summary?

Like traditional essays, summaries have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. What these components look like will vary some based on the purpose of the summary you’re writing. The introduction, body, and conclusion of work focused specifically around summarizing something is going to be a little different than in work where summary is not the primary goal.

Introducing a Summary

One of the trickier parts of creating a summary is making it clear that this is a summary of someone else’s work; these ideas are not your original ideas. You will almost always begin a summary with an introduction to the author, article, and publication so the reader knows what we are about to read. This information will appear again in your bibliography, but is also useful here so the reader can follow the conversation happening in your paper. You will want to provide it in both places.

In summary-focused work, this introduction should accomplish a few things:

• Introduce the name of the author whose work you are summarizing.
• Introduce the title of the text being summarized.
• Introduce where this text was presented (if it’s an art installation, where is it being shown? If it’s an article, where was that article published? Not all texts will have this component–for example, when summarizing a book written by one author, the title of the book and name of that author are sufficient information for your readers to easily locate the work you are summarizing).
• State the main ideas of the text you are summarizing—just the big-picture components.
• Give context when necessary. Is this text responding to a current event? That might be important to know. Does this author have specific qualifications that make them an expert on this topic? This might also be relevant information.

So, for example, if you were to get an assignment asking you to summarize Matthew Hutson’s Atlantic article, “ Beyond the Five Senses ” (found at www.theatlantic.com) an introduction for that summary might look something like this:

In his July 2017 article in The Atlantic , “Beyond the Five Senses,” Matthew Hutson explores ways in which potential technologies might expand our sensory perception of the world. He notes that some technologies, such as cochlear implants, are already accomplishing a version of this for people who do not have full access to one of the five senses. In much of the article, though, he seems more interested in how technology might expand the ways in which we sense things. Some of these technologies are based in senses that can be seen in nature, such as echolocation, and others seem more deeply rooted in science fiction. However, all of the examples he gives consider how adding new senses to the ones we already experience might change how we perceive the world around us.

However, you will probably find yourself more frequently using summary as just one component of work with a wide range of goals (not just a goal to “summarize X”).

Summary introductions in these situations still generally need to

• Name the author.
• Name the text being summarized.
• State just the relevant context, if there is any (maybe the author has a specific credential that makes their work on this topic carry more weight than it would otherwise, or maybe the study they generated is now being used as a benchmark for additional research).
• Introduce the author’s full name (first and last names) the first time you summarize part of their text. If you summarize pieces of the same text more than once in a work you are writing, each time you use their text after that initial introduction of the source, you will only use the author’s last name as you introduce that next summary component.

Presenting the “Meat” (or Body) of a Summary

Again, this will look a little different depending on the purpose of the summary work you are doing. Regardless of how you are using summary, you will introduce the main ideas throughout your text with transitional phrasing, such as “One of [Author’s] biggest points is…,” or “[Author’s] primary concern about this solution is….”

If you are responding to a “write a summary of X” assignment, the body of that summary will expand on the main ideas you stated in the introduction of the summary, although this will all still be very condensed compared to the original. What are the key points the author makes about each of those big-picture main ideas? Depending on the kind of text you are summarizing, you may want to note how the main ideas are supported (although, again, be careful to avoid making your own opinion about those supporting sources known).

When you are summarizing with an end goal that is broader than just summary, the body of your summary will still present the idea from the original text that is relevant to the point you are making (condensed and in your own words).

Since it is much more common to summarize just a single idea or point from a text in this type of summarizing (rather than all of its main points), it is important to make sure you understand the larger points of the original text. For example, you might find that an article provides an example that opposes its main point in order to demonstrate the range of conversations happening on the topic it covers. This opposing point, though, isn’t the main point of the article, so just summarizing this one opposing example would not be an accurate representation of the ideas and points in that text.

Concluding a Summary

For writing in which summary is the sole purpose, here are some ideas for your conclusion.

Now that we’ve gotten a little more information about the main ideas of this piece, are there any connections or loose ends to tie up that will help your reader fully understand the points being made in this text? This is the place to put those.

This is also a good place to state (or restate) the things that are most important for your readers to remember after reading your summary.

When your writing has a primary goal other than summary, your conclusion should

• Include an in-text citation, if appropriate. (To learn how to do this correctly, see the discussion of in-text citation in “ Crediting and Citing Your Sources ,” part of the “Using Sources Correctly” section of this text.)
• Discuss the summary you’ve just presented. How does it support, illustrate, or give new information about the point you are making in your writing? Connect it to your own main point for that paragraph so readers understand clearly why it deserves the space it takes up in your work. (Note that this is still not giving your opinion on the material you’ve summarized, just making connections between it and your own main points.)

The Word on College Reading and Writing Copyright © by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Summary

Proficient students understand that  summarizing , identifying what is most important and restating the text in your own words, is an important tool for college success.

After all, if you really know a subject, you will be able to summarize it. If you cannot summarize a subject, even if you have memorized all the facts about it, you can be absolutely sure that you have not learned it. And, if you truly learn the subject, you will still be able to summarize it months or years from now.

Proficient students may monitor their understanding of a text by summarizing as they read. They understand that if they can write a one- or two-sentence summary of each paragraph after reading it, then that is a good sign that they have correctly understood it. If they can not summarize the main idea of the paragraph, they know that comprehension has broken down and they need to use fix-up strategies to repair understanding.

Summarizing consists of two important skills:

• identifying the important material in the text, and
• restating the text in your own words.

Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text.

• A summary begins with an  introductory sentence  that states the text’s title, author and main thesis or subject.
• A summary contains the main  thesis  (or main point of the text), restated in your own words.
• A summary is  written in your own words . It contains few or no quotes.
• A summary is  always shorter than the original text , often about 1/3 as long as the original.  It is the ultimate “fat-free” writing.  An article or paper may be summarized in a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. A book may be summarized in an article or a short paper.  A very large book may be summarized in a smaller book.
• A summary should  contain all the major points  of the original text, but should  ignore most of the fine details , examples, illustrations or explanations.
• The backbone of any summary is formed by  critical information  (key names, dates, places, ideas, events, words and numbers). A summary must never rely on vague generalities.
• If you quote anything from the original text, even an unusual word or a catchy phrase, you need to put whatever you quote in quotation marks (“”).
• A summary must contain only the ideas of the original text.  Do not insert  any of  your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments  into a summary.
• A summary, like any other writing, has to have a specific audience and purpose, and you must carefully write it to serve that audience and fulfill that specific purpose.
• Writing a Summary. Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution

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Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Common Assignments: Summary

For each source listed, you will begin with a summary of the information you found in that specific source. The summary section gives your reader an overview of the important information from that source. Remember that you are focusing on a source's method and results, not paraphrasing the article's argument or evidence.

The questions below can help you produce an appropriate, scholarly summary:

• What is the topic of the source?
• What actions did the author perform within the study and why?
• What were the methods of the author?
• What was the theoretical basis for the study?
• What were the conclusions of the study?

Remember, a summary should be similar to an abstract of a source and written in past tense (e.g. "The authors found that…" or "The studies showed…"), but it should not be the source's abstract. Each summary should be written in your own words.

Summarizing Video Playlist

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

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Examining Sample Assignment 1: Summary and Analysis

In this chapter and in the next three, I walk through example assignments and how you might analyze them to better understand your task.

This assignment comes from one of my first-year writing classes. It’s a fairly typical early assignment in my first-year writing classes, one that asks students to read a text and engage with it in some way. In this case, the readings include the same one I use as a model in the first section of this book , though the actual assignment differs a bit.

The ability to read critically and summarize accurately is a crucial academic skill. The ability to use ideas from one text to guide understanding in another text is similarly crucial. This assignment helps you practice both of these skills.

Your summary will need to explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and to explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with. In class, we will work specifically on critical reading strategies to understand how authors make claims and connect those claims to one another. We will also work on techniques for writing strong summaries that accurately represent an author’s work.

Your summaries of these texts should be between 300 and 400 words of your final paper.

In this part of your paper, you will make connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen. Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them. Think about questions like the following:

• Does the article you have chosen describe a situation that could be considered “segregated coexistence”? If so, what is that situation and how well does it align with “segregated coexistence” as Mitchell describes it?
• Similarly, does the article you have chosen describe a situation that could be considered “living in community”? If so, what is that situation and how well does it align with “living in community” as Mitchell describes it?
• Are there ways in which Mitchell’s terms don’t apply or don’t cover the issue well enough? How so?

Note that this part of your paper should be between 400 and 500 words long, longer than your summaries. While accurately summarizing is important, readers at the college level are more interested in seeing your thinking, so this part should be longer than your summary.

When I comment on your summary and analysis, I will be looking to see how well you have met the goals of the assignment. That is, I will be looking for how accurately and thoroughly you have summarized the articles and how well you have explained and provided support for your analysis. If you only provide summaries of the articles without analysis, your project will not be successful. Instead, your project should demonstrate your critical reading and thinking skills.

Your summary and analysis will also need to meet the standard expectations of good college-level academic writing, which we will be working on during the term. Your purpose and focus will need to be clear and well explained. You will need to provide your reader with sufficient detail in your summary and your response so that your explanations are clear and thorough. You will also need to provide structural cues that enable your reader to follow the logic of your thinking. And your prose will need to be well written both stylistically and grammatically.

Examining the Verbs in Key Sentences

When I read this assignment, I find three key sentences that tell us what we’re supposed to do in this assignment.

Before going on, try to find the key sentences in the Summary and Analysis assignment. Then, read on to see if you agree with my choices.

Let’s look at them.

First Sentence for Examination

To start, there is a sentence summarizing the assignment at the top. Sentences pulled out like this are often important:

Summarize the ideas of “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” from Mitchell’s essay and analyze how those ideas apply to the situation described in an additional article (see sources below).

The verbs here are pretty direct: summarize and analyze.

• What are you summarizing? Mitchell’s ideas
• What are you analyzing? How those ideas apply to the situation in the second article you have chosen

Second Sentence for Examination

There’s another key sentence at the beginning of the “Summaries” section:

Your summary will need to explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and to explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with.

The verbs here are less helpful, at least until we look at the words around them.

When someone tells you that you “will need” to do something, you know that they mean that you “must” do it. If we substitute “must” for “will need,” we get a bit more help:

Your summary must explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article and must explain the main points in the article that you choose to work with.

“Choose” is not terribly important for our purposes because it’s just identifying the second source that we are working with. “Explain,” however, seems to be very important.

Here we get a focus for our summary work:

• Explain the key concepts in Mitchell’s article (which have been identified in the first sentence we analyzed)
• Explain the main points in the article we’ve chosen

In this sentence, we have more detail about what “summarizing” looks like for this assignment.

Third Sentence for Examination

To understand the “analyzing” part of the assignment, we have a couple of sentences at the beginning of the “Analysis” section. I’m including two sentences since the second sentence begins with “specifically,” which indicates that it’s providing more detail about the first:

In this part of your paper, you will make connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

These verbs require a bit of adjustment before our task will be clear. “Will make” doesn’t tell us much without the following word “connections,” without which we don’t know what we are making. However, “will make connections” can also be understood as simply “connect.” Here’s the sentence with this adjustment (eliminating a few more words to make the sentence grammatically correct:

In this part of your paper, you will connect Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must try to explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

Similarly, “must try” doesn’t help us until we look at the words that tell us what we are trying to do. In this case, “must try to explain” is the idea we need to focus on. “Must try” in this sentence is an indication that our professor wants us to make effort, but explaining is really the work here:

In this part of your paper, you will connect Mitchell’s concepts and the specific situation described in the article you have chosen . Specifically, you must explain the situation in your article using the terms “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as Mitchell explains them.

As with the sentence earlier, “have chosen” just indicates our second article, which is why I skipped that one.

The last “explains” is worth looking at in a bit more detail. In this case, the verb is not about your doing the explaining, but rather the fact that Mitchell has done some. From this sentence, we know that we must use the two identified terms in the same way that Mitchell does.

So, in the analysis part of our paper, we need to do the following:

• Connect Mitchell’s concepts, which we summarized in the summary section of the paper, to the situation in our second article.
• To do this effectively, we need to use Mitchell’s terms.

Applying Bloom

Having done this analysis, we now have a better sense of the intellectual work of this assignment:

• Summary Part 1: Explain Mitchell’s key ideas
• Summary Part 2: Explain the main points in our second article
• Analysis: Use Mitchell’s ideas to explain the situation in our second article.

Before jumping into the next section, take what you know about the task in the sample assignment and see which types of knowledge and which cognitive processes you believe the assignment is looking for.

After you read the rest of this chapter, decide whether or not you agree with my analysis.

Kinds of Cognitive Processes

First, the verbs.

The summary section of the assignment focused on explaining the key ideas in both articles. It can be helpful to move “up” the pyramid or the side of the grid with the cognitive processes to help us figure this out.

We aren’t being asked to remember, since we can look up the information, but we are being asked to understand both Mitchell’s concepts and the main points from the second article. Notice that on the grid version, summarizing appears at the intersection of factual knowledge and the cognitive process of understanding.

When we look at connections, though, “understanding” doesn’t seem to be enough. Yes, we have to understand, but we’re trying to make those connections (remember the original wording?), and “understanding” seems to be more about making sense of ideas that others have already put together.

The next step is “ applying .” If we look only at the grid, applying doesn’t seem to work, but the pyramids explain this one a bit differently. If applying means to “use information in new situations” or “use information in a new (but similar) form,” the term seems to work, right? The assignment asks us to use Mitchell’s terms to explain the situation in the second article. That sounds like an application to me!

But what about “analysis” in the title of the assignment? Look at the explanation of analyzing on the grid: “Break material into constituent parts and determine how parts relate to one another and to an overall structure of purpose.” Similarly, the pyramids describe analyzing as making connections and exploring relationships.

We aren’t doing this kind of work if we look only at Mitchell’s article; there, we are simply explaining what Mitchell means (i.e., summarizing). But when we get to the second article, we have to do more than just apply Mitchell’s terms. We have to divide up the ideas in that article into ideas that are connected to “segregated coexistence” and ideas that are connected to “living in community.”

To do this successfully, we need to explain how these connections work. This means that it’s not enough to identify specific ideas as either one or the other. We also need to make those connections clear to our reader. Those explanations are kinds of analysis .

The verbs in the assignment do not ask us to make arguments or critique ideas, so Bloom’s “evaluate” doesn’t apply in this assignment. Similarly, we aren’t really “creating” something new, beyond the vague idea that what we write should be in our own words for the most part. These two cognitive processes don’t apply much, if at all, here.

To summarize, looking at the verbs and assignment, we seem to be working in the cognitive realms of understanding, applying, and analyzing.

Kinds of Knowledge

While the verbs tell us about the cognitive processes that we are being asked to use, the examination of those key sentences can also help us focus on the information that we will need to complete the task. While much of this was obvious as we explored the verbs, I’ll break it down a bit here to complete the example.

In this case, we will need to know/understand the following:

• Mitchell’s key terms (“segregated coexistence” and “living in community”)
• The main ideas in our second article
• The connections between Mitchell’s concepts and the ideas in our second article

The first two would be factual knowledge, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. We should be able to go to the article and find those ideas. We aren’t developing those terms or ideas; we are simply recording them. To do that, we have to understand them, but that’s a cognitive process, and we’ll come back to that in a minute.

The connections, however, aren’t factual. Our chosen article doesn’t use Mitchell’s terms directly, so we have to create those connections ourselves. If you look at the descriptions, you’ll see that this type of knowledge is called “ conceptual ,” which specifically is about organizing factual knowledge.

I don’t see anything here that is asking us to work with procedural (how to) knowledge or metacognition (thinking about thinking), so we are just working with the first two types of information.

Putting It Together

In this assignment, we are being asked to use factual and conceptual knowledge to understand, apply, and analyze.

The assignment comes in two parts. The first part is focused on summarizing Mitchell’s two key concepts and the main points from the second article. This part, then, stays firmly in the factual realm. We’re not supposed to talk about our opinions of any of these ideas or start making connections between them in this section. If we fail to present the factual information (e.g., we are missing one summary or the other; or we misread the article so our summary isn’t accurate), we will not succeed at this part. Also, because this is the more basic part of the assignment (lower on the pyramids and grid), if we don’t do this part accurately, odds are good that our analysis part won’t be as successful as we would like.

The second part, what the assignment calls “analysis,” is really a combination of applying and analyzing. We have to understand the main points, too, but mostly, we would do that in the first part of the assignment. In the “analysis,” we need to explain how the ideas in the second article can be categorized using Mitchell’s terms. We’re applying Mitchell, but we also have to explain if our assignment is going to be successful.

At this point, I have beaten this assignment into submission, but I’m hoping you can see the value in taking an assignment apart like this.

Reading and Writing Successfully in College: A Guide for Students Copyright © 2023 by Patricia Lynne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to make a breakdown of your workday (with templates)

Table of Contents

The process of creating a work schedule is improved every day. Because a good workday breakdown moves you forward, and even better – leaves you with a sense of an accomplished day. This short-but-sweet guide is here to present a different way of breaking down your day, tasks and priorities, and shows how focusing on things other than deadlines gives better results.

Decide on daily priorities

Not every task is the most important one.

Before the start of every day, crack down on that to-do list, and find the ones that are most important. It’s usually 1 to 3 tasks, and you can easily identify them:

• Other people depend on you doing your part so they can do theirs;
• They are urgent, or have a fast-approaching deadline;
• They affect your career in the long term.

To illustrate this – and all following aspects of your workday breakdown – we’ll take a look at my schedule for a moment, and how I try to learn about my work habits and improve little by little every day.

Here is an example of how my priorities list may look for Wednesday:

There is a new employee coming in, and I’m mentoring them. It’s both good for mine and their career, so most of my energy should go to this task. There’s also some work I didn’t manage to finish the day before, and even though the deadline is not until Monday, I can try to finish it today. Lastly, there’s a presentation I really want to impress with. The rest is regular work I can take in my stride.

Why do I need a priorities list?

From the example, we can see how pinpointing what tasks matter to you the most eliminates the “white noise” of other work.

You know exactly where to spend the most energy, which in turn helps you avoid wasting time and stressing out over other things. This list is easily the vital first step of every good workday breakdown.

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Draw out a before work section

As a next step, define what work-related things you do to prepare for the day.

Do you write a to-do list?

Do you revise your goals for the week?

Or do you contact your coworkers?

Maybe you make yourself coffee and check email.

We all have different rituals that boost productivity, and they can even vary day-to-day. And if you don’t have a ritual, this is a great time to find one. Here’s another glance at my daily schedule:

Source: Clockify workday breakdown template

As you can see from the table above, each day can start off with varying activities. And for Wednesday, I prepare for the second priority task – leftover work – by going over what I’ve missed and how to go about finishing it.

Why do I need a “before work” section?

An easy-going morning work ritual is a great way to introduce your day. Instead of starting with the most demanding tasks first, you conserve energy with something light, and get mentally prepared for tasks to come.

Draw out a during work section

The next large chunk in your breakdown is the actual work itself. The tougher tasks or, the meat and potatoes, if you will.

There are plenty of resources on breaking down large tasks into smaller chunks and scheduling them, so we won’t go into detail here. However, it’s important to mention them.

• Use timeboxing to create an hour-by-hour guideline of your day;
• Use the Eisenhower matrix to sort your priorities;
• The Get Things Done method will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.

What I would, however, focus on, is breaking down this chunk of work into two segments: before your meal break, and after it.

If you’ve read some of our other articles on productivity, you could’ve noticed how we mention managing energy levels throughout the day. And it’s important to recognize how your energy varies after you’ve had a good lunch at work. Most notably, ask yourself:

• How do you feel half an hour to an hour before lunch?
• Do you feel energized after lunch?
• Do you feel sleepy?
• How long after lunch do you start to feel your focus drop (or rise)?
• Do you start having sugar cravings and how do they affect you?

Food plays a big role in the body’s energy roller coaster, and we usually don’t pay attention to it. Moreso because we’re at home, or outside, or don’t require too much focus. However, at work, it can become a detriment.

Why do I need the “before and after meal” section?

Sectioning off a work schedule into before and after lunch can help with several things.

First, it can reveal how different meals affect your focus. Heavier ones will make you sleepy, while lighter ones help you stay alert. That way you can, for example, notice you have a big meeting on Thursday at 3PM, and decide to eat fish and a salad instead of steak and potatoes, if the latter usually makes you crave a nap afterwards.

Second, you will start to make better scheduling decisions. Shifting tasks around your energy levels allows you to craft a perfect work schedule that’ll always work out. Also, if you pair this action up with a time tracker, such as Clockify , you’ll know exactly how long each tasks takes you from start to finish before and after meals, and schedule your most important work accordingly.

Finally, this forces you to not neglect food as a vital part of your day. We usually get so swamped with work, we shift our meal times until it’s way too late, or completely omit them. This runs the risk of you getting too hungry, and opting for a quick snack, just to stave it off. What’s more, you’ll be less patient and more frustrated if you don’t have a proper break with a meal. Which in turn impedes your work performance.

Here’s an example from my schedule:

In this section, I decided to continue my morning with leftover work, while it’s still fresh in my mind. A meeting before lunch break was scheduled, just in time to wind down. During lunch, an emergency issue popped up, but I postponed it until after lunch, to ensure I come to it refreshed. Training the new employee came after my coffee, as I noticed that caffeine negates the drowsiness from lunch.

Now, you might be wondering if it’s possible to achieve this kind of calculating mindset. The answer is yes, but with a lot of work, and trial and error. Let’s take a look at how.

How to be mindful of energy levels

Achieving this kind of organization… intuition, to call it, isn’t impossible. It’s important to remember that learning to listen to your body and pick up on your behavior and habits is something you have to actively do throughout the day.

The moment you notice a shift in focus or energy levels, take note of it, whether on a post-it, or through a voice recording app. It may seem unprofessional at first, that it’s something unsuitable for a work environment, but look at it as an investment. The more insight you gain, the better you’ll be at scheduling your tasks for the day.

Additionally, take some time to research healthy productivity-brain-boosting recipes . It can be a great additional experiment.

Note your distractions

In the same vein, pay extra care to your most (un)common distractions.

They can derail your entire afternoon and lead to the postponing of certain tasks, or to completely forgetting about them. If you have particular problems with identifying what your time wasters are, then you can use the same tactic as with energy levels.

When you’re making a breakdown of your workday, try to catch yourself the moment you start browsing social media for longer than 5 minutes, every time you agree to help a coworker without thinking of your own workload, or every impromptu meeting called by your manager.

Above is an example of two distractions over two separate days. Summarizing and analyzing them like in our table will give you the necessary details on where most of your time is wasted. So, you can start working on solutions, or ways to avoid said distractions.

We often don’t give two thoughts about why we get distracted or when. But using a method like this can vastly improve how you approach distractions, and increases your success in eliminating them.

Sometimes, simply installing a website blocker isn’t enough.

Include a workday cooldown

A workday cooldown is the transition between work and free time. It includes tasks that we like to call “ end of workday rituals ”. Just like you have morning rituals to boost preparedness for the day, so should you have some for easing into the end of it.

Usually, we finish our last task of the day, shut off the computer, and start wondering what to do next (if we don’t have chores like dishes, food, picking up kids, appointments, etc). And even with the latter, the transition is so sudden, it takes our brains quite a while to shut off “work mode”.

Why do I need a workday cooldown?

A close friend of mine once said how he used to walk home for 40 minutes instead of biking, because he needed to walk off the frustration of the day. Because if he came home sooner, he would just bring it into his personal life, and it would “taint” the rest of his off-work time.

Similarly, you need some minute tasks at the end of the day to signal your brain to begin winding down. Let’s take a look at the ones below:

The images above are parts of my schedule showing the end of workday tasks – writing the day summary (on the right), and making a to-do list draft for the next day. These are so painfully simple, yet very effective in giving you a sense of closure. The workday is behind you, and now it’s time to rest.

Clockify’s workday breakdown template

The excerpts of the schedule we’ve used here are from a template you can find on our blog.

It is not just a timesheet, but a schedule focusing on breaking down your day to give you the most useful insight into your workflow.

If you would like to try it for yourself, you can download the PDF templates from the following links:

⏬ Download the Workday breakdown template here .

⏬ Download the Priorities list template here .

⏬ Download the Workday distractions breakdown template here .

Take control of your workday with Clockify

Organizing your workday and making sure that you know what you are supposed to do at any given time can make your work life much easier. You can do this by creating a list of priorities and grouping tasks into less and more important ones.

Instead of writing everything down on a piece of paper and tracking your time with a regular stopwatch, you can use a time tracking software such as Clockify.

Clockify equips you with the tools to take control of your workday and ensure you aren’t getting overworked in the process. 

Once you create an account, you can make projects and tasks and start tracking them. With Clockify’s Timer, you can see how much time you spend on every task.

It’s easy: Write down your task and click the Start button in the upper right corner.

Furthermore, Clockify saves all your time entries, and you can view them by going to the Dashboard section. The Dashboard shows a complete breakdown of your workday and how you spend your work hours. It reveals information such as your:

• Total work time, 
• Top project, 
• Top client, and 
• Most tracked activities. 

All are categorized in graphs and pie charts, like below.

To access the Dashboard, click on it from the menu on the left sidebar. You will see it under the Analyze section. Clockify’s Dashboard gives you a direct insight into how you spend your time during the workday. You can see your most productive hours and focus on doing important tasks during that time.

Clockify shows you how much time you spend on each activity and helps you organize your workday.

Marijana Stojanovic is a writer and researcher who specializes in the topics of productivity and time management.

Where does the time go?

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A Summary and Analysis of R. K. Narayan’s ‘An Astrologer’s Day’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘An Astrologer’s Day’ is a story from the Indian author R. K. Narayan’s 1943 collection Malgudi Days . The Malgudi of the collection’s title is a fictional city in India, where all of the stories in the collection take place. The opening story in the book, ‘An Astrologer’s Day’ is about an unnamed astrologer who is confronted by a stranger who questions his abilities.

The story is about revenge, the past, and the reasons why we make the decisions we make in our lives. If you find this analysis helpful, we also recommend this discussion of another R. K. Narayan story, ‘The Doctor’s Word’.

‘An Astrologer’s Day’: plot summary

The story is about a man who makes a living as an astrologer, sitting under a tree in a busy street every day and offering to tell the fortune of any passer-by who is willing to pay for him to do so. However, the ‘astrologer’ in reality knows little of the stars, and instead tends to rely on shrewd guesses, cold reading , and letting his clients talk for long enough for him to gain enough background to their lives in order to create the illusion that he somehow knows things about them which they have not told him.

He also tends to tell them things which he senses they want to hear, knowing that people are more likely to be willing to hand over money to someone who tells them positive things rather than someone who delivers bad news.

One night, as he is preparing to head home having finished his evening’s work, the astrologer spots a man and invites him to sit with him and have his fortune read. However, the stranger calls into doubt the astrologer’s abilities, and challenges him. He will give him an anna (one-sixteenth of a rupee) but if the astrologer’s answer is unsatisfactory, the astrologer must pay him the anna back, with interest.

They negotiate, and the stranger agrees to pay the astrologer eight annas if he gives him satisfactory answers, but the astrologer must give the stranger more than that if he fails to prove his talents.

After an unpromising start, which fails to impress the stranger, the astrologer correctly identifies that the man was stabbed and then thrown into a well, where he was left for dead. He also tells the man his name, Guru Nayak. When Nayak asks the astrologer when he will meet the man who tried to kill him so he can exact his revenge, the astrologer replies that the man died four months ago in a far-off town.

The astrologer then tells Nayak to return home to his village and never leave again. If he does this, he will live to be a hundred. Nayak is only too happy to agree to this, revealing that he only left his village to try to locate the man who almost killed him. Now he knows the man is dead (the astrologer tells him he was crushed under a lorry), he is satisfied.

When the astrologer arrives home to his wife, there is a twist. It turns out that he was the man who attacked Guru Nayak and left him for dead. This is how he knew the man’s identity. He was able to throw Nayak off the scent and save himself from the man’s vengeance, using his authority as an astrologer to advise the man to return home.

‘An Astrologer’s Day’: analysis

Narayan’s story is a short tale with a twist, and its plot is neat in the way it brings together its several strands. We learn at the end of ‘An Astrologer’s Day’ that the title character only left home and became an astrologer in the first place because he feared he had killed Guru Nayak after they drunkenly quarrelled. That one moment of anger determined the subsequent path of his life, and forced him to move to a new town and to alter his identity, so nobody from his village would chance to recognise him.

But he is able to recognise Guru Nayak when this figure from his youth turns up one night. Faced with a tricky customer who is sceptical of his abilities (quite rightly, it turns out, since the astrologer is essentially a blagger), he is backed into a corner and only saved from humiliation when he recognises his client as the very figure from his past who had set his life on its subsequent course.

This chance encounter is significant because, oddly enough, it ends up doing exactly what an encounter with an astrologer is meant to do: it gives the client clarity regarding his future, and he is now happy to return to his village, safe in the knowledge that his wrongdoer is dead.

Of course, this ‘knowledge’ is actually lies, but Narayan appears to be suggesting that the astrologer’s actions, performed out of cowardice and a desire to save his own skin, also avert the wrongful execution of vengeance. It is better for Guru Nayak to believe his would-be murderer dead and let go of the past, after all these years.

Similarly, the astrologer’s recognition of Nayak enables him to assume the role of a genuine astrologer, if only for one night, and speak with the air of an oracle or seer. Nayak is utterly convinced that the man is genuine clairvoyant, after he revealed he knew so much about his life. The astrologer is thus given a chance to be relieved of the burden of guilt he has carried around with him for all these years.

In ‘An Astrologer’s Day’, Narayan makes effective use of light and dark symbolism. But light can be misleading as well as illuminating. At the beginning of the story, Narayan’s third-person narrator tells us that the ‘gleam’ in the astrologer’s eyes is often interpreted by clients as a sign of his ‘prophetic light’, but is in reality his keen eyes searching for more customers.

We are told that the lack of ‘municipal lighting’ in the area is part of its charm: the light comes from the nearby shops, and not all of these have their own lights, so the street is plunged in a curious mixture of light and shadow.

This is symbolic of the story itself, where truth and lies, like those lights and shadows, are conflated and confused. It is significant that it is when the stranger (later identified as Guru Nayak) lights his cheroot pipe that the astrologer recognises him as the old associate from his past: the light here illuminates his old adversary but Nayak himself remains in the dark concerning the true identity of his interlocutor.

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MLB Trade Rumors

Reds Designate Brett Kennedy For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | May 28, 2024 at 2:20pm CDT

The Reds announced today that they have activated left-hander Alex Young from the 60-day injured list, with right-hander Brett Kennedy designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Kennedy, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason. He was just selected to the roster last week but he didn’t get into a game in the interim. The club likely wanted Kennedy around in case someone was needed to throw multiple innings of long relief. But in four of the past five games, Cincinnati starters threw at least 5 1/3 innings. The one exception was Nick Martinez , who tossed 4 1/3 behind opener Brent Suter while Carson Spiers pitched another 3 1/3 in relief.

Prior to having his contract selected, Kennedy made eight Triple-A starts with a 6.86 earned run average in 40 2/3 innings. His 18.9% strikeout rate in that span was a bit below average but he limited walks to just a 4.7% clip.

The Reds will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright, meaning he would have the right to reject another such assignment in favor of electing free agency. His major league experience consists of 26 2/3 innings with the 2018 Padres and another 18 frames with the 2023 Reds. In the 44 2/3 combined innings, he has a 6.65 ERA, 12.8% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.

Young, 30, started the year on the IL due to a back issue. He had a solid season in Cincinnati last year, posting a 3.86 ERA over 63 appearances. He struck out 21.2% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.5% clip and got grounders on 48.8% of balls in play. That included some leverage work, as he picked up one save and 13 holds. He’ll give the club a third lefty in the bullpen alongside Suter and Sam Moll .

15 seconds ago

Hopefully he will remain forever Young…and avoid any more downtime.

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Victor Robles, out of chances with Nats, is designated for assignment

Over the years, Robles was inconsistent at the plate and made mental errors in the field. Lane Thomas was reinstated from the injured list ahead of an 8-4 win over the Braves.

ATLANTA — Through years of inconsistent production and mental errors, outfielder Victor Robles received numerous opportunities to establish himself with the Washington Nationals. But on Monday, his opportunities ran out: He was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for outfielder Lane Thomas, who returned from the injured list after missing more than a month with a medial collateral ligament sprain in his left knee.

“It was definitely emotional,” Manager Dave Martinez said before the Nationals’ 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves. “Those are always the toughest days when you have to lose a player, especially a guy like Vic who I’ve known for many years. … All I could tell him is that I wish him the best.”

Robles, 27, was part of Washington’s 2013 international signing class, blossomed into a top prospect and made his MLB debut in 2017. The Nationals won the World Series with him in 2019 as he finished sixth in National League rookie of the year voting, but this season he hit .120 and had a .401 OPS in 14 games.

Thomas, an outfielder whom the Nationals (24-28) are now building around, doubled in his opening at-bat to spark a four-run first inning Monday. Washington scored in each of the next two innings as well, including a second-inning solo homer by CJ Abrams. That was more than enough for Mitchell Parker, who surrendered a leadoff hit to the Braves (30-21) before retiring 14 in a row. He allowed three runs in 6⅓ innings, striking out six before turning it over to the bullpen.

Robles was informed of the roster move before the Nationals left for Atlanta, where they opened a four-game series Monday. A staff member said Robles went around the Nationals Park clubhouse thanking his teammates and the staff.

“I’ve gotten really close with Vic over the last couple of years,” said Thomas, who finished 2 for 5 with two doubles. “That’s just an unfortunate part of what we do. There’s just so many spots. … Hopefully I’ll see him across the field here soon if someone takes a chance.”

The decision to ship out Robles is another reminder of how much has changed since the Nationals’ 2019 championship. Last month, former ace Stephen Strasburg, the World Series MVP, officially retired after a long struggle to return from injury. Juan Soto was traded to the San Diego Padres in August 2022 and is now thriving with the New York Yankees . With Robles’s exit, just two players remain from the 2019 squad: Patrick Corbin and Tanner Rainey — statistically, Washington’s worst starter and reliever this season.

But back in 2018, Robles was considered a top-10 prospect, listed with players such as Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. His career in Washington began with promise, and he established himself as the starting center fielder during the Nationals’ World Series run. That year, he hit .255 with 17 home runs in 155 games. The Nationals believed Robles and Soto, budding talents from the Dominican Republic, could form two-thirds of their outfield of the future .

“He hit 17 homers, hit for average, was an all-around player,” Corbin said. “To have a guy like that at the bottom of your lineup with a veteran team like we had, he played a huge part on that team. Played really good center field for us. The injuries, I think, may have played a part in some of the things where he wasn’t able to get to where everyone thought he was going to be. But he still has time — he’s young. And maybe just a change of scenery can help him out.”

Robles was an above-average defender in the outfield and a Gold Glove finalist in 2022 but struggled to produce at the plate after his 2019 breakout. He has hit .236 with a subpar .667 OPS for his career and has not hit more than six home runs in a season since 2019.

As the years passed, Robles’s standing with the team soured. He was optioned to Class AAA Rochester amid a lack of production in 2021 . There were mental lapses throughout his career , including as recently as two weeks ago , when he dropped a routine flyball. And he displayed moments of immaturity, such as when he wore a clown nose to mock Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner in 2022.

Still, Robles kept getting chances. It seemed he might have turned the corner in 2023, hitting .299 with a .750 OPS in 36 games. But he hurt his back sliding into a base and missed most of the season. Robles had the inside track on a starting job this year, but during spring training, it was clear change was on the horizon. The rebuilding organization now includes outfielders James Wood, Dylan Crews and Robert Hassell III, though no one from that trio ultimately replaced Robles in Washington’s outfield.

Instead, the Nationals turned to 24-year-old Jacob Young after Robles strained his left hamstring in April. Young, who went 3 for 4 with an RBI on Monday, performed well enough that Robles was relegated to the bench when he returned. And now he has run out of chances with the Nationals.

“We got Lane back from the IL, so we had to make a decision,” Martinez said. “We do have a lot of young outfielders that are coming. They’re still a little bit away, but they’re getting closer. When you have that many good outfielders in your system, tough decisions have to be made, but the upside is that Lane is back. He’s healthy. He’s good to go.”

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A Swift Defense and a Decision Ahead: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Trial

Donald J. Trump’s lawyers called two witnesses and he was not one of them. Closing arguments will happen May 28.

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By Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek

• May 21, 2024

On Tuesday morning, five weeks after the first jurors were seated for the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, the defense rested, with closing arguments and then jury deliberations scheduled for after Memorial Day weekend.

And, despite dangling the possibility, Mr. Trump did not testify.

Testimony started April 22 with a tabloid publisher called by the prosecution, David Pecker, and ended with a lawyer called by the defense, Robert Costello. In between were a porn star, Stormy Daniels; Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen; an erstwhile aide of Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks; and a bevy of lesser-known witnesses, mostly for the prosecution.

The former president is charged with falsifying 34 business records to hide Mr. Cohen’s reimbursement for a $130,000 hush-money payment he made to Ms. Daniels, who says she had sex with Mr. Trump in 2006. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and the encounter. If convicted, he could face prison or probation.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 20th day on trial.

The defense’s big witness may not have been a great idea.

Mr. Costello, once Mr. Cohen’s informal adviser, continued on the stand on Tuesday, after a reprimand Monday from Justice Juan M. Merchan, who said he had been “contemptuous.”

Mr. Costello had been called by the defense to attack Mr. Cohen’s credibility, but during cross-examination, prosecutors sought to portray him as an agent of Mr. Trump, suggesting he was trying to prevent Mr. Cohen from cooperating with federal investigators. That included reading an email from Mr. Costello saying he was trying to “get Cohen on the right page.”

The defense had hoped to damage Mr. Cohen — a key prosecution witness — beyond repair. Mr. Costello’s choppy performance may be remembered, too.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.

Trump talked a lot, just not in court.

Mr. Trump’s vociferousness has never been questioned. During the trial, he regularly spoke outside the courtroom, including Tuesday, when he repeated refrains slamming the trial and complaining about the courtroom temperature.

While he called the trial “election interference,” saying it was impeding his campaign, Mr. Trump did squeeze in rallies on weekends and off-days, as well as some golf .

But after teasing an appearance on the stand, he declined to testify. And after violating a gag order 10 times, he carped carefully, particularly after Justice Merchan threatened jail time.

Trump’s entourage exhibited his pull over his party.

Republican politicians might not normally flock to defend a person enmeshed in a trial prompted by a porn star’s story of extramarital sex. But Mr. Trump has a tight hold on his party, and right-wing luminaries came to support their presumptive presidential nominee.

Throughout the trial, visitors included several potential vice-presidential candidates — including Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was once Mr. Trump’s primary opponent — and a brood of Republican lawmakers. Mr. Trump’s son, Donald Jr., also attended Tuesday; another son, Eric, was a regular. There was also a former leader of New York’s Hells Angels chapter.

Many visitors then attacked witnesses, something Mr. Trump could not do because of the gag order.

Perhaps the most notable attendee was Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, who called the trial “corrupt” and a “sham.” It was a remarkable attack on the legal system by a staunch conservative who is second in line to the presidency — and an indication of Mr. Trump’s sway.

Some key figures were never called to the stand.

Notable as some witnesses were, absences were also interesting. One big name: Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006 and 2007. Mr. Trump denies this, and she was not called as a witness, though she indicated she was keeping an eye on the case .

Other unseen characters who were frequently mentioned included Keith Schiller, the former president’s bodyguard, and Dylan Howard, a former editor of The National Enquirer, who had a medical condition that prevented him traveling from Australia.

Both might have told interesting tales: Mr. Howard helped buy up and bury unflattering stories about Mr. Trump, including Ms. McDougal’s. He also participated in discussions about Ms. Daniels’s story.

Mr. Schiller was close to Mr. Trump, and fielded a call from Mr. Cohen in which Mr. Cohen says he discussed Ms. Daniels with the former president. But Mr. Schiller was not called by the prosecution or defense.

Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.

It will be at least a week before the jury starts to deliberate.

Jurors will return May 28 for closing arguments, which Justice Merchan predicted would last the entire day. On Tuesday afternoon, lawyers argued over jury instructions, an important part of any trial.

After several hours of debate, with both sides seemingly winning some points, Justice Merchan said he would provide a final version of those instructions on Thursday.

Justice Merchan said he hoped deliberations would begin May 29. And after sitting silently through 22 witnesses over 16 days of testimony, the jurors’ verdict will be unprecedented: the first in an American president’s criminal trial.

Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley

Kate Christobek is a reporter covering the civil and criminal cases against former president Donald J. Trump for The Times. More about Kate Christobek

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

News and Analysis

Donald Trump’s criminal trial has entered its final stage  as defense lawyers and prosecutors deliver their closing arguments in a last attempt to sway the 12 jurors who will decide Trump’s fate.

After closing arguments, the judge will provide instructions to the jurors to guide their deliberations. From there, the case will be in their hands .

As Trump awaits the conclusion of his trial, the former president is leaning into an outlaw image , aligning himself with fellow defendants and people convicted of crimes.

More on the Trump Investigations

Case Tracker:  Trump is facing multiple criminal cases related to his business and political activities. Follow the latest developments .

What if Trump Is Convicted?: Will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s presidential campaign? Here is what we know, and what we don’t know .

Election Interference Cases: In Arizona , Georgia , Michigan  and Nevada , several allies of Trump are facing charges  related to efforts to keep him in power after he lost in 2020.

Trump on Trial Newsletter: Sign up here  to get the latest news and analysis  on the cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

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90 day fiancé: jihoon lee's new girlfriend looks shockingly like ex deavan clegg.

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20 Best Reality TV Shows Right Now

What happened to brandan denuccio & mary demasu-ay after 90 day fiancé: the other way season 5, 1000-lb sisters: is misty slaton wentworth too thin (she's slimmer than ever after weight loss surgery).

• Jihoon Lee has moved on from Deavan Clegg with a new girlfriend named Elisa, sparking intrigue among fans.
• Despite Deavan and Jihoon's rocky breakup, both have found new love interests and are moving forward with their lives.
• Fans can't help but notice the striking resemblance between Elisa and Deavan, leading to speculation about Jihoon's type.

90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way star Jihoon Lee has a new girlfriend named Elisa , and she bears a shocking resemblance to Deavan Clegg. Jihoon from South Korea had met single mom Deavan from Utah on a dating app. Deavan became pregnant with their baby son Taeyang on the first day they met in America. The spin-off’s seasons 1 and 2 documented the couple’s struggles with miscommunication and finances. Deavan announced her split with Jihoon while season 2 was still on air. They took two years to divorce.

90 Day Fiancé star Jihoon Lee is dating a new woman following his divorce from Deavan Clegg.

Jihoon from South Korea keeps a low profile on Instagram. Jihoon hasn’t posted much since it was revealed that his son had cancer and his last post was in July 2023. However, according to 90dayfianceupdate , Jihoon has been busy romancing someone new after Deavan.

They shared a picture of Jihoon next to a photo of a woman named Elisa who looks like Deavan’s doppelgänger. They wrote that Jihoon has a new love interest and that it is “ not Deavan. ” According to the blogger, “it seems pretty serious .” The woman is seemingly from Norway, and it is unclear how they met.

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What Happened To Deavan & Jihoon After 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way?

Why did deavan leave jihoon.

The woman recently announced on her TikTok live that Jihoon is coming to Norway to meet her. Jihoon and Elisa follow each other on social media. However, fans can’t seem to get over how similar Elisa and Jihoon’s ex-wife Deavan look. They joked about how Jihoon has a type. Deavan and Jihoon were last seen together on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way season 2. The pair seem to have quit the franchise since their breakup in that season . Deavan flew back to the U.S. in the finale with her two kids and never saw Jihoon again.

It was expected for Jihoon and Deavan to break up as he managed his finances poorly, and she found it difficult to adjust to life in Korea. However, upon her return, Deavan started to accuse Jihoon of hurting Drascilla. Around August 2020, Deavan’s IG posts suggested she met someone new. Deavan began dating a man named Christopher Hyun Park, AKA Topher . Deavan claimed Jihoon had blocked her number and social media. While Jihoon started a GoFundMe to hire an attorney after Deavan filed for divorce in September 2020, he gave up and their divorce was finalized in May 2022.

Deavan revealed her son had been diagnosed with childhood cancer in the same month. According to Deavan’s mom, Elicia, Jihoon was not involved in Taeyang’s cancer battle . Deavan gave birth to her third baby, her first with Topher, in November 2022. Deavan has moved on from her 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way life and is experiencing a happy relationship with Topher. It appears Jihoon, too, wants to move on with his life, but it remains to be seen if he will feature in a new spin-off in the future with Elisa.

90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EDT on TLC.

Source: 90dayfianceupdate /Instagram

90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way

90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way flips the script on the original series. Couples who have never met face to face and have 90 days to get married switch roles. The Americans in the relationship will now head overseas for their culture shock. India, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Russia are just some countries where the show observes the blossoming (or faltering) 90-day relationship that will end happily ever after or a one-way ticket back home alone.

Crime & Public Safety | Karen Read murder trial Day 17: Brian Higgins…

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Crime & public safety | karen read murder trial day 17: brian higgins says read ‘kissed me … not like a friend’.

“You’re hot,” Read texted Higgins on Jan. 12, 2022, after some flirtatious back and forth, as shown in screen captures of the pair’s text message exchange. When he questioned her, she added “No I’m serious.”

Higgins said, “Feeling is mutual. Is that bad? How long have you thought that???”

Sometime between 12:30 and 1 a.m. the following day, after a get-together at O’Keefe’s house, Read escorted him to his car and, Higgins testified, “The defendant kissed me … Not like a friend.”

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges including second-degree murder for the death of John O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston Police officer and her boyfriend of about two years when he died at age 46. Prosecutors say the pair argued and she killed him by backing her Lexus SUV into him, leaving him to die in the cold outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton during a snowstorm.

The extra-long trial day Friday, in which lunch was curtailed by 15 minutes and testimony extended 30 minutes more than usual, still wasn’t enough to fit Higgins entire cross-examination, which will continue Tuesday morning. He’s one of the key witnesses in the case . The defense named him in pre-trial hearings as one of three alternative killers .

The defense alleges that either Higgins, his friend and Fairview Road homeowner Brian Albert or Albert’s nephew Colin Albert or a combination of any or all of them, beat O’Keefe to death and framed Read.

Texts, romance and death

Higgins testified that his relationship with Read was not physical beyond that kiss, though he was sexually attracted to Read.

“I was interested but I don’t think I was at the romantic phase,” he said, adding the whole situation had “a weird vibe.”

But Jackson recalled some texts in which Higgins told Read he was looking for “the real deal,” and Jackson wanted to know what that meant. Higgins admitted that “the real deal” would be a romantic relationship.

The texts occurred over nine non-consecutive days between Jan. 12 and Jan. 23, 2022, revealing a burgeoning connection that was at times bold, at times philosophical and at times confused. For his part, Higgins testified, “I was trying to suss out what her intentions were.”

There were two texts on the night in question, Jan. 28 into 29, 2022, which Higgins said he remembers “like a nightmare.”

Higgins said the texts were “sporadic” but disagreed strongly with Jackson’s characterization that he ever felt “ghosted” or “ignored” by Read.

At the Waterfall Bar and Grill in central Canton, the pair were part of a large group, including O’Keefe, and had decided to accept the open invitation to go back to the Albert residence to continue the party into the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022. About 25 minutes before the party set out, Higgins sent her a text he described as “flirty”: “Ummmmmm Well.”

He received a response from Read, the last between them, at 11:54 a.m. the next morning: “John died.”

Motive: Kids and jealousy

Higgins advanced the state’s theory that Read and O’Keefe were on the outs. In fact, Read texted Higgins at one point indicating exactly that.

“I just thought you were happy with your situation?” Higgins texted her one day, adding during testimony that he was confused about what her intentions were with him.

“I was,” Read responded in the texts shown in the courtroom, “but things have deteriorated.”

Her primary complaints were taking care of the niece and nephew that O’Keefe had taken custody of when their parents died and her allegations that he cheated on her in Aruba .

“It’s just a very very complicated dynamic with the four of us. … And the kids present constant issues,” Read wrote, adding later that having the responsibility of these children was a bigger issue than her jealousy.

In a group trip to Aruba at the beginning of the year, Read accused O’Keefe of making out with one of his longtime friends, Marietta Sullivan. Sullivan testified Wednesday that she did not make out with O’Keefe and sees him as an older brother figure.

Cross talk and butt dials

The afternoon was dominated by Higgins’ cross-examination, in which defense attorney Jackson questioned his relationship with the local police and whether he was conniving with others to bury a murder and frame Read.

A lot of the questions had to do with Higgins’ testimony to a federal grand jury — it’s a topic attorneys are barred from directly referencing, so when they do they have used euphemisms like “the other proceeding” or testimony “without the state prosecutor present.”

Of paramount importance to Jackson was who Higgins was talking to and when: like how his phone records show two calls within the minute of 2:22 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, hours before O’Keefe would be found. While Jackson questioned how Higgins could have returned a phone call he missed from Albert if he was asleep Higgins said, “I have no recollection of answering the phone or calling anyone back.”

The call that would wake him came from his friend and then-Canton PD Chief Kenneth Berkowitz, one that Higgins ignored. Then he took the next call, from Albert, reporting O’Keefe was dead. He then drove to the Albert home because, he said, “It was important to support the people that were there.”

Jackson questioned why he was allowed to interact with other witnesses without an investigator present. He also questioned Higgins’ access to the police station and whether he was getting tipped off to the state of the investigation and sharing that information with the Albert family — charges Higgins denied.

Jackson also questioned Higgins destroying his cell phone, which Higgins said he wouldn’t describe as destroying but also taking place after an order to maintain it had ended. He also used a “kiosk” in a federal building to extract his text exchanges with Read and O’Keefe to, he said, hand over to law enforcement. Jackson said he did that rather than hand over the phone so he could control what they had, and also that he broke federal law by using the kiosk “for personal gain.”

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