Weighing the difference between summary and analysis

 Hello class.  This is a link to my online presentation about summary vs analysis.  (Let me know if the link doesn't work please)

http://prezi.com/cbp4imh_bons/present/?auth_key=jkz76lq&follow=ddccgvrx15cz&kw=present-cbp4imh_bons&rc=ref-2952970

 WEIGHING THE DIFFERENCE

The difference between summary and analysis is as big a difference as sketching and a final draft in drawing to me.  Summaries, like sketches, only give the mere essence of what’s being written and can be uninteresting or cold.  Analysis really GETS INTO the heart of things, and makes writing more interesting.

 Simply just summarizing a paper leaves nothing on the line.  No thoughts of the writer’s own are involved. You aren’t putting yourself out there in your writing, and it’s really just playing it safe.  Often times summaries follow the same order of the plot structure when recounting events, and does not stray far from the facts of who did what, when.  The whole idea of the story gets across well with summary, but it’s not very useful except for things like movie reviews or giving information to someone who has never read the story to decide if they want to proceed.  In those such situations summary is great and even better than analysis, because people don’t want “spoilers” or in depth thoughts about the story. 

Analysis is much more than simple summarization.  It involves actually thinking about why this or that happened, and interpreting own ideas from what the original author wrote.  Not just simply rewriting what the original author wrote.  Analysis strays far from playing it safe, where one actually has to put their beliefs or ideas on the line.  Analysis is really comprised of claims that can’t be looked up in the story to make sure they are undisputable.  The aim is actually to involve claims that are definitely disputable.  This opens up a whole new world of thoughts from what the original story includes, rather than just making safe summarized claims.  It shows that someone actually put thought into aspects of a story such as “what if this had happened instead,” or “what did he really mean by this?”  Summary doesn’t call for any further thought than what ACTUALLY literally happened in a story.  

- MK