Summery? No, Summary!

Summery? . . . flowers, sunshine . . .

That shows what can happen if you change one letter in a word. If you mis-spell summary with an "e" instead of an "a," you get summery.
But no, this post is really about the importance of a good summary.

A good summary restates what the author was trying to say in a brief form. It does not include a critique, opinion, analysis or any emotional words that reveal what you think about the ideas. It is coldly and cleanly objective. The author of the piece you are summarizing (should they read your summary) would say, “That is exactly what I meant!”

You include all of the main points, reconstructing the outline of the argument. You do not twist the author’s meaning in any way. You need to gain the perspective of the author, so you can restate what they are saying fairly and accurately. This does not imply that the summarizer (you) is on board with the argument. You do not need to believe it or agree with their ideas. Your critique or analysis of what the author said may or may not come later.

So, to summarize, spell words correctly to help avoid reader-mind-wandering. Summarize your sources like a reporter, objectively and without prejudice. Even if you think they are dead-on wrong.

Detachment Can Be a Good Thing

Detachment is usually not a good thing. It is bad for a friendship or a marriage. Christianity is centered on God’s attachment to us, and our familial ties as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. To be detached can imply not caring, not invested, ambivalent or peripheral.

So in what way can detachment be good?

• It is good if we are not so “attached” to our writing that we can’t see its (sometimes glaring) weaknesses.
• It is good if it gives us enough objectivity to understand a different/new perspective without excess emotion.
• It is good if it means we can examine an idea with no other goal than understanding the argument behind it.
• It is good if we can analyze and critique concepts without having to embrace or reject them wholesale.
• It is good if it helps us to examine logical fallacies (false arguments) in some of our own assumptions and beliefs.

If you really care about something, use your passion to understand it in all of its subtleties. You will be better able to persuade others if you are willing to examine your ideas and beliefs with a critical objective eye.

Deconstructing Mid-Term Exams

You have been reading and listening to lectures. You have a syllabus and a stack of books.

You can control this content. You are not its victim. You can conquer it, dissect it, and break it into its component parts.

Before you get to that chair and blue book on exam day, you can lower your anxiety by outsmarting your test. But how? By remembering the following:

1. What did the syllabus say about the focus of this test? Is it your lectures? Readings? All of it? Some of it? Essay? Objective?
2. What did the professor say about the test? Pay close attention to this. Did you receive a study guide? Use it.
3. Create a study guide as you read. Your book may have a table of contents that makes a great start to an outline. Your syllabus may give you an outline in the form of your weekly lectures.
4. Don't forget details. Include 2-3 descriptors for each name, date, or main point. You will use them in your answers on the test.
5. Once you are in the chair, staring at the test, READ THE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY AND DO EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAY. I put that in caps because it is the most important.
6. Make a plan. Include the time you will devote to each question, which you will do first (start with the "easiest") and quick notes on what you remember about each question.

Take the test apart, in order to properly put it back together. Get a good night's sleep, and go in with confidence.