using 50 words or fewer, how would you summarize this course to others?

What is a single sentence exercise?

A single-sentence exercise with a finite word limit counters students’ proclivity for aerating their prose with superfluities. Given at most 50 words, they must distill their arguments’ fundamentals and phrase them concisely, for, as my syllabus warns, the 51st word and its successors face a terrible fate. (I have been known to cut out extraneous verbiage and turn the tattered remnant into a paper airplane—a practice proved sound pedagogically if not aerodynamically.)

Why are 50 word sentences important?

Benefits and Limitations. 50-word sentences cannot help improve the organization of paragraphs and compositions, but that is why God invented essays and term papers . Meanwhile, minor assignments’ brevity conceals their degree of difficulty; they require far more intellectual effort than may first appear.

What is paraphrasing in APA?

Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to express someone else's message or ideas. When you paraphrase, you keep the same meaning of the original text, but you restate the meaning in a way that it makes sense to you, and you cite the information using an in-text citation in the expected formatting style (APA, MLA, etc.). For example:

Why do you quote passages?

Quoting passages allows you to share the specific words and phrases of another author, while paraphrasing and summarizing allow you to show your understanding and interpretation of a text. Either way, referring to outside sources makes your own ideas and your paper more credible. Also, properly quoting, paraphrasing, ...

What is quoting paraphrasing?

Quoting, Paraphrasing, & Summarizing. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are all different ways of including the ideas of others into your assignments. Quoting passages allows you to share the specific words and phrases of another author, while paraphrasing and summarizing allow you to show your understanding and interpretation of a text.

How to introduce a quote in APA style?

Introduce your quotes by stating the author’s last name, any necessary background information, and a signal verb. According to APA guidelines, signal verbs should be written in the past tense, while in MLA, signal verbs should be present tense. For example (in APA):

What were the effects of the feminization of jobs in the nineteenth century?

According to Nancy Woloch (2002) in Women and the American Experience: A Concise History, the “feminization” of jobs in the nineteenth century had two major effects: a lack of employment opportunities for women and inadequate compensation for positions that were available.

How to summarise a text?

How to Summarize: Start by reading the text and highlighting the main points as you read. Reread the text and make notes of the main points, leaving out examples, evidence, etc. Without the text, rewrite your notes in your own words.

Can you have too many quotes in a paper?

It is possible to have too many quotes in your paper--this is especially true for graduate and doctoral writing. Work toward paraphrasing information from your sources rather than directly quoting them. This allows you to provide your own understanding of the information and your own academic voice in communicating that information to your reader.

What is a summary in a paragraph?

What is a Summary? While a paraphrase (see Learning Strategy 2) changes a sentence or two into the about the same number of your own words, a summary condenses the source material into fewer words. A summary can condense a paragraph to a sentence, reduce ten pages to a paragraph, or even sum up a book in a few sentences–or even one.

How to reduce quantum of information?

To reduce the quantum of information you must deal with–and in many cases remember–apply some of these strategies for making the sum of all knowledge easier: Read book summaries or abstracts before you read the book. You might discover that the summary is all you need. You can even summarize the summary.

Why is summarizing important?

More specifically, summarizing–rewriting the information in your own, fewer words–is helpful for learning because it causes you to. You are certainly aware that there is an enormous amount of information in the world, and the situation is not going to get any better.

Is too much information bad for learning?

Too much information can actually be detrimental to learning. Our brains simply do not have the capacity–the mental horsepower–to process and retain it all.