They Say / I Say chapter 2

Summarizing others' arguments is not central to your arsenal of basic moves because writers who make strong claims do not need to map their claims relative to those of other people.

False

Writing is about playing it safe and not making waves. It's a matter of piling up truths and bits of knowledge rather than a dynamic process of doing things to and with other people.

False

A good summary requires balancing what the original author is saying with the writer's own focus.

True

If you cannot or will not suspend your own beliefs when you write a summary, you are likely to produce summaries that are so obviously biased that they undermine your credibility with readers.

True

In a satiric summary, the writer deliberately gives his or her own spin to someone else's argument in order to reveal a glaring shortcoming in it. It lets the summarized argument condemn itself without over editorializing by you, the writer.

True

To write a good summary, you need to see their argument from their perspective.

True

When writing a summary, avoid bland formulas like "she says" or "they believe." It often drains the passion out of the ideas you're summarizing.

True

When you summarize, you have to be respectful of others but simultaneously structure how you summarize them in light of your own text's central argument.

True

When you write a summary, you will need to tell your readers enough about his or her argument so they can assess its merits on their own, independent of you.

True

Whenever you summarize, you need to study the author's argument closely to make sure that you do not confuse it with something you already believe.

True