1. Structure and content in eighth‐graders' summary essays
- Author
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Betty J. Haslett, Joanne M. Golden, and Helen Gauntt
- Subjects
Linguistics and Language ,Secondary education ,Higher education ,Computer science ,business.industry ,Communication ,Discourse analysis ,Rhetorical modes ,Scientific article ,Language and Linguistics ,Predicate (grammar) ,Linguistics ,Science class ,Rhetorical question ,business - Abstract
The present study investigates eighth‐graders' summarizations of a scientific article used in their science class. Qualitative differences among students' summaries were found. Generally, the better summaries included significantly more information (in terms of details and key ideas); identified the dominant predicate more completely, and used more different rhetorical structures than did the poorer summaries. The most well‐written essays reflected the text organization of the input essay (i.e., the author's original text). Students appear to be sensitive to the text organization and semantic content of the input essay, and draw upon these structures to construct their summaries. This study also developed and tested a coding scheme which reflected both structure and content of the summaries.
- Published
- 1988
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