Chapter Summary Rubric
Your assignment is to write a summary over one chapter from the book Why We Get Sick: the new science of Darwinian Medicine by R. Neese and G.Williams

Due Date
Sunday evenings at or before 6pm

Summary Requirements
A good summary accurately describes the main point(s) and important details of the chapter. Look at the section headings and use them to organize your summary.

In order to be accurate and concise the writer must be thoroughly familiar with the original work. If too long, a summary may be paraphrasing the original work, but if too short, important details may be left out. Paraphrasing is not allowed nor is using quotations from the text itself. Think 500 words, no more.

Hints
· Read and reread chapter as many times as necessary to gain a full understanding of the chapter.

· Opinions are unnecessary. For example, “I thought the part about radioactivity was really interesting” is largely irrelevant.

· Always name the authors and chapter title in the introductory paragraph, usually in the first sentence. From then on refer to authors by last name.

· Always use present tense to discuss the chapter and facts from the chapter.

· When referring to the chapter always capitalize the title and place it in quotation marks. Do not use italics.

· In summarizing, identify the main ideas and supporting information.

· Is the main idea conjecture or is there direct evidence for it from the literature?

· How many ideas are presented in the chapter, are all of these present in your summary.

· If examples are given supporting the author’s hypotheses or conjecture, are they mentioned in your summary?

· Explain what the examples illustrate.

· Identify the recurring theme in the chapters. All told, is the author’s thesis credible? Is the evidence or conjecture sufficient to support their thesis.

· If you had to summarize what you read to someone in your English class, what points would you mention and what evidence/conjecture would you describe?

· If you had to summarize what was covered in the chapter to your Grandmother, what points would you highlight and what evidence/conjecture would you mention?

· The premise, the theses and hypotheses, the evidence all comes from the life sciences. Demonstrate to your reader that you are a biologist capable of identifying the critical elements of the author’s narrative.

Chapter Summary Rubric
Category

5-4

3

2

1-0

Identifies

Important

Information

Student lists at all of the main points of the chapter and identifies the evidence, conjecture supporting the main points of the chapter.

The student lists some of the main points, but only a few are main ideas while the others are not.

The student has only 1 main point and highlights unimportant points.

The student cannot identify important information with accuracy.

Summarization

Student uses paragraphs in their own words to describe clearly what all of the main points mentioned in the chapter.

Student uses a few sentences to describe most of the main points but cannot effectively do so in their own words

Student summarizes some of the main points accurately, but has some misunderstanding and may need to reread for understanding.

Student has great

difficulty

summarizing the main points.

Identifies

Details

Student recalls most all of the details – supporting evidence – surrounding each main point.

Student recalls details for most main points.

Student is not able to locate most of the details of the main point.

Student cannot locate details with accuracy.

Spelling &

Grammar

No spelling, grammar, punctuation errors

Great sense used to describe with authority.

Few errors in spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation generally well-written and

organized

Grade-level appropriate vocabulary.

More than a few errors in spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation. Run-on sentences present

Choppy sentences

Paragraphing errors

Many errors in spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation; poorly written with

errors that interfere with meaning Disorganized

Format

/ Flow

Summary is more than 500 words and appropriately formatted (Readable font, at least 11 point. Proper headings, includes students name and title of assignment). Name in filename

Flow:

connections between paragraphs and thoughts. Solid introduction and conclusion.

Summary exceeds limit by > 50 words.

No demarcation of sections of the chapter. Doesn’t include name or title of assignment. Uses name in document filename

Summary is too short to touch upon important points; supporting evidence not mentioned. Content runs together. No identifying information in document.

Summary is missing most of the necessary information and is written in an unintelligible manner. No identifying information except “Chapter 1 summary”

Name not in filename.

Total ________/50

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