Summarizing: Non-Fiction



Summarizing: Non-Fiction

Practical nonfiction is designed to communicate information in circumstances where the quality of the writing is not considered as important as the content. Practical nonfiction appears mainly in popular magazines, newspaper feature articles, and in self-help and how-to books. . . .

Literary nonfiction puts emphasis on the precise and skilled use of words and tone, and the assumption that the reader is as intelligent as the writer. While information is included, insight about that information, presented with some originality, may predominate. Sometimes the subject of literary nonfiction may not at the onset be of great interest to the reader, but the character of the writing may lure the reader into that subject.

Tips when summarizing non fiction texts:

1. Start by skimming the text to get an idea of what the text is about.

2. Find or create a topic sentence. This will be the main theme/topic of the text.

3. Cross out sentences that are not necessary or that are redundant to help them pull out what is crucial to the message of the piece.

4. Mark key words and phrases and jot down notes about the main idea. Look for signal words such as therefore, in conclusion, or in summary.

5. Reread the text and write a summary paragraph. State the text's main idea in the first sentence and include the most important information. Be sure to not include any opinions of their own or sentences word-for-word from the original text.

Stretch your Thinking?

Here are some general questions for you to consider when summarizing either fiction or nonfiction:

• What happened?

• Who was involved?

• What was the outcome?

• Is the essential piece of information included?

• Are interesting but nonessential facts or details eliminated?

• Would someone who read my summary really understand the main points of the text?

Montreal’s Dufour-Lapointe sisters win gold, silver in moguls

1. Using the tips and strategies studied in class summarize this article in 5 to 10 sentences.

2. How were the sister’s inspirations and motivating factors for each other?

3. Siblings can often get a bad rap; sibling rivalry, jealously and fighting are usually the topics when discussing siblings. Aside from these negative aspects of our loved ones, describe a time in your life when your sibling (or friend, if no siblings) helped you through a challenge, problem or difficult time.

4. Scrapbook time! Bring in a picture of your sibling (or friend, if no sibling) and glue it into your Olympic scrapbook. Below the picture write down an inspirational quote or a loving thank you to this special person, think of the Lapointe sisters and their inspirational Olympic medals!

Montreal’s Dufour-Lapointe sisters win gold, silver in moguls

1. Using the tips and strategies studied in class summarize this article in 5 to 10 sentences.

2. How were the sister’s inspirations and motivating factors for each other?

3. Siblings can often get a bad rap; sibling rivalry, jealously and fighting are usually the topics when discussing siblings. Aside from these negative aspects of our loved ones, describe a time in your life when your sibling (or friend, if no siblings) helped you through a challenge, problem or difficult time.

4. Scrapbook time! Being in a picture of your sibling (or friend, if no sibling) and glue it into your Olympic scrapbook. Below the picture write down an inspirational quote or a loving thank you to this special person, think of the Lapointe sisters and their inspirational Olympic medals!

Montreal’s Dufour-Lapointe sisters win gold, silver in moguls

1. Using the tips and strategies studied in class summarize this article in 5 to 10 sentences.

2. How were the sister’s inspirations and motivating factors for each other?

3. Siblings can often get a bad rap; sibling rivalry, jealously and fighting are usually the topics when discussing siblings. Aside from these negative aspects of our loved ones, describe a time in your life when your sibling (or friend, if no siblings) helped you through a challenge, problem or difficult time.

4. Scrapbook time! Being in a picture of your sibling (or friend, if no sibling) and glue it into your Olympic scrapbook. Below the picture write down an inspirational quote or a loving thank you to this special person, think of the Lapointe sisters and their inspirational Olympic medals!

Montreal’s Dufour-Lapointe sisters win gold, silver in moguls

1. Using the tips and strategies studied in class summarize this article in 5 to 10 sentences.

2. How were the sister’s inspirations and motivating factors for each other?

3. Siblings can often get a bad rap; sibling rivalry, jealously and fighting are usually the topics when discussing siblings. Aside from these negative aspects of our loved ones, describe a time in your life when your sibling (or friend, if no siblings) helped you through a challenge, problem or difficult time.

4. Scrapbook time! Bring in a picture of your sibling (or friend, if no sibling) and glue it into your Olympic scrapbook. Below the picture write down an inspirational quote or a loving thank you to this special person, think of the Lapointe sisters and their inspirational Olympic medals!

Montreal’s Dufour-Lapointe sisters win gold, silver in moguls

Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal Canada’s first gold medallist in Sochi, sister Chloe places second.

DecreaseKRASNAYA POLYANA, RUSSIA—They jumped up and down holding each other, screaming at the top of their lungs, too excited to make any sense.

Not Canada’s gold and silver medal-winning sisters, Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe . It was their parents, Johane Dufour and Yves Lapointe, standing at the bottom of the moguls run, watching the big screen, desperate to put their arms around their daughters.

“I’m so shaky I don’t know what to say,” Dufour said. “I’m so anxious to grab my babies. That’s the only thing I have in my head.”

Justine, Canada’s first gold medallist of the Sochi Olympicsat age 19, and Chloe, the 22-year-old silver medallist, were far more composed.

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Going to the Olympics as a family — eldest sister Maxime made it to the final and placed 12th — is something these three sisters have always believed was possible, even when others didn’t.

They predicted it years ago, but few on Canada’s freestyle ski team really believed Maxime, who turned 25 as her sisters were getting their medals, would get the results she needed to qualify. She proved them wrong.

Even after the sisters arrived, the team’s medal expectation was still one. They delivered two.

Not much seemed to faze Justine on Saturday. When told Prime Minister Stephen Harper was calling, she calmly inquired, “individually or speaker phone?”

“It’s awesome being the first gold medal (winner) for Canada. It’s great and I will embrace that moment forever.”

Right before she stepped on to the podium, Justine said she was happy to have company.

“I saw Chloe and I took her hand,” she said. “We’ll live that moment together.”

That’s also when she heard her parents over the loud, enormous crowd between them.

“It wasn’t any other scream that I heard. It was my parents. They were just so happy,” Justine said, laughing. “Even me, I’m not that happy. I’m happy, but they were just way over happy.”

The family passion came about quite by accident. Dufour and Lapointe set out to raise sailors. Close-quarters trips on the family boat helped to forge the bonds that they rely on today.

They also skied in the Laurentians, north of their home in Montreal, starting lessons by the age of 3. But skiing was just a way to make the winter go by faster. In the summer, they were on the boat sailing every weekend — until Maxime decided change all that.

She started competing in moguls at 10, lured by the jumps. Her two younger sisters, seeing the fun she was having travelling with the team, wanted in.

Before they knew it, the parents were sailing alone while the daughters travelled around Quebec and later the world with elite teams.

Early on, Justine was known as fast and fearless, Chloe was the stylish one over the moguls, and Maxime was always one of the most skilled jumpers on the World Cup circuit. Winning requires excellence in all three areas.

Over the last two years, Justine has developed the full package to the point where she could, on occasion, challenge Hannah Kearney — the 2010 Olympic champion and one of the dominant freestyle skiers of all time, who finished third here.

On Saturday night, under the lights at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Justine and Chloe got better with each of the three runs on a challenging course. Kearney made the same mistake in the same place, landing off her top jump.

“It is tough to know that your Olympic career is over and it didn’t go as well as you wanted it to,” said Kearney, tears streaming down her face after winning the bronze medal.

Watching the event was Jean-Luc Brassard, the Canadian team’s assistant chef de mission who inspired a generation of Quebec moguls skiers with his 1994 Olympic gold medal. “We were dreaming about having three people on the podium, but two is already better than our real expectation,” he said.

Brassard had dinner with the three sisters earlier in the week in the athletes’ village and was struck by how confident the D-Ls — as they are often called — seemed to be: “I was amazed they were having fun, but focused. They had a plan.”

Said Chloe, who placed fifth in her first Olympics in Vancouver: “It was a big day, but a day I expected for four years. Tonight I pushed myself into that course, I gave my everything. It was a challenging course. This course needed to be skied with emotion. I skied it with my heart and the judges saw it.”

Even more emotional was sharing the podium with her younger sister and the Olympic experience with her oldest.

“We are so proud to represent Canada,” Chloe said. “To be the Dufour-Lapointe sisters at the Olympics was a challenge that we accomplished.”

Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud, the fourth Canadian in the field, wound up 10th.

Maxime, who worked hard to change her style to get to the Olympics, said she wasn’t upset about not making it onto the podium.

“I got caught by a technical mistake,” she said. “So what? I’m 12th in my first Olympics. There’s no disappointment. I’m going home head up.”

The sisters, who skipped the opening ceremonies because they were too close to the competition, plan to stay in Sochi to soak it all in.

“It’s crazy, being an Olympic champion. I don’t believe it,” Justine said, “but probably I will tomorrow.”

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