summarizing-amp-quot-american-indians-in-historical-perspective-amp-quot

/in /by

Your task is to compose a 500-600 word summary of Vine Deloria, Jr. and Clifford Lytle’s essay, “American Indians in Historical Perspective” that focuses on the way the text is written . This assignment will challenge you to reduce a fairly dense essay to its essentials while also considering what message the authors are trying to communicate and how they communicate it. To think about the way that this particular essay is written, you might find some of these questions helpful as you structure your summary:

  • What is the authors’ central message? Is there an explicit statement of that message?
  • How do the writers support what they say: by citing facts or statistics? by quoting experts? by noting personal experiences? Are you persuaded?
  • Are there any words, phrases, or sentences that you find notable and that contribute to the text’s overall effect?
  • How does the text’s design affect your response to it?



Part 2: Evaluate two classmates’ summaries in posts of 50-100 words each. What did he/she do well? How might he/she have improved his/her summary? Is there any important information missing?