SAMPLE SUMMARIES

Below are four sets of notes compiled according to the Cornell method and four sample summaries based on those notes. You will need to access the texts yourselves for obvious reasons. I have, in fact, been given permission by the BBC to reproduce their texts and graphs but I have been advised to weed out comments by celebrities, which, in a lot of instances, leaves gaping holes in the texts. I have, therefore, refrained and left you with the task of acessing the texts. For more information on summary writing and The Cornell Method, check out the relevant papers: "To Cut a Long Story Short" and "I Will Shout It From The Rooftops"

Do elephants intentionally kill their young?

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6686993.stm
Published: 2007/05/24 11:31:24 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Sample Student Notes:

Pictures: mother elephant threatens to crush/drown calf

              latter rescued

              motherly love?

             Calf 250 bs,

             In papers

              calf, Dumbo, famous, in Germany and world

Zoo keeper’s explanation:natural behaviour

                      prod claf to make him stand

                      heavy handed?

First explanation: motherhod learnt

                          not instinctive

                          cultural, flexible animals

                          learn from experience

                         all females in herd help with calves

                          young cows practice calf care (allo-mothering)

                          during birth, midwife available

                          afterwards, nannies

For Pori: none of this

             Scared, confused

Result: crush, drown calf

Second explanation: killing deliberate

                              poor quality of life

                              kill calf to save it misery

Which is true? Not clear

Conclusion: Pori treated, now both fine

            A young elephant cow tried to crush and drown her calf, Dumbo, who was rescued by zoo staff and then became famous. Pori, the mother, may have just been clumsy; however, there are two other possible explanations for her behaviour. One is that female elephants all pitch in and help in the care of a calf and one even acts as midwife during the birth giving future mothers plenty of practice before their turn comes. Pori, lacking all this experience, valuable learning and support during the birth, may have been scared and confused about what was happening to her. The second possible explanation is that the poor quality of life captive elephants have may have led her to try and save her calf from a similar fate. Pori has been treated and is now getting on fine with Dumbo.

                                                                                                       140 words

Dolphin May Get A Prosthetic Tail
Text: Associated Press

Sample Student Notes

Indian River Lagoon: dolphin injured

                            Bottle nosed dolphin lost tail

Steve McCulloch: treatment?

                           Director of dolphin whale research ....

Solution: prosthetic tail

              first of its kind

Dolphin (Winter) lives in Clearwater Marine Aqu.

Previously in Japan: a prosthesis but partial

On arrival, Winter: 3 months old

                           came in december

Found: fisherman

Accident: tangled in buoy line (crab trap)

               line tangled around tail

               cut off blood supply

               tail fell off

               stump

Treatment: 150 vets

                   fed, nursed her

Winter’s solution: new ways of swimming

                            too slow

                            but happy

Zucker: prosthesis?

            consult diving gear manufacturer

Japanese dolphin: only lost part of her tail

Winter: tail connected to stump

             harder

Tail necessary: swimming without tail bad for spine

Two problems; one: W. will keep growing; three tails

                       two: cost, high but will be met by manufacturer

Winter: a warning to us

            careful about activities in water

Precautions: could be taken; no careless techniques

SAMPLE:

A SUMMARY: THE DOLPHIN THAT LOST ITS TAIL

A dolphin -named Winter- lost her tail through human action. She was caught by a crab trap line and lost her tail while trying to swim away. Scientists found and fed her. Then she started to swim but like no other dolphins. Her swimming style could be harmful to her so scientists decided to solve this problem with a prosthetic tail. This was done by Japanese before but that dolphin lost only a part of her tail. A prosthetic tail could be a solution but it was expensive and difficult to create. Also Winter wouldn't swim like other dolphins that meant she would live in an aquarium for her entire life. A lot of different people helped to design the tail. However, all these weren't the real solution. The perfect solution was teaching adults especially fishermen to be more careful.

Kadircan Ozdemir INT , Oct 2006

Forced to take part in experiments

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4212061.stm
Published: 2005/01/27 13:50:20 GMT

Notes:

Ima S.: now 80

Her life at A.: arrested 1942

                       help in inhuman experiments

                       horrible soup, four slices of bread

                      camphor to block libido

    A. huge, building work

                       food too little

                       death

Previously, Ima: dentists assistant

                  So: nurse

Gestapo: 40 women to Heidelberg

               Ima chosen but saved by friend

               women injected in heart(formaldehyde)

               medical experiments

Polish man:tattoed numbers

                 mistakes

                 crossed out

                 tried again

                 Ima warned him to be careful

                 silly

                 Ima 42646

Experiments on women

Sterilization: ovaries x-rayed

                     30 minutes

                     burns

                     Ima cared for them

                     two died, six lived

                     six months

                     operation

                     two died (unhygenic)

                     white liquid injected

                     destroyed ovaries

   Cancer: caused cancer (with iodine)

                operate

                Ima gave anaesthetic

At the time:followed orders

          Now : remorse

          But: self preservation

          1945: all left on foot

 Destination : camps in Germany

  Escape: hid in dorms

               later found by Americans

               billetted with farmers

               ate

               loved bed

               world beautiful

       Now:gardening(therapy)

                 happy           

Sample Summary

      Ima S.,who is now eighty, was arrested by the Nazis in 1942 and sent to Auschwitz where she had to stay for the next three years. She managed to stay alive, despite the terrible living conditions thanks to her training in nursing which in turn lead to her helping in some inhuman experiments on women. She first became aware of the experiments when forty women including herself were selected to go to Heidelberg to become guneapigs. Ima avoided going but assisted in two different kinds of experiments at Auschwitz. The former involved sterilisation, the latter cancer. The purpose in the first group of experiments was to destroy the ovaries as a result of a protracted, painful, inhuman series of procedures. The purpose in the second was to cause cancer and then operate. Although Ima feels great remorse now for her role in all this, she feels as it was a question of self preservation, she had no choice but to assist. She did finally manage to escape near the end of the war. She has now become a keen gardener and attained a measure of peace.                

(188 words)

Boys 'used for human sacrifice'

 Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4098172.stm
Published: 2005/06/16 16:27:07 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Sample Student Notes:

Children :beaten

                killed

        Why: witches

     Public:silent

                lack of trust

Example: girl tortured

                by aunt+ two others

                beat devil out of her

                10 years old from Angola

                police report

                when Victoria Climbie killed

Investigation: to stop child abuse

                       ensure dialogue

   Who invoved: social workers

                           human rights lawyers

                           race relations experts                                                  

            Report: chilling

                          gruesome

                          rituals, witchcraft

                          big business

                          apply to churches for spells

                          for a strong spell; human sacrifice

                          uncircumcised boys of 10

                    So:  demand for boys

                    But : nobody talks

                             fear of being killed

Second reason: domestic slaves

Third reason: sex with child

                       AIDS cured

How do they know: HIV worker

                                 told in session

Problem: can’t be verified

                widespread?

                 nobody talks

               won’t betray their people, culture

Reason for abuse: faith

Known cases: Adam, Victoria Climbie

Currently: 300 black kids missing in UK

Police report: racist?

Home secretary: more communication

                            dialogue

Fact: criminal organizations involved

Solutions: determine number of faith organizations

                  encourage reporting

Sample Summary

             There have been worrying reports of child abuse involving ritualistic killing and beating out the devil within African communities in Britain. The human sacrifice practiced to guarantee that spells work well involves uncircumcised boys of 10 who are specially provided by criminal organisations. Bigotry and ignorance are also the reasons why such boys are demanded by men with AIDS  with the mistaken belief that they can be cured by having sex with them and also why childen who are believed to be witches are tortured. Not only private individuals but also churches have been accused of such practices as a result of investigations carried out and two cases on record. It is suspected that the problem is more serious than most think, but that people are reluctant to testify for fear of being killed or for fear of being seen to be betraying their people and culture. The solutions decided upon are initially to determine the number of faith organisations and then to encourage reporting.

(165 words)