Writing Tip: Analysis vs. Summary

One of the pitfalls a lot of students encounter in their writing, especially with literary analysis, boils down to the phrase ‘too much summary.’ When I write this in the marginal comments of student papers, I mean the student has provided too much plot summary without enough analysis. 

The best papers provide new insights into their topics. In these papers, (the “A” papers) the students make a claim or an argument, and they prove their argument. They do this through their analysis of the texts. They use portions of the texts that best support their claims, quote or paraphrase them, and then they analyze them. In other words, they make a claim, provide evidence for the claim, and then explain how the evidence works in their favor. This is analysis at its best, and it simply can’t be done if the student is caught up in the plot summary.

When I speak to students about their excessive summarizations, they usually say they thought everything was important. Often, it seems, students get caught up in the plot of the story, and they use the story’s structure as the structure of the paper. They begin their paper with the first actions of the story, and their conclusion describes the end of the story. Now, it’s perfectly fine to work in chronological order, but there must be more to the paper than summary. This is what I often tell my students: “If all I want is to know what happens in the story, I’d read the story. I want to know what you’re going to prove about the story. I want to read something I’ve never read before. I want to be wowed.”

If you’re not sure if you’re falling into the summary trap, here are a few things you can do. First of all, make sure you’re only using the pieces of the story (or movie, poem, song, etc) that best pertain to your claim. Then, you need to provide several sentences that explain those pieces. 

Another trick could be to purposely work out of chronological order because it’s much harder to summarize something that is out of order. 

Finally, I’m not saying don’t summarize. Analysis needs summary. You must provide context from the story before you can provide the evidence and the analysis. The problem arises when nothing follows the context. 

As always, if you’re worried you might be falling into this trap, (or any trap) you’re more than welcome to send your paper to me, and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.