HSH1000 Chap.13 Writing the Summaries and the Final Project
Writing the Summaries and the Final Project
Two pieces of writing that reward opposite habits
Twenty per cent of the course is a set of short group write ups and thirty per cent is one short individual project. A summary is a record: its value comes from accuracy about what was said and by whom, so the work happens during the meeting and the writing is mostly transcription and compression.
A project is an argument: its value comes from testing one idea properly, so the work happens in advance and the writing is mostly cutting. Students who treat both as essays lose marks at both ends.
The summary has three published targets.
It should show that the group engaged thoughtfully, that it holds the basic concepts securely, and that the exchange itself was good, formatted so a reader can tell which person contributed which point. It runs to 300 to 400 words on the set text, written to a prompt your tutor supplies, and polished prose and outside research are explicitly not what earns the mark.
The third target is the one most groups lose, because it has to be recorded during the meeting rather than reconstructed afterwards.
Nine hundred words, and a hard stop
The project runs to 700 to 900 words, and the course means at least 700 and no more than 900. A longer submission will not necessarily be stopped, but markers may stop at the nine hundredth word and mark only what stands before it, which converts the limit into a budget.
The published advice names four cuts: do not define well known words at length, do not quote large chunks, do not write toward the upper limit for its own sake, and do not try to connect every text, since the assessment is on how well you engage rather than on how many things you touch.
Understanding, engagement, application
Those are the three things a project has to convince its reader of, and the cheapest way to lose marks is to do the first at length and the other two in a closing paragraph.
Understanding should be brief and exact, stated in the course's own vocabulary with the distinctions intact. Critical engagement is where the reading and thinking skills earn their place, by testing the idea rather than admiring it. Application is not a moral at the end; it is a case from your own situation or the present world in which the idea changes what you would say.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The three published targets for a group discussion summary
- 02
Recording contributions during the meeting
- 03
The word budget and the hard reading limit
- 04
The four cuts the published advice names
- 05
Understanding, critical engagement and application as a structure
- 06
Attribution without a dictated citation style
- 07
Declaring generative AI and translation tool use
Turning one paragraph into a project paragraph
- 1Say what is wrong with the statement of the idea.
- 1Say what is missing from the engagement.
- 1Say why the application is empty.
- 1Give the rewritten paragraph.
Key terms
- Group Discussion Summary
- A 300 to 400 word group scored write up of a tutorial discussion of a set text in response to a given prompt.
- Word Budget
- Planning where the 900 permitted words go before drafting, given that markers may stop at that line.
- Critical Engagement
- Testing an idea rather than restating or admiring it, using the reading and reasoning concepts the course teaches.
- AI Declaration
- The course's required form, submitted with every assignment, which must include a transcript or shareable link if a generative tool was used.
- Attribution
- Making clear which words and ideas came from someone else and giving the reader a way to locate them, which the course requires even though it dictates no style.
Writing the Summaries and the Final Project FAQ
What does the summary actually summarise?
The discussion, not the reading. A write up that recounts the text and never names a contributor misses one of the three published targets entirely. The fix is not better prose but a different set of notes: name, claim and line cited, written while the meeting is happening.
Will I be penalised for going over 900 words?
The course says a longer submission will not necessarily be stopped or penalised, but that markers may stop at the nine hundredth word and mark only what stands before it. In practice that is stricter than a penalty, because anything after the line simply does not count.
Which citation style should I use?
None is dictated. The obligation is to make clear which words and ideas are not yours and to give the reader a way to locate the source. The course publishes short inline formats for the set texts, for the lecture videos by rough time stamp, for tutorial slides by number, and for the Primer by section.
Do I have to declare using a chatbot?
Yes, for every assignment, individual or group. Use is generally permitted and unpenalised, but undeclared use counts as plagiarism under university policy. The declaration form needs a transcript, pasted in or linked as a shareable weblink, and translation tools must be declared too.
How many texts should the project connect?
As few as it takes to do the job well. The published advice is explicit that you will be assessed on how well you engage with the texts and concepts rather than on how many you engage with, and in 900 words a second text usually costs more than it adds.
How much does my own tutor matter here?
A great deal. Each tutor provides more specific guidance matched to their own tutorial activities, all projects are graded against the same outcomes, and your tutor is also your grader. Treat their prompt as the operative instruction and bring preparation work to them early.
Exam move
Take the meeting notes during the meeting, in three fields: name, claim, line cited. That single habit protects the twenty per cent the summaries carry. For the project, start collecting material in the first half of the semester, draft to the four part shape rather than to a word count, and cut on the second pass rather than expanding.
Put the idea, stated exactly, in the first two sentences; spend the middle pressing on it; and make the application a specific case the position gets wrong or right. Check every reference against the Canvas version of the text before you submit, including the ones you are sure of.
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