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Reading a Summary Like an Editor

Three short lessons on checking a summary against its source: a faithful one, one that stretches by dropping a caveat, and one that invents a claim the source never made.

Spark & Whetstone · sparkwhetstone.org/learn/reading-a-summary-like-an-editor · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Answers are at the end, so you can try each question first.

Lesson 1. Faithful

A faithful summary is shorter than its source but says nothing the source does not. It keeps the numbers, the limits and the "may"s.

To check one, put it beside the source and match every claim to a line. If each claim has a line, it is faithful.

Question. How do you check that a summary is faithful?

  1. See if it sounds confident.
  2. Match each of its claims to a line in the source.
  3. Check that it is short.

Say it back. In your own words: what makes a summary faithful?

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Lesson 2. Stretched

A stretched summary takes a real finding and makes it bigger, usually by dropping the caveat. "A study in mice found the drug may slow tumour growth" becomes "Drug slows cancer".

The tell is a missing limit: who it was tested on, how many, "may", "early results". Look for what the source was careful about, and see if it survived.

Question. The source: "In a small trial, the app may have helped some users sleep longer." Which summary is stretched?

  1. In a small trial, the app may have helped some users sleep longer.
  2. The app helps people sleep longer.
  3. A small trial looked at the app and sleep.

Say it back. Say it back: what is usually missing from a stretched summary?

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Lesson 3. Invented

An invented summary makes a claim the source never made at all, often one that sounds like it belongs. Machine-written summaries are especially prone to this, and so are rushed people.

The tell is a claim with no matching line anywhere. If you search the source and cannot find it, treat the claim as unsupported, however sensible it sounds.

Question. A summary says the study "was funded by a sleep company", but the source never mentions funding. What should you do?

  1. Assume it is true; it sounds likely.
  2. Treat it as unsupported until you find a source for it.
  3. Delete the whole summary.

Say it back. In your own words: how do you spot an invented claim?

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At the table: Three summaries

Players: two or three people, 13 or older. You'll need: a short news article, paper and pens.

  1. One person reads the article and writes three one-sentence summaries: faithful, stretched and invented.
  2. Shuffle them. The others read the article and sort the three.
  3. For each, point to the line that proves it, or the caveat that was dropped.
  4. Swap who writes next time.

Answers

  1. Match each of its claims to a line in the source. — A faithful summary has a source line for every claim it makes.
  2. The app helps people sleep longer. — "The app helps people sleep longer" drops "small trial", "may" and "some users", so it claims more than the source.
  3. Treat it as unsupported until you find a source for it. — With no matching line, the claim is unsupported. It might be true, but this source does not say so.