Summary & Analysis of Paulo Freire’s The Banking Concept of Education”
A very common type of writing you will produce in your academic career is a source summary. The ability to engage in close reading of a text, identify salient arguments and evidence, and present the text’s ideas in your own words is foundational to entering academic conversations. Summaries also serve an important role in helping other readers make sense of a difficult text. You might think of summary as the job of a tour guide: you are offering your readers a brief glimpse into another world.
As you learned from Greene and Lidinsky’s chapter, writing a summary involves a great deal of critical thinking and evaluation on the part of the writer. You must identify the author’s thesis (what Greene and Lidinsky call “the gist”), uncover how the key claims of that thesis are supported and developed, evaluate the conversational contexts of the author’s work, and, at all points, consider how your perspective affects your interpretation of the text.
For Essay #1, please write a summary and analysis of an excerpt from educational philosopher Paulo Freire’s famous work Pedagogy of the Oppressed . Your audience will be educated peers who have read Freire’s essay but who need your assistance understanding its “gist” and supporting arguments.
Your summary essay should include those elements Greene and Lidinsky recommend:
- the context of Freire’s argument
- a clear statement of what you feel to be “the gist” of Freire’s argument
- a description of the key claims of the text
- relevant examples (direct quotations or paraphrases) taken from the text to support your interpretation
As no summary is neutral, you will want to weave an analytical thread throughout your summary that suggests to the reader your judgment of the value of Freire’s argument. You might consider including suggestions for how your readers might practice Freire’s ideas, how Freire’s claims can help you succeed as a student, or point out the gaps and flaws in Freire’s argument.
Guidelines for Essay #1 Length/Due Date: approximately 600 words, due Sunday midnight Central Time.
Style/Format: This, as all essays in EN106, should be formatted in a standard scholarly format. (Most students follow MLA or APA guidelines, which are outlined in Easy Writer.) No matter what format you follow, be sure to do the following:
- Use 12 point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
- Use 1-inch margins top, bottom, and sides.
- Although no cover page is needed, you should include your name, my name, the course number/title, and date at the upper left-hand corner of the manuscript.
References: Essay #1 should refer to Freire’s work at least three times. In each references, use quotations or paraphrases of Freire’s ideas. Also, include in-text citations that follow MLA or APA style.
File format: Please submit your essay as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. These formats are available in most word processors, including Google Docs and Open Office, and will ensure that your instructor is able to comment on your work.
Works Cited/References: Because you will be referring to Freire’s essay, please create an appropriate bibliography, with one entry for Freire’s essay.
Titles: Include a descriptive title at the beginning of your essay that tips your readers off to your central interpretation of Freire’s work. Do not format your title with quotation marks, boldface, underlining or italics. Quotation marks or underlining are only appropriate if the title borrows words from another source.
Deadline: Submit your final draft essay no later than Midnight on Sunday at the end of this unit.
Use of essays for future courses: Please understand that your essay may be used— anonymously—as a sample for future EN106 students and instructors unless you expressly request that it not be used. Your work, of course, will only be used for educational purposes.