Original summary of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto

Assignment: Write an original summary of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. In a summary, you convey an author’s main ideas in your own words. Imagine that the person reading your summary has not read Marx’s famous manifesto, and your purpose is to provide an overview of the book.

Clarification: Don’t try to list every topic Marx discusses or every point he makes. Instead, select what you think are the most important ideas and communicate them to your reader. Although you may have strong and/or thoughtful responses to his ideas, don’t include your opinions about what he says. The purpose of a summary is to clearly, accurately, and concisely communicate the author’s ideas, not to critique them.

Purpose: In this assignment, you will engage more deeply with an important text. In order to write a good summary, you really have to understand an author’s ideas. This will also be an opportunity for you to practice an important form of writing that you will use in other writing projects in this course and in life! Writing clear, concise, and accurate summaries takes practice.

When to submit: You must submit the paper onlinethrough Canvas by midnight on Tuesday September 11th.

Requirements and Guidelines: Your summary should be 300-500 words. In this course, all writing project should be formatted according to Chicago style: 12pt Times New Roman font, double spaced with one-inch margins. Please include your name and a short title at the top of the page.

Grading Criteria: When we grade your summary, we will look for the following things:
An introductory sentence that introduces the text (Author, title, topic)
The choice of appropriate main ideas to write about
Clear writing that conveys your message effectively
Concision – i.e. explaining the main ideas without too much fluff/supporting detail
Evidence of careful proofreading