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Summarizing

A summary should be used with large amounts of text, a whole book or chapter. A summary gives a broad overview of the main points.

All summaries also have a source citation. 

Example:

Prior to “Che's” revolutionary career, he studied to be a doctor. During the semester breaks, he would travel through Latin America meeting many people and sharing their life’s experiences. These trips opened his mind to the plight of the common person. After earning his medical degree, Che met a man who will change his life, Ricardo Rojo. Guevara changes his career plans and travels to Guatemala where he and Ricardo immerse themselves in the resistance to the right-wing coup of democratically elected Jacob Arbenz. It is in Guatemala where Che meets a few Cuban rebels, and after fleeing to Mexico, he meets Fidel Castro. He then joins the Cubans and fights on the front lines for two years until the dictator Batista is overthrown.

Fulgencio Batista had been dictator in Cuba for seven years following his own coup d’etat. His policies eliminated democracy. He voided the constitution, removed Congress, and abolished political parties Although the economy of Cuba thrived during his reign, the poorest Cubans never saw the benefits; there were few schools, a poor health care system, unstable employment, and workers had no right to strike. The young and idealistic opposed Batista most fervently. It was this corrupt Batista government that Che helped to overthrow in 1959.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara held several positions in the new Cuban government: head of agricultural reform, head of the national bank, and head of the ministry of industry. His revolutionary spirit is re-ignited on his travels in poor Latin American countries during this time, and finally in 1965 he decides to leave Cuba to help aid other peoples in their dreams of independence. He hoped for a Pan-American Union. He is killed in Bolivia in 1967 by government forces. Che has become a martyr for the poor and oppressed throughout Latin America and the world.

Skidmore, Thomas and Peter Smith. Modern Latin America. Oxford University Press, 1997. Print. 

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