The article, written by Dr. Bush in 1945, is quite long and uses a somewhat dry academic style. There are quite lengthy digressions into explanations about technologies now obsolete and some of the language is rather stilted and formal.

The original article was just under 8000 words in length so there was some discussion in our tutor group about how ‘succinct’ our summary should be. The sample answer comprised 850 words of which 235 were quoted. My answer is very close to this.

Using the structured layout of numbered headings in the article as the basis for my web page, I had to summarise the central points covered by Dr. Bush. The actual method of doing so was left to the individual student although some guidance was given, for example about using cut-and-paste techniques. I used a combination of my own summary and quotes from the text, distinguished in red.

Dr. Bush’s vision covered many fascinating ideas and concepts. It was interesting to go through the essay picking out the key points since the exercise was not to summarise the entire article but to distil the essence of each section. Some sections had more key points than others.

Language is one of my strengths but critical reading is still a challenge and highlights a skill that will be useful to me in future studies.