Step Four: Combine Sets of Key Points into Well-Organized Paragraphs

Now combine your sets of key points into well-organized paragraphs. In order to do so, you will probably have to rephrase your points and sometimes even reorder them.

As you write, transitional words and phrases will help you pinpoint the logic that connects separate points. Some examples of helpful transitional words and phrases.

• although

• even though

• while..

• however

• on the one hand..on the other hand

• still,

• at the same time

• granted

• despite the fact that.

Make sure, however, that in the process you do not change the meaning of the original passage. Note how the careful work to maintain accuracy has been undertaken in the following sentence below: "For example, ancient papyri document slave labor in Egypt during the time that Exodus supposedly occurred." If the word "supposedly" were omitted, the summary would imply that the events in Exodus definitely occurred, when the original passage never implies this to be the case.

You needn't give your summary a title, since your purpose is not to put your own spin on what you have read.

Scholars, drawing upon archeological evidence, debate whether or not the Bible is an accurate record of events in history. "Biblical minimalists" argue that there is no evidence to confirm the existence of the Biblical patriarchs. They argue that the events in the Old Testament are stories, rather than actual events. More moderate scholars say that a lack of evidence does not rule out the possibility that the people in the Bible existed, or that events presented in the Bible actually occurred.

While the minimalists claim there is no archeological evidence to confirm the existence of Abraham, David, or Solomon, other scholars contend that a lack of evidence in the archeological record does not add up to the non-existence of a person, event, or even a city. They point to ruins that may have once been Solomon's garrisons, and present evidence that suggests Exodus may have some basis in historical fact. For example, ancient papyri document slave labor in Egypt during the time that Exodus supposedly occurred.

On the one hand, the overall debate represents a battle between skepticism and faith, with the minimalists being skeptical of the Bible's validity and other scholars having faith in its value as a record of history. Minimalists read the Bible as a biased narrative, while other scholars regard it as framework for discovery of what happened in the past.

There are political and religious implications for the debate. If the Bible is an accurate history, then it validates the claim that Jews, as opposed to Palestinians, have on the Holy Land. If the Bible not an accurate history, then it weakens an ancestral claim on the land. For Christians, the Bible's historical truth legitimizes Christianity and sets up Christ as the one true savior in the history of humankind.

Ultimately, the debate illustrates how political and social forces shape the quest for truth and knowledge.