[Date-Month-Year of Submission]
Summary of An Article
There are many opinion-based articles published on the internet every second. Many of these articles talk about relevant issues that involve common people. Since the internet is the most widely accessible platform, several people rely on the internet for news, updates and feedbacks. That is the reason many of the articles on the internet should be readable and easy to understand. The authors of these articles should remember that not everyone can understand everything that they put into their works. Not every reader who would come across the article is a native speaker of English, more so, not everyone is familiar with the technical terms in medicine, business or law.
This was the case of an article entitled Preparing for Disaster by Betting against it, which appeared in the New York Times’ blog last February 12, 2014 (Keohane). At first, the article was talking about the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The first paragraph was easy to follow. It immediately gives the reader to opportunity to look back to the time when Hurricane Sandy visited New York in 2012. Then suddenly in the second and third paragraph the author began introducing new names and concepts into the discussion. There was suddenly the financial crisis in 2008 and then several other similar natural calamities were cited. In an instant, a reader becomes fed with too much information and all for an unclear connection with the need for insurance and financial security. The author became too technical in using terminologies that may not be familiar with the ordinary reader. There were so many examples provided, and many interconnections presented that may not be clear if one would try to relate it with the article’s title. From the description of the author of the article, it is quite understandable that she uses technical terms particularly business terminologies. She was also a credible source based on how she was described in a short biographical sketch following her article.
Overall, the article made no sense to me or my community. It is not that it does not matter but because of the way it was presented by the author it appears as though this issue was something that was meant for businesses and the government. It seemed as though the ordinary person who is not into the business of insurance or the government are simply excluded from participating into the discussion because they have no financial means to get involved in the first place.
Work Cited
Keohane, Georgia Levenson. “Preparing for Disaster By Betting Against It.” Opinionator. The New York Times Company, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
