Based on assignments given by Professor Wendy Wagner, Johnson & Wales University, 2011. Revised with
permission.
TED Talks Summary Assignment
Instructions for Submission: Post in OAKS Discussion Area, under Topic labeled TED Talks
Summaries.
What Is TED Talks?
TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It began in 1984 as a nonprofit
devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.
Assignment:
Choose one of the talks available at www.ted.com, answer the questions listed below and write a
summary. You should pick a talk that discusses an idea, topic or experience you find highly
interesting as you will be completing later assignments based on this talk.
MLA Source Citation:
(Follow this Example taken from http://libguides.greenriver.edu)
Lectures, speeches, addresses, readings, and other web video presentations:
Speaker (last name, first name). “Title of presentation.” Sponsoring organization, date of
presentation. Web. Date of access (day month year).
Bittman, Mark. “What’s Wrong with What We Eat.” TEDTalks, Dec. 2007. Web. 18 May 2009.
Summary of the Talk.
In your summary, when you quote or paraphrase the presenter in your summary, you must
provide a proper in-text citation using MLA style, as seen in the example below. If you use a
direct quotation, make sure to include quotation marks. If you use a longer quote, please use
block quotes. For examples, visit http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-
0001.html
Example 1: During the presentation, Jane Yates stated that invention and pre-writing are areas
of rhetoric that need more attention.
Example 2: Companies can monitor employees’ every keystroke without legal penalty, but they
may have to combat low morale as a result (Lane).
Please Answer the Following:
1) My Name:
2) I chose the TED Talk titled:
3) It is located at (web address or URL):
