Intended to give basic students simultaneous practice in reading and writing with an emphasis on accuracy, conciseness, and precision, the "finding the beef" method centers itself on summaries of news events. The first step of the method is to supply students with the appropriate data blocks based on news events, preferably those relating to public meetings and reports of public bodies, and those relating to one-time occurrences, such as accidents or fires. Students assume the role of reporters and attempt to write a summary of the information presented. They determine the most important information, then express their judgments about key information in the form of brief or telegraphic sentences. One of these kernel sentences becomes the capstone of a subsequent 30-word summary paragraph. If time permits, data blocks may be used to generate two- and three-paragraph summaries. When students are ready to move on to more inferential reading and writing, they can read and summarize newspaper editorials. Finally, students can generate their own data blocks from personal experiences, and use the "find the beef" method to write descriptive essays. (Sample data blocks, kernel sentences, and summaries are included.) (HTH)