- The first purpose of this paper is to restate the author’s argument in your own words. Simply identifying the main thesis of the text, and then detailing the various steps of the argument the author uses to come to that conclusion, should occupy 60% of your paper. NB: To restate the argument of the text in your own words means that you should only use quotes from the text sparingly, and when absolutely crucial. But you should still cite (parenthetically) the page of the text where you specific ideas from. Whenever you paraphrase something specifically, show where you are getting the idea from textually. This is a form of evidence; it strengthens your argument.
- The second purpose is to analyze the article. This should take approx. 30% of your paper. In order to do this you must take a step back from the argument made and ask questions of it and the author. Some examples of analytic questions that it might be pertinent to ask are the following:
- To whom is the author speaking/writing?
- What is motivating the author? Why does he/she want to convince you of X?
- What is the author’s starting point? What do they presuppose or assume?
- What is the genre of the text (sermon, letter, journal article, etc.)?
- What is the theoretical framework of the study? What counts as evidence?
- What kind of evidence is provided?
- Supporting
- Countering
- What are the implications of this argument, beyond the text? How does it connect to theories, ideas, texts, questions we’ve been introduced to in the class?
NB: you will not have space to answer all of these so decide which one’s are the most important in each case.
- Once you have completed that task, then evaluate the text’s claim and argument. Is it convincing? What are its strengths and weakness? Are there inconsistencies in logic, or gaps in the argument? Are there underlying assumptions with which you disagree? Your evaluation should take up the final 10% of the paper.