Aims: What is the author trying to achieve? What position do they want to argue? What issues or problems do they explore?
Methods: How does the author relate examples to ideas? How do they connect one claim to the next, build a sense of continuity and flow?
Materials: Where does the writer go for examples and evidence? What texts are cited and discussed? What experiences or events are described? (19)
Noting keywords or passages in the text
What aspects of this text stand out for you as a reader? (20)
Find opportunities to incorporate these specific words, phrases, and sentences into your paper by quoting them and explaining their significance. See Harris’s strategies for different types of quotations (29-31).
Assessing the uses and limits of the author’s approach
“[A]ny perspective on an issue (and there are often more than two) will have moments of both insight and blindness. A frame offers a view but also brackets something out. A point of view highlights certain aspects and obscures others” (24-25).
With these thoughts in mind, what aspects of the author’s thinking are most useful, helpful, persuasive, and insightful? What are the limitations of this perspective? What does this perspective overlook or leave out?
This is not a requirement, but you are welcome to turn to a brief example to further illustrate how the author’s perspective is helpful or limited.
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