writershelp

Charts and guidelines (pop-up windows)

Guidelines for actively reading a written text

Previewing a written text

Who
A-supp-1
is the author? What are the author’s credentials?
What is the author’s purpose: To inform? To persuade? To call to action?
Who is the expected audience?
When was the text written? Where was it published?
What kind of text is it: A book? A report? A scholarly article? A policy memo?

Annotating a written text

What surprises, puzzles, or intrigues you about the text?
What question or problem does the text attempt to answer or solve?
What is the author’s thesis, or central claim?
What type of evidence does the author provide to support the thesis? How persuasive is this evidence?

Conversing with a written text

What are the strengths and limitations of the text?
Has the author drawn conclusions that you question? Do you have a different interpretation of the evidence?
Does the text raise questions that it does not answer?
Does the author consider opposing points of view? Does the author seem to treat sources fairly?

Asking the “So what?” question

Why does the author’s thesis need to be argued, explained, or explored? What’s at stake?
What has the author overlooked in presenting this thesis? What’s missing?

Guidelines for writing a summary of a written text

Guidelines for writing a summary

In the first sentence, mention the title of the text, the name of the author, and the author’s thesis or the visual’s central point.
Maintain a neutral tone; be objective.
Use the third-person point of view and the present tense: Taylor argues. . . .
Keep your focus on the text. Don’t state the author’s ideas as if they were your own.
Put all or most of your summary in your own words; if you borrow a phrase or a sentence from the text, put it in quotation marks and give the page number in parentheses.
Limit yourself to presenting the text’s key points.
Be concise; make every word count.

Summary of a written text (big-box stores)

In her essay “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street,” Betsy Taylor argues that chain stores harm communities by taking the life out of downtown shopping districts. Explaining that a community’s “soul” is more important than low prices or consumer convenience, she argues that small businesses are better than stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot because they emphasize personal interactions and don’t place demands on a community’s resources. Taylor asserts that big-box stores are successful because “we’ve become a nation of hyper-consumers,” although the convenience of shopping in these stores comes at the expense of benefits to the community. She concludes by suggesting that it’s not “anti-American” to oppose big-box stores because the damage they inflict on downtown shopping districts extends to America itself.

—Emilia Sanchez, student

Annotated written text

Guidelines for analyzing a written text

A-supp-5

Instructors who ask you to analyze an essay or an article often expect you to address some of the following questions:

What questions (stated or unstated) does the author address? Or what problem does the author attempt to solve?
What is the author’s thesis, or central idea?
How does the author structure the text? What are the key parts, and how do they relate to one another and to the thesis?
Who is the intended audience? What strategies has the author used to generate interest in the argument and to persuade readers of its merit?
What evidence does the author use to support the thesis? How persuasive is the evidence?
Does the author anticipate objections and counter opposing views?
Does the author use any faulty reasoning?