Week 7 – Analyzing and Summarizing a Text Dr. Erica Cirillo-McCarthy Assistant Director of Graduate and ADEP Writing

 Engaged Reading Strategies  Summarizing Strategies  Using reader response to move towards analysis  But first, any questions on last week’s topic?

 As a reader, you want to engage the text in ways that work for you  As the text makes a mark on you, you in turn make your mark on the text  Effective annotation is one way to mark the text

 Use a highlighter, pen, or pencil  When something strikes you as important, contradictory, or confusing, make a mark  Create your own system of marking up a text: ◦ Question mark for confusing parts to alert you to carefully go over that section or ask your professor or classmates ◦ Circle words you do not know to alert you to look them up in a dictionary ◦ Star next to important parts, such as the thesis or supporting evidence

 The first time you read a text, try to use symbols that will assist you when it comes time to use the text in your writing  Avoid highlighting everything without annotating the reason behind your highlighting  Write in the margins your reader response – what do you think of the methodology? What do you think of the results? What do you think of the theoretical framing?  After your first read through, try to summarize the text in your own words

 For complex texts, go through a paragraph at a time  Conduct a close, engaged reading of the paragraphs in which you use your symbols to mark the text  Next to each paragraph, answer the following questions in one sentence each: ◦ What is the paragraph saying? ◦ What is the paragraph doing, i.e., what purpose does it serve in the text – to add evidence, to address refutations, to review the literature?

 Because academic texts follow similar conventions, use your familiarity with these conventions to help you find crucial information in the text more effectively  Look for the thesis statement – sometimes it is easy to find by its structure: “The purpose of this paper…” or “In this essay, I argue….”  Look at the topic sentences of each paragraph – cutting and pasting topic sentences within a reverse outline will offer an outline of the text  Look at the different sections and their headings – they will visually assist in understanding the organization

 Summary – a clear statement of the main idea/purpose/hypothesis/methodology of a study written in the reader’s own words.  Paraphrase – a much more focused articulation of an idea/purpose/hypothesis/methodology in a study written in the reader’s own words.  Quotation – must have a clear introduction and contextualization. Cannot just be dropped in and never referred to again.

 After your first read through and annotation, immediately write a one-sentence summary of the text  Try to do that off memory – do not glance at the text  Follow a format to help you nutshell the argument: ◦ Using ‘Y’ theoretical framework, the author argues ‘X.’  This move will become increasingly second nature as you move through your graduate career, but only if you practice!!

 Useful for summarizing a text and understanding your response to the text  Create a table with two columns  On the left side, write your objective summary  On the right side, write your subjective response to the text  This serves as a record for you as you move forward and write your research paper/essay

Summary of the textYour response to the text In her article “Is She “Man Enough?” Women Cadidates, Executive Political Offices, and News Coverage,” Meeks argues that systemic gender stereotyping in US government has prevented many female politicians from moving up from local politics to the national stage. The author adds to current research on visual representation of women in government to illustrate her argument. This text was interesting because I never really looked at female candidates through the lens of gender stereotype and expectations. But upon reading the article, I can see how women in government have only two choices: hyper feminized or masculinized identities. The author’s methodology was sound and she added on to the conversation surrounding this topic.

 Practice: access an article you are using now or want to use in a research paper  Let’s go through the first few paragraphs  Practice engaged reading: use symbols to help you understand the text  Write next to each paragraph: what is the paragraph saying? What is the paragraph doing?

 Questions?  Thank you!!