Discussion: Deconstructing a Non-Scholarly
Discussion: Deconstructing a Non-Scholarly
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This Critical Reading: Deconstructing a Non-Scholarly Text assignment will challenge you to identify the assumptions, context, situatedness, and embedded logic of an argument through the close reading of a non-scholarly text. This is not an exercise in determining whether the author is wrong or right in his or her position, as these value judgments are typically irrelevant to the purpose of scholarship. Instead, unearthing these components through an analytical process allows you to discover evidence of (conscious or unconscious) “decisions” made by the author in writing the text. This evidence will (in turn) assist you in making valid, empirically driven claims regarding the text.
Locate a short, opinion- or position-based article or essay, preferably written by only one author.
- Please do not select a peer-reviewed, scholarly source for this assignment.
- Your selected article or essay should be from a popular publication (e.g. newspaper editorials, blogs, political pundits’ web sites, educational or health care activist organizations’ sites).
Engage in a systematic process of closely reading the text. Attempt to derive a sense of meaning from the text that is not an explicit argument the author is making, but is empirically grounded in the text nonetheless. Examples of this sense of meaning might include:
- Uncovering a political or ideological position based on the historical nature of examples used by the author.
- Determining an author’s value system around a particular issue by analyzing hierarchical structures in his or her essay’s organization.
Complete the Critical Reading: Deconstructing a Non-Scholarly Text Template.
Submit your completed template prior to the start of Day 2 by clicking the Critical Reading: Deconstructing a Non-Scholarly Text Assignment Files tab.
DOC 705R DAY 3 Scholarly Writing Analysis: Constructing New Meaning From Multiple Sources
Conduct a critical analysis of the Payne and Gainey (2003) and Tsui (2002) articles located in the Course Electronic Reserve Readings.
Complete the Scholarly Writing Analysis: Constructing New Meaning From Multiple Sources Worksheet.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your worksheet.
Bring a hard copy of your assignment (with your name omitted) to class on Day 3 for a peer review activity.
