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Home  Document Types Analyzing Journal Articles & Essays
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Analyzing Journal Articles & Essays |
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Answering any, or all, of the following questions will help you to analyze most journal articles and essays.
1. EXAMINE THE TITLE
- What does the author tell you in the title?
- Does the title specify the topic or main idea?
- Does the title merely imply the subject?
- Does the title arouse interest?
- Is the title brief/provocative/relevant?
- Does the title indicate the author's attitude toward the subject?
2. IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA
- Is the main idea stated or implied?
- Is the main idea expressed in the first paragraph, in the body, or at the end?
- If the main idea is at the end, does this placement add suspense or clarify details or merely cause a lack of interest?
- Is the main idea stated in more than one place?
- Is the placement of the main idea the best arrangement for the article/essay?
- Does this placement add interest or confusion?
- What are the advantages/disadvantages in such an arrangement?
- Could the main idea escape the reader completely?
- Does the author adhere to the main idea?
- Does the author use any of the following to support the main idea?
- actual situations or definite places
- descriptive or narrative materials
- anecdotes or incidents
- quotations
- Did the techniques used contribute to the argument?
3. ANALYZE THE STRUCTURE
- Can you identify a definite plan of organization (for example, beginning, body, end)?
- Did the author do any of the following?
- analyze the subject matter
- categorize the material
- chronologically develop ideas
- compare and contrast material
- use a combination of any of these
- Is the structure clear and logical?
- Are the transitional words/phrases adequate to help the reader follow the author’s ideas?
- Does the author have logical support for ideas?
- Does the author use evidence to support claims?
- Does the author overuse generalizations or make mistakes in logic?
- How does the author add interest and variety?
- Is the ending consistent with the beginning?
- Does the ending weave together threads of ideas from within the article/essay?
- Is the ending a restatement of a high point?
4. EVALUATE THE STYLE OF THE ARTICLE/ESSAY
- Is this an academic or a popular source?
- Is the tone consistent with this format?
- Does the author's personality show in the writing?
- Are individual situations or overall ideas stressed?
- Does the author's background influence the article/essay?
- What is the author's point of view?
- What role does the author’s point of view play in the subject?
- What techniques are used to produce the author’s style?
- vocabulary
- technical words
- descriptive words
- unusual inversions of words
- forceful or weak words
- definitions
- allusions to other works
- satire
- imagery and figurative language
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Tidbits
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I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC;
It plainly marques four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it
I'm sure your pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
William M. Bulkeley, “PC Dictionaries, Full of Features, Win More Users,” Wall Street Journal August 4 1992, B1.
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