Return to Jim Thomas's homepage
When you read assignments, use the following to guide you:
Guidelines for Reading and Class Discussion
A. Exposition: What is the author saying?
1. What are the central questions being addressed?
2. What assumptions underlie the author's work?
3. What hypotheses or problems are presented?
4. What conclusions are drawn?
B. Application: What supportive evidence is produced?
1. Quality of the the evidence? Direct or indirect?
Fragmentary or comprehensive?
2. Does the evidence support the argument?
3. Are there guidelines for action?
C. Comparison and Contrast: How does the author's work
contrast with others on this issue?
1. Does it advance upon a particular theory or thesis?
2. Does it fill existing gaps in our knowledge?
3. Does it synthesize existing ideas?
4. Does it undermine prevailing theories or arguments?
D. Criticisms: What are the work's strengths and weaknesses?
1. Are concepts clearly defined and consistently presented?
2. Are assumptions clearly stated?
3. Is the evidence relevant to the arguments made?
4. Is the work logically coherent, or is the argument
contradictory?
E. Innovation: What, if anything, is new or novel in this work?
1. New ideas? Old thoughts expressed in new ways?
2. Where and how can be build on this work?
Return to Jim Thomas's homepage
Page maintained by: Jim Thomas - jthomas@math.niu.edu