Six Strategies of Analyzing Sources-
- Make your source speak
- Attend carefully to the language of your source by quoting or paraphrasing them
- Supply ongoing analysis of sources ( don’t wait until the end)
- Us your sources to ask questions, not just to provide answers
- Put your source into conversation with one another
- Find your own role in the conversation( page 278 W.A.) (A. Agreement: apply it in another context to qualify or expand its implications; B. Seek out other perspectives on the source in order to break the spell it has cast on you ( See an example on pages 279-280, W.A.)
Guidelines for Conversing with Sources
- Avoid the temptation to plug in sources as answers. Aim for a conversation with them. Think of sources as voices inviting you into a community of interpretation, discussion and debate.
- Quote, paraphrase, or summarize in order to analyze. Explain what you take the source to mean, showing the reasoning that has led to the conclusion you draw from it.
- Quote sparingly. You are usually better off centering your analysis on a few quotation, analyzing their key terms, and branching out to aspect of your own subject that the quotations illuminate. Remember that not all disciplines allow direct quotation.
- Don’t underestimate the value of close paraphrasing. You will almost invariably beginning to interpret a source once you start paraphrasing its key language.
- Locate and highlight what is at stake in your source. Which of its points does the source find most important? What positions does it want to modify or refute, and why?
- Look for ways to develop, modify, or apply what a source has said, rather than simply agreeing or disagreeing with it.
- If you challenge a position found in a source, be sure to represent it fairly. First, give the source some credit by identifying assumptions you share with it.Then isolate the part that you intend to complicate or dispute.
- Look for sources that address your subject from different perspectives. Avoid relying too heavily on any one source. Aim at the end to synthesize these perspectives: what is the common ground?
- When your sources disagree, consider playing mediator. Instead of immediately agreeing with one or the other, clarify areas of agreement or disagreement among them.