Each of these practices involves sophisticated interpretive and argumentative skills, and these will be practiced in the writing assignments you have been set. It also examines the Toulmin model for charting the structure of an argument, and on how to identify assumptions, implications and counterexamples. This involves trying to identify a key question or problem that can be located within the discussions the authors are having, a problem or question that is of relevance to your own interests, experience or views. You will use this problem or question to anchor your synthesis and analysis of author's texts. The synthesis exercises we will do are designed to help see patterns in the conversations that exist between authors, of identifying order in what at first sight may appear to be a mass of different ideas.
Analysis involves exploring and evaluating the various authors positions.
We will be looking at argumentative strengths and weaknesses, at the use of evidence, at chains of reasoning, and at a number of other criteria by which to evaluate arguments. In you final paper you will put together the skills covered in the previous sections in order to construct a sophisticated research paper. Using Additional texts Many of the articles we will read will have clear links between them some directly criticize each other, some draw on each other as support, and some engage with the general theoretical positions held by various different authors. As you come to figure out your own position with respect to the arguments we will read, you may want to locate supplementary articles from the web, library, or newspaper. Depending on which issues you choose to focus on when working on your analysis and final paper, you may find that you wish to use texts other than those we read in the class.