Tools for Taking Scholarly Notes – or Reflections on Assigned Articles
(adapted from Becky Thompson)
** To conserve resources, please print single space and 2 sided**
Address the following 3 topics for each of the articles:
Basics: Article Title, Author, and Name and Date of Publication
Essence*: Briefly (2-4 sentences) summarize the essence of the reading.
Quotes: What short passage best captures the author's ideas, and why? Write out
the passage and then explain its importance to the writing and the social context.
After you have addressed the above topics for each of the readings, answer the
following question for the set of readings (i.e. one response based on the film’s entire
set of 3 articles):
Major Theme: Based on your reading of the 3 articles, what do you view as the
major theme(s)? How do the articles make you rethink your beliefs and attitudes?
~
*The Basics and Essence of a sample article which we will not be reading are
demonstrated below.
The Essence should very succinctly summarize the main ideas contained in the
article. A reader should be able to know from the Essence what information is
contained in an article and whether or not it is an article she/he would find useful
and/or interesting.
Basics: The longest journey, Frances Cairncross. Economist. 2002.
Essence: Powerful economic forces of globalization mean immigration and
immigrants are here to stay. Immigrants cluster at both the upper and lower ends of
the skill spectrum, but it is the unskilled immigrants, those least welcome, who have
the most to gain. Whereas the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, countries
built on immigration, view newcomers as adding to economic strength and cultural
interest, societies such as Europe and Japan where immigration is new are less
receptive to change. Ironically, it is these societies which are aging faster than any
other region and therefore need immigration most.