Source Analysis, Paper 2
This activity will help you prepare to write your Unit II paper by helping you understand what
your target source is saying. It will also help you double-check that your source is substantive
and will be a good choice for this paper.
Is Your Source Substantive?
Give me 5 reasons you believe your source is substantive below. You may wish to use the
library’s source-type chart to help you.
Is there anything this source does that might put it in either a commercial or academic category?
Why do you think it is substantive despite those non-substantive traits?
Summary:
Give me a paragraph summarizing your source. Remember that summary is just a neutral
restatement of what the article literally says, and does not include your reaction to it or analysis
of it. Your paragraph should be a minimum of 150 words.
Analysis:
As you prepare your analysis, remember that you want to keep both summary and reader reaction
to a minimum: this is the place to figure out the text’s goals and methods, not to discuss your
own experience.
When we talked about analysis, we talked about how every piece of writing has a goal it wants to
achieve, or an effect it wants to create in the reader. What is the goal of this piece of writing?
Give me at least three things that this article does to create its goal and explain how it uses them.
You may list more if you like. (If you cannot remember what this is, see the section on “Reading
Arguments” in the Writer’s Reference.)
Are these things or techniques the article uses to create its goal fair? Reasonable? Or are they
unethical, irrational, or have other flaws that we learned about on analysis day?
Reader Reaction:
Reader reaction is the place to talk about how you feel/think about this! As we’ve discussed in
class, most readers have multiple reactions to an article. It is rare for a person to be entirely
happy with or entirely disgusted by a thing. For each of the questions below, offer a quotation
from your source and then explain your reactions to it.
What is at least one thing that you reacted favorably to in this source? In other words, something
you really liked, agreed with, or a useful thing you learned? You may list more if you want.
What is at least one thing that you reacted unfavorably to in this source? In other words,
something that you disliked, disagreed with, or thought was untrue? You may list more if you
want.
What is at least one thing that you were not sure how to think about, that confused you, or that
didn’t seem to fit in with the source? You may list more if you want.
Overall, what made you choose this source to use for your paper?
You’re Done!
Good work. Please post this document to Blackboard / Workshop Boards / P2 Source Analysis
before Monday’s class.