Text-based research Interpreting with analysis and

Transcript:Text-based research Interpreting with analysis and:
Text-based research Interpreting with analysis and synthesis Text-based research Situating Research Questions All good research projects will begin by looking at what other scholars have already researched. You “situate” your research by finding sources that can lead to your research question. Reporting on Current Research Collect a number of sources to report on a topic. Compare or combine sources to summarize a topic. Interpretative Synthesis Use previous sources as a lens to look at a current topic Interpret a topic by looking at its history or origins. What is a text? Clifford Gertz defines texts: “cultural forms can be treated as texts, as imaginative works built out of social materials.” Texts can be the “work,” but they are made up of other texts or artifacts within a text. This PowerPoint is a text, but each slide could be read/interpreted as another text. Books, articles, movies, dance, videogames, art, songs, billboards, what else? Interpretation Text-based research that answers new research questions usually does so through two strategies of interpretation Analysis – taking apart a text to see how it works, what its about, how it accomplishes a goal. Synthesis – comparing a text to another text or set of texts. Creating something new from old materials. Analysis Analysis usually follows this pattern: Introduce how you will analyze something. “I will evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of Donald Trump’s stump speech.” Summarize the big picture (i.e. what is the text about) “As with many politicians, Donald Trump’s stump speech is a series of platform orientated commonplaces. Trump relies on pathos more than the other candidates, and uses false dilemmas and ad homenim attacks. Provide evidence from the text that supports the analysis. “Trump’s speeches rely on building an opposition to attack, so that he can use expressions of “winning.” Because his campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again,” he has to first describe everything bad about America before he can be the “winner.” Synthesis Synthesis usually follows this pattern: Introduce how you will synthesize something “For freshman composition, in philosophy and pedagogy, reinforces the values and virtues embodied not only in the very existence of America's vast middle class, but in its general well-being-read promotion of the ability to think critically and responsibly, and the maintenance of safety, order, cleanliness, efficiency.” (Bloom 655) Introduce interpretive lenses or comparative texts while comparing evidence from the comparative texts to the text you are interpreting. “As