ARTICLE ANALYSIS

Part of writing an effective paper involves using evidence directly from the works of critics and scholars (secondary sources). Therefore, you will need to be able to analyze secondary works, and to accurately quote, paraphrase, and summarize these outside sources in your own essays. This assignment helps build these research skills.

PART ONE: READ

For this assignment, choose a critical article from the list below:

Globalization and Race in World Capitalism

Read the selected article in its entirety. Take notes. I recommend printing and writing directly in the margins if possible.

PART TWO: WRITE

Analysis

• You should clearly identify the author, title of the work, and the author’s thesis and main points by SUMMARIZING the article. This contextual summary should be no more than 100 words.
• You should then provide a critique of these main points and EXPLAIN how this article’s argument is relevant or convincing to you (or not), and why. Remember, you are not obligated to agree with the scholar.
• You should also include in this analysis one brief QUOTE (Links to an external site.) (no more than 2 lines) and one PARAPHRASE (Links to an external site.) from the article, with appropriate in-text citations.
• Give your overall evaluation of this article: what things were done well? what was done poorly? How much trust do you put in this author?
• What do you feel you’ve learned from this article? (If your answer is “nothing”, explain why.)

Structure

• The introduction should include a clear thesis statement (your reason/purpose for writing the analysis). It should also clearly identify the title of the article you’ve chosen and the author’s name.
• Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence that relates back to the thesis. The information in each paragraph should relate to the topic sentence. In the body paragraphs, you may want to focus on individual points made by the author.

MLA Style

• Your paper must be formatted according to MLA format (this includes having a header, double spacing, etc.)
• All quotations, paraphrases, and summaries MUST be cited using MLA format
• You must include a works-cited page at the end of your paper
• For more information about MLA style, you should view the Purdue OWL’s pages on MLA (Links to an external site.)

Mechanics, Grammar, and Punctuation

• All formal written assignments should be mechanically and grammatically correct. (use the writing center!)
• For more information on each of these, you should view the Purdue OWL’s General Writing Resources (Links to an external site.) page

Your complete analysis should be 500-750 words.

Some Remarks on Analysis

1. Never answer just “yes” or “no”; always elaborate on your answer.
2. Never give a vague or evasive answer; if you don’t commit yourself to a specific stance/reading/opinion, I will assume you do not know.
3. Take a position; you defend your position by talking about your article in ways that raise intriguing issues to you.
4. If the article is unclear or ambiguous, or if you are ambivalent in your evaluation of something, it is fine to give an answer that expresses these problems.

Please let me know if the link to the article works.

Thanks in advance!!