Graduate writing

Discussion: Reflecting on Your Writing: Reading and Research Strategies

Beginning an essay can often be the most difficult portion. However, when separated into small steps, this process becomes well defined and much more manageable. During these first steps, any writing that takes place is likely to be minimal and rough. This is acceptable, as you realize you are in the prewriting stage and that you have more writing and revising ahead of you.

For this Discussion, you will reflect on your own approach to reading and how you have (or, perhaps, have not) used a strategy, such as note-taking, underlining, highlighting, etc., in the past to gather and assess the main ideas from a journal article. Based on what you have learned from the week’s Learning Resources, you will share your thoughts and experiences on reading and researching.

To prepare for this Discussion:

· Review the Learning Resources on arguments and critical reading, and the infographic on Analysis.

· Reflect on your research process in relation to understanding an author’s argument or main idea.

· You may reflect on past or current examples of your reading and research process.

Post a 1- to 2-paragraph reflection on your reading and research process, describing strategies that you currently use, as well as any strategies that you could use more effectively. (Note: You may choose to reflect specifically on your approach to this Discussion in relation to reading and research.)

Assignment: Critical Reading and Researching Main Ideas

In this Week’s Discussion, you reviewed reading strategies and examined your own research process. Now you will put these concepts and insights in practice for this Week’s Assignment.

To prepare for this Assignment:

· Review the Learning Resource on Determining the Main Points of a Reading.

· Choose one of the preselected journal articles in this week’s Learning Resources.

· Applying the concepts from this week’s resources, critically read the journal article, taking notes or engaging in any research methods that you would like to try.

The Assignment:

Select three related main points from the journal article (excluding the Abstract), and directly quote them.

In addition to the directly quoted main points, compose 1–2 sentences of rationale for each main point. Use these sentences to explain the reason you selected each point from the journal article. Consider the following questions in your rationale:

· Why are these three specific points the author’s main ideas?

· What makes them stand out to you as a critical reader?

· How are these main points related to one another?

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Walden University Writing Center. (2015i). Walden templates: General templates: APA course paper template (6th ed.). Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general

 

Note: Please submit all assignments using the abovementioned APA Course Paper Template.

Laureate Education. (2015). [Infographic]. Understanding Arguments, Baltimore, MD: Author.

Walden University Academic Skills Center. (2017). Determining the main points of a reading. Minneapolis, MN: Author.

Walden University. (2015). Writing a Paper: Understanding Arguments. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/arguments

Online journal articles:

 

Grad Writing II: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/CAEX6061 (semester students)

Online journal articles:

 

Grad Writing II: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/CAEX6060 (quarter students)

From the list of selected journal articles, choose and critically read one article in preparation for this week’s (and subsequent week’s) Assignment. 

Please note:  You will use your selected journal article throughout the course.

Note:  Walden Library Guides house a selection of journal articles listed in the resources sections for each week/module for which they are required. The citation of the reading is provided and below the citation it should state “Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.”

Required Media

Walden University Writing Center (Producer). (2014, January 13). WriteCast: Five strategies for critical reading (Episode 5) [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/multimedia/podcast#s-lg-box-2814414

Scroll through the Episode Archive to find the designated episode. Note that the episodes appear in descending numerical order.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 11 minutes.

Transcript: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/transcripts/podcasts/ep005