Women's Studies Reading Summaries

As you read your assignments, you are to write a reading summary. Reading Summaries are intended as a means by which students demonstrate that they are keeping up with class work and as a means by which the instructor can know how to be more helpful in students' learning.

• They are to be journal-style comments rather than essays and do not have to be typed unless you have absolutely illegible handwriting.
• The individual summaries will not be graded, but do count as part of your participation in the class.
• I am interested in your thoughtfulness, not on the degree of information the reports reflect or for the extent to which they indicate that you do or do not agree with me.

Select from the following suggestions, all of which are designed to help you reflect on the ways you react to the reading. You do NOT have to comment for every section--but you should write 200-500 words.

1. What problem/question is the author posing? (Remember that a problem is not a thesis or conclusion. Those come later.)
2. What kind of knowledge, methods, and archives does the author use in order to address that problem/question?
3. What is the author's argument? How do you assess it? (Are you persuaded by/satisfied with the author's argument?) How is that argument shaped by the evidence and methods the author uses (and doesn't use)?
4. What did you find intriguing in this reading assignment? Summarize the point of interest and then discuss why you find it intriguing.
5. What do you find unclear in this reading assignment? Summarize the section you find muddy or foggy and explain what you think it means but why you're still uncertain.
6. What do you find "linkable" in this reading assignment? Something may link up with your previous reading in this class or in others. Perhaps it links up with an experience you've had or a theory you're developing. Explain the linkages you see.
7. What do you find debatable in this reading assignment? Who would debate this passage and what arguments would he or she bring to the debate? What do you think about the possible positions one can take on the issue discussed in the reading?
8. What do you find practical or useful in this reading assignment? It might be useful in your daily life now, in your professional life now or in the future, in your academic research as you prepare to write a paper. What specifically is useful, and how can it be used?

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Thanks to: http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/readjrl.html