Title: 05 - Assignment: Now You Try
Course: English 4A SU15 > Section: Unit: Search Engines vs Electronic Databases

This will be a good opportunity for you to practice something that you will be expected to do later in this course a little more in-depth. This guide will help you walk through the process of reading an academic article. It’s good practices for what’s to come. Use the resource 04 - Lesson: A Guide to Reading and Analyzing Academic Articles for more information about each of these questions. (Hopefully you just finished reading it.)

Suggestion: Select an article from one of the electronic databases offered at the Electronic Library of MN. Otherwise, your local county library may provide access to electronic databases for you.

Copy/paste the following table into your submission below and complete.

Step 1 – Consider the article as a whole

Who is writing the article? |
What are the author’s qualifications? |
What audience is the author addressing? |
What is the article about? |
What sources does the author use? |

Step 2 – Determine the purpose, structure and direction of the article

What is the author’s main point, or thesis? |
What is the author’s main point, or thesis? |
What evidence has the author used? |
What limits did the author place on the study? |
What is the author’s point of view? |

Step 3 – Read the article; pay attention to writing and presentation

How is the author’s message being delivered? |

Step 4 – Criticism and evaluation of the article

Was there anything that was left unfinished? Did the author raise questions or make points that were left orphaned in the paper? |
Did it make its case? |
What does the point made by the argument mean in or to the larger context of the discipline and of contemporary society? |
Is the organization of the article clear? Does it reflect the organization of the thesis statement? |
Does the author’s disciplinary focus lead her or him to ignore other ideas? |
Were there any problems with grammar, sentence structure, or word usage? |
What did you learn? What are you going to do with this information? |