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Guidelines for explication paper:
Your explication paper should address three things:
- What is the argument that the authors are making?
That is, what is the question being addressed, why is the
answer important, what are the key points, and what is the conclusion?
- How are the authors making the argument?
That is, what techniques do the authors use to put forth the argument?
Do they argue from example? from experiments and case studies? from the general to the particular? from the particular to
the general? Is the evidence consistent? conflicting? Who provides the evidence? In particular, what references do they use,
if any, and how credible are those references? (Are they from reputable journals, from hearsay, etc.?) Do the conclusions
follow from the argument? If so, how? If not, why not?
- Do you agree or disagree with the conclusion and the argument?
If so, why? If not, why not? The purpose
of this kind of analysis is to get you to think critically, and to analyze arguments as well as conclusions.
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