Critical Analysis
As you engage in active reading, you should also be critically analyzing the texts. This approach will ensure that you are not a passive reader. As you read your sources, you should consider questions like:
- What is the author’s main argument?
- Is the author’s argument supported with evidence?
- Can you find evidence from the text itself to support your argument?
- What connections can you make to this text and others you have read on this topic? What differences do you see?
- Do you agree or disagree with the author?
Keep these strategies in mind in this course and your future classes, and you will become a more active and critical reader.
Short Response
Using the active reading strategies, critically analyze one of your secondary sources for your historical analysis essay. Those active reading strategies include:
- Ask yourself pre-reading questions, such as: What will be the subject of this reading? What do I hope to learn from this reading?
- Take notes while reading
- Make connections to other texts you have read
Question 1: Which source will you analyze using active reading strategies? Include the name of the article, the author, the publication, the date, and where you found it. Read your chosen source using the active reading strategies you learned on the previous page. Then, summarize the overall meaning and content of the reading. Write your summary below. Your summary should be at least one paragraph long.
Question 2: What events or historical forces contributed to the Boston busing crisis of the mid-1970s? Name at least three, and briefly explain why you think each one was a contributory cause of the Boston busing crisis.
Question 3: Name three specific consequences of the Boston busing crisis.
Question 4: Describe one cause of the event you have chosen for your historical analysis (keeping in mind that there are many), and explain one piece of evidence from your research that you will use to support this assertion. Describe one consequence of the event, and explain one piece of evidence from your research that you will use to support this assertion