Uncovering Explicit Meaning

What is the author’s intended message?
How does the author convey this message?
Uncovering Implicit Meaning
What assumptions underlie the author’s message?
What belief system does the text convey?
What contradictions exist between the explicit and implicit meanings you identified?

Evaluating the Author’s Support for Assertions and Conclusions

What is the author’s primary source of authority? Are there secondary sources?
What type of evidence is offered: anecdotal, quantitative, or qualitative?
Whose voices are privileged?
How is the author situated within the larger discourse in the field?

Identifying Gaps

What is omitted?
Whose voices aresilenced?
How do these omissions influence your interpretation of the text?
Evaluating the Author’s Thinking
Examples of deductive logic
Examples of inductive logic
Examples of abductive logic
Faults in the logics