What does it take to read well ? To develop thinking about
reading and, as a result, to learn how to engage in the process of
what we call close reading. Students not only need to learn how to
determine whether a text is worth reading, but also how to take
ownership of a texts important ideas (when it contains them). This
requires the active use of intellectual skills.
Slide 3
Close reading, which is reading with an emphasis on:
understanding your purpose in reading understanding the authors
purpose in writing seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected
looking for and understanding systems of meaning
Slide 4
Slide 5
The fundamentals of close reading 1)Reading For a Purpose
2)Developing a Map of Knowledge 3)Reading to Understand Systems of
Thought 4)Reading Within Disciplines
Slide 6
1) READING FOR A PURPOSE Skilled readers do not read blindly,
but purposely. They have an agenda, goal, or objective. Their
purpose, together with the nature of what they are reading,
determines how they read. They read in different ways in different
situations for different purposes. Of course, reading has a nearly
universal purpose: to figure out what an author has to say on a
given subject. (i.e.what the authors main point ?)
Slide 7
Slide 8
Various purposes for reading : 1.Sheer pleasure: requires no
particular skill level (not our type) 2.To figure out a simple
idea: which may require skimming the text 3.To gain specific
technical information: skimming skills required 4.To enter,
understand, and appreciate a new world-view: close reading skills
in working through a challenging series of tasks that stretch our
minds. 5.To learn a new subject: close reading skills in
internalizing and taking ownership of an organized system of
meanings
Slide 9
Skimming vs. Scanning Skimming refers to the process of reading
only main ideas within a passage to get an overall impression of
the content of a reading selection. Scanning is a reading technique
to be used when you want to find specific information quickly. In
scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage
only to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information.
Slide 10
Considering the Authors Purpose Must also be clear about the
authors purpose in writing. Think about what adjustments you would
make in your reading given the differing purposes of those writers.
To read productively, your purpose in reading must take into
account the authors purpose in writing. Ask yourself, whether the
author made her/his point persuasively/accurately based on
scientific knowledge and/or fact.
Slide 11
Slide 12
Slide 13
2) Developing a Map of Knowledge All knowledge exists in
systems of meanings, with interrelated primary ideas, secondary
ideas, and peripheral ideas. Imagine a series of circles beginning
with a small core circle of primary ideas, surrounded by concentric
circles of secondary ideas, moving outward to an outer circle of
peripheral ideas. The primary ideas, at the core, explain the
secondary and peripheral ideas. Whenever we read to acquire
knowledge, we should take ownership, first, of the primary ideas,
for they are a key to understanding all of the other ideas.
Moreover, when we gain an initial understanding of the primary
ideas, we can begin to think within the system as a whole. The
sooner we begin to think within a system, the sooner the system
becomes meaningful to us.
Slide 14
Core Idea Secondary Idea
Slide 15
Slide 16
3) Reading Understand Systems of Thought Reading with
discipline means reading to understand systems of thought.
Understanding systems of thought means taking command of the
structures that are the basis of all thought.
Slide 17
Slide 18
4) Reading Within Disciplines Approach academic discipine as
systems of thought. Unlike natural science, in which there is
agreement on the most basic principles guiding scientific thinking,
some systems within a given discipline (particularly the ones under
social sciences) are in conflict with each other. For example,
multiple conflicting perspectives in IR. Your task as an IR student
is to master the systems by exploring how they conflict with each
other. Of course, in seeing how conflicting systems exclude each
other, you would also discover how they overlap. Conflict between
systems of thought is rarely, if ever, total and absolute.
Slide 19
Slide 20
Universal Consensus on study field in Natural Sciences
Slide 21
Slide 22
Slide 23
No Universal Consensus on study field in Social Sciences
Slide 24
Slide 25
Slide 26
What is International Relations ? How do we define it ?
Slide 27
Broad Definition of IR The study of the political and social
interaction of state, non-state actors, and individuals.
Slide 28
States Diplomatic Strategic relations focusing on war-peace
& conflict-cooperation ( Conventional Definition)
Slide 29
Non-state actors, IOs, NGOs (i.e.UN, EU, MNCs, Green Peace)
cross-border transactions of all kinds (political, economic,
social)
Slide 30
Individual: Global society, social movements, migration
Slide 31
Two inferences for defining IR 1)Our definition will be just
for convenience, no equivalent of rock 2)Whatever definition we
will pick, it will not be a politically neutral one.
Slide 32
How do we know about IR ?
Slide 33
Slide 34
Slide 35
Slide 36
Slide 37
Slide 38
Analysing Foreign Policy
Slide 39
To conclude: To read well, we must understand reading as
requiring intellectual skills. As a good reader, we dont simply
decipher words, we actively engage in a dialog with the writer. We
actively seek the authors purpose in writing. We look for systems
of meaning in a text.