The commentary or précis of a reading/article conveys what you learnt and how you might employ the knowledge. In addition you can employ a critical or analytical interpretation, i.e. what is the intention of the authors, who is the audience, how valid are the claims?
Patterns for a basic précis:
- Sentence 1:Name of author, genre, and title of work, date in parenthesis; a rhetorically accurate verb (such as "claims," "argues," "asserts," "suggests"); and a THAT clause containing the major assertion or thesis statement in the work.
- Sentence 2: An explanation of HOW the author develops and supports the thesis, usually in chronological order.
- Sentence 3: A statement of the author's apparent purpose, followed by an "in order to" phrase.
- Sentence 4: A significant quote from the paper used in a sentence.
On quoting from the article you are reviewing...
Your ability to quote and properly identify text and other elements such as figures and tables from a reading/article is a basic writing skill. You should, where possible, include page numbers or page ranges. For example, use double quotation marks and page numbers to identify "the quoted text" p. 23. You will employ the conventions of whatever standard citation method you are using e.g. Harvard style:
- (Author Surname, Publication Year, p. no.)
- (Author Surname, Publication Year, pp. no-range.)
In rare cases you may need to employ combinations of single and double-quotes to delineate the original passage and its internal grammar.
In the case that you choose to cite a sub-quoted second author you should wherever possible obtain and read a copy of the second author's text. Read it. You may disagree with the first primary author's interpretation. You can then quote this secondary article in turn as a primary source. You will try to avoid quoting a primary author's quotes of secondary authors.
