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.
Focus on the article being reviewed, not so much on other readings, books, articles etc.
Please do identify key quotes from the article. These a short statements or at most a sentence or two that distill some essential aspect of the article. A key quote is used: to point to the authors' evidence or claims; to make a justification for your own arguments; to act as a foundation for your own ideas. However, there must be clear delineation between the authors' content and your use of it therefore.
- For quotes: use quotation marks followed by cite.
- For paraphrasing: follow with cite.
- For extracts and transformations like lists and tables: explain source followed by cite.
- When reviewing, do not quote the author's quotes of other authors. Instead, quote an original passage written by the author of the article you are reviewing.
Please use double quotation marks and page number to identify "the quoted text" p. 23. You could apply one of the standard citation methods if you like e.g. Harvard style:
- (Surname et al., Publication Year, p.#)
- (Surname et al., Publication Year, pp.#-range)
