Approaching a scholarly text can often feel, to students, like
wandering into a swamp. They may get lost simply in the language
itself and pursuing one jargon word can lead them into quicksand
wherein they lose any kind of foothold on the general purpose of
the article. They come into class angry with the scholar who
wrote the text, angry with scholars in general who engage in
this kind of self-enclosed and self-perpetuating discourse, and
angry with you for assigning, and thus, participating in it
yourself or forcing them to participate in something that feels
exclusionary. Giving students clear guidelines for identifying
the main claim that the text is making and for assessing the
strength of the argument can provide a way in for students
whereby they can enter into the conversation and eventually use
these texts to strengthen their own arguments. Adapt and
distribute the following sets of questions before the class
period in which you will be discussing a difficult scholarly
text. It is also a good idea, p