Developing an Interpretation: A Process

The Questions: What is important about this text?  How can I develop and support my ideas? What sources can help me in developing an interpretation?  How can I integrate my ideas with the ideas of others?

Step One:

WHAT?  Interact with the primary text.

        Read carefully and with a purpose: to explore meaning.

HOW?

• Read, re-read several times to get a sense of the whole.
• Notice (Pay attention to every detail—how many stanzas, colors, individual words that strike you, places in the text that confuse you.)
• Analyze (Break the text into its parts: imagery, patterns, etc. Ask yourself: How has the author crafted this text?)
• Talk about the text with others to get multiple perspectives (Be sure to acknowledge the contributions of others in your Acknowledgments page!).
• Develop meaning based on what you have noticed and on your analysis.

Step Two:

WHAT?  Seek help from secondary sources (What do the experts have to say?).

        Read carefully and with two purposes:

• to expand understanding

• to seek support for the meaning you developed

HOW?

• Find as many diverse sources as you can. 
• Skim them to determine:

Support for your own ideas

Ideas that contradict yours  

Ideas you hadn’t thought of

• Select sources that will help you to build your interpretation.
• Take notes: summarize, paraphrase, quote (Don’t forget to document source and page number!).

Step Three:

WHAT?  Put it all together.

 Draft and revise with two purposes:

to create a logical, well-explained, well-supported interpretation

to maintain an Invisible Thread (Every word links logically to the next; every sentence links logically to the next; every paragraph links logically to the next—in short, be kind to your reader: lead him/her carefully through your interpretation (Don’t forget transition words!).

HOW?

• Focus—What central point do you want to make?

            Write a thesis that states your central point.

• Craft your position.
  • Determine what supporting ideas you will use (See steps one and two)
  • Develop a logical order in which you will present the ideas that support your central point.
  • Find words and phrases and lines from the primary text as examples of the points you make.
  • Use your secondary source notes to support the points you make.
  • Be sure to elaborate all of your points with your own explanation, support from the secondary sources, and examples from the primary source (Remember the rule of thirds: one third yours, one third primary source, one third secondary sources!).
• Revise, revise, revise.
  • Tip: Save your document as “Draft,” then edit out everything but the main points that support your thesis.  Save this document as “Bones.” Check to see that you have created a clear, step-by step flow of main ideas. Are they in the best order to make your case?  Is each one clear?  Is there an idea that does not belong?  Is anything missing? Revise your saved draft according to the changes you made to “Bones.”
  • Tip: Use highlighters to see how your sources are integrating.  Use one color for your ideas, one color for primary source, one color for each secondary source.  You should have a mixture of color; no one color should overwhelm the others.
• Hone 

o       Pay attention to your word choice and sentence structures: Be precise!  Be clear!  Be succinct!

o       Edit to catch mistakes in grammar, usage, and conventions; proofread.

By Carol Rohrbach, Chair Language Arts Department

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