Article analysis:Reading comics for the field of International Relations: Theory, method and the Bosnian War.
To be successful in this task, you must do more than simply summarise the article. Any submitted analysis which only summarises the work cannot get more than a passing mark, and will likely fail. You need to critically evaluate the article. Your analysis should reflect upon how the text you have read shapes our understanding of, or our approach to the study of, international politics. You will be expected to consider the article you are reviewing in relation to the other things that you have read for this course. Critically evaluating an article means reflecting upon the key arguments that have been made by the author and the significance of these arguments. (Remember you can’t focus on all the arguments made by the author however, so you need also to be selective.) It is more than thinking about if you like the arguments or not. Merely saying that you agree or disagree with something is not going to get you the marks: you have to explain WHY you disagree with something, and consider the implications of the argument against your existing understanding of what international relations and IR theory is about. THE KEY IS THIS: • don’t read looking only or primarily for information • do read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter • This means that when you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists of evidence, lists of facts and examples. Do not approach a text by asking “What information can I get out of it? “, as this is rather simplistic. Try asking these questions: • How does this text work? • How is the argument presented? • How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? • How does the text reach its conclusions? • How does the text shape our understanding of, or our approach the study of, international politics?