Document Analysis

During this course I also learned how to conduct a thorough dissection of a primary and/or secondary document. It is important to know these skills as it helps when conducting quality research on a topic. I learned that you have to not only read the text but read between the lines as well. This means you have to examine the writer, their background, why they are writing the document, and who they are writing it for. These key questions allow a researcher to better understand the worldview of the writer as well as the motivation behind the document. It is important to look for biases that make the document less credible because when doing research we only want the most reliable sources. Another aspect that can be important within a document is looking for alternative opinions. If a writer is ignoring possible counterarguments, or using logical fallacies this can make the piece less valuable. Below is my document analysis of part of the Magistrate’s Manual which I then used towards my final research paper.