Step 3: Analysis and Synthesis (Why is it put together this way?)
Having established a general sense of how a text organizes its elements, the next step is to ask why it organizes them this way. Transitioning to this kind of questioning enables you to begin creating the critical distance needed to analyze and evaluate this text.
In looking at this photo more closely, here are some questions that come to mind:
- The photo places the figure of the mother at the center of its depiction, drawing viewers’ attention to her physical pose and worried expression.
- Why foreground the figure of the mother in this way?
- What effect does this have on how a viewer might react? What they might think or feel?
Here’s how I would answer these questions:
Critical thinking move
- Analysis: to examine how a text as arranges and organizes its elements
- Reflection: to ask why a text organizes its elements this way