Author's purpose and central questions in text analysis

¶ … settle the (questions)?

Inferences/Conclusions

How did the author reach the conclusion?

Is there another way to interpret the information? Concepts

What is the main idea?

What are we taking it for granted?

What assumptions have led the author to his/her conclusions?

If someone is accepting the author's position, what would be the implications?

If someone is not accepting the author's position, what would be the implications?

Points-of-View

From what point-of-view is the author looking at the issue?

Is there another point-of-view that I should consider?

This paper is review of an article in various perspectives. The review highlights the aims and objectives of the article, the information collected and presented the likely inferences from the article and implications. The purpose of paper is to apply the concepts of article review and analysis on one or few articles.

Article Review

This paper is the review of article Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise? written by Marilyn A. Campbell. The paper highlights how the author has presented his views and what is his purpose behind publishing this piece of information.

Purpose

What is the author trying to accomplish?

The author is trying to give the readers general information about dark side of Internet and the methods which are prevailing in modern practices to harass other fellow beings. The author believes that the chosen topic is in fashion these days and much information can be collected from various sources, yet he feels it important to cast light over various facts, he collected during his research.

What is the central aim?

The central aim is to provide consolidated information about types of bullying practices in the modern world and what are the emerging ones. He presents a complete view of various bullying practices carried out using multiple forms of technology.

What is the author's purpose?

The basic purpose of author is to invite attention of masses towards the fact that bullying has transformed itself from a childish and amusing act to serious threatening activity and there are many victims of cyber bullying. Furthermore, he wants to highlight that people from various ages particularly children and young adults are also involved in this activity.

Questions

What question is the author raising?

The author is raising the question about wide spread use of technology in everyday lives and its particular exploitation for undesirable activities like cyber bullying. Another question which he bases his research on is related to increasing participation of young children in these activities and the role of school in combating them.

What question is the author addressing?

The author addresses the question; how schools can be effective in controlling cyber bullying activities by the children. He mainly focuses on the measures which schools can take in the domain of legitimate activities. He highlights the need of participation by schools in controlling this activity and presents certain methods which are useful in this regard.

Are we considering the complexities in the question?

Yes, the complexities of the questions are considered by the readers who are referring to it to devise an action plan about controlling these activities. There are certain readers who want to get information only as they may not have any venue for its implementation. In other words, they may not be part of school management or parents of young children who are actually involved in this activity of cyber bullying.

Information

What information is the author using in coming to the conclusion?

The author is using the information dug out by him in the form of literature review. He has consulted work of various researchers and associations. The formal reports issued by various authorities provide rich information about the incidences of cyber bullying and their undesired results.

What experience do we have to support the author's claim?

The readers who are not aware of cyber bullying may have no experience to support author's claim, however, those who belong to the field of IT and surf Internet on regular basis can quote many incidents when they or they fellow member were harassed using cyber technology.

What information do we need to settle the (questions)?

The readers need statistics from authentic sources to settle the claim (National Crime Prevention Council 2001). The statistics must show the number of people and events that result in bad experience. The data about demographics will be highly useful to present in this regard. In case, the detailed data is difficult to get, the case studies about individuals who were bullied can provide a convincing ground to settle the questions.

Inferences/Conclusions

How did the author reach the conclusion?

The author reaches at conclusion by carefully evaluating the related literature, relevant reports and school policies. The overview of increasing trends of using Internet is an indicator that people consider it a substitute for their various outdoor activities and socialization needs. The data of trend backed by observations and reports helps author reach at significant conclusion.

Is there another way to interpret the information? Concepts

The other way to interpret information is mentioned previously where it is stated that one may take it only a portion of uncountable activities performed at Internet and ignore its likely harmful effects. People may argue that as everybody is aware of spam messages, there is nothing like cyber bullying and the author has just emphasized the ignorable facts.

What is the main idea?

The main idea is cyber bullying is a harmful activity and one should be aware of it. The purpose behind getting awareness is not only to refrain from threatening others but also to protect one's own interest and identity.

What are we taking it for granted?

The readers take the role of awareness for granted. It is important to mention that awareness is mostly the first step behind every activity be it done for positive intensions or negative grounds. One can be more vigilant about one's safety if one knows about the likely risks and threats prevailing in the modern world (BBC 2013).

What assumptions have led the author to his/her conclusions?

The author has assumption that cyber bullying is a dangerous activity and must be combated in order for people to enjoy Internet surfing to the maximum. People are generally unaware of cyber issues and they tend to believe in every piece of information coming to them.

Implications/Consequences

If someone is accepting the author's position, what would be the implications?

If someone accepts author's position, the implication will be to follow the suggestions presented by author and communicating his message to masses. As author has raised significant point that young students are involved in it, parents and school administration should add it in their monitoring programs so that their children and students are protected from useless and dangerous activities (The New York Times 2010).