Does the author say anything at all about their fieldwork? In shorter articles like these (versus books) authors sometimes mention some specifics of their fieldwork, but they sometimes don’t.

Write an “article summary” of this article, making sure to organize what you write along the following four areas:

(1) Main focus(es) of the article – what’s the main research issue/ research “problem”/ research “question” of this article

(2) Fieldwork and Methodology — Does the author say anything at all about their fieldwork? In shorter articles like these (versus books) authors sometimes mention some specifics of their fieldwork, but they sometimes don’t. Look for any reference to them being present “in the field” doing their research and what that entailed. Maybe they spent time in classrooms, or perhaps they mention a span of years that they did their research somewhere. Sometimes that info appears just as an aside, especially in articles. Laura Miller, for example, talked about when (1999) and where she talked directly to the Kogals (bars, nightclubs, in a particular district of Tokyo) and she also gathered relevant data from Egg magazine on “Kogal-isms” in language.

(3) LANGUAGE DATA: How exactly is the author working with language in their articles?? Look for how they focus on LANGUAGE use by their informants (and then how they present that in the article – in transcripts, lyrics, printed matter, for example). It is very important to include mention of this material, that you describe what kind of language data occurs in the article (transcripts of conversations, lyrics, etc etc ). You must include some specific examples of their language data in your summary.

Also, HOW are they doing their research and analyzing their LANGUAGE data (their methodology – in other words, how they collect and analyze data)? Maybe they are focusing on how kids argue, or maybe the main source of their data is in print form, or on tv/radio. For every article, you need to address the inclusion of LANGUAGE data (dialogues, quotes from informants, etc.). Include a short quote or two of this language to give me a taste of what it was the author was looking at/analyzing.

(4) What is author’s main conclusion(s)? Do you think they are claiming they’re contributing anything unique and special to the study of gender and language (or, in your case, depending on which two articles you choose … language and religion, language and globalization)?