When the whole semester is about political texts reading, and then is not it become mandatory for students to know what political texts are and how to read them? The word “political” comes from “politics”, so it is understandable that when a text provides political issue or concern, or political process explicitly or implicitly mostly with any implied idea of responsibility of government or people regarding that issue, then it is entitled “political texts”. Besides, a political text has some specific characteristics like a political view providing title, a clear and informative abstract along with sufficient evidences and an effective conclusion. Next, what is the strategy of reading a political text?
The answer might be easy in case of the text like “Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh” by Mary Arends-Kuenning and Sanjeda Amin. Because, it is a chronologically organized text where writers raise their claims in various sectors with some unambiguous titles. In addition, each and every sector has a clear topic sentence which effectively contributes to provide writer’s messages. As a result, it is not detrimental to skip the writings of body paragraphs. But, presented evidences including facts, researches, and testimonials should be noted to understand the support of regarding claims. For example, in “Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh”, writer emphasizes her claim of providing a fact that convinced parents let their daughters to continue studies for hoping to get benefit from educated daughters instead of thinking about daughters’ empowerment; as a result, the “schooling attendance” of women rapidly increased between 1992 and 1996 (Mary Arends-Kuenning and Sanjeda Amin, 128). So, analyzing texts’ evidences and arguments is indispensable while reading a political text.
In contrast, when the text is confused or hard to understand like Amartya Sen’s “More Than 100 Million Missing Women” as it is not a well-organized text, more attention sould give on the title and the abstract. Because, the title of a political text hold the main points of the text and the abstract gives the main idea of those points briefly. As, in this type of essay, writer’s claims are not presented sector by sector, more importance has to give in evidences like data, facts, and testimony to easily catch the writer’s point of view. For instance, in “More Than 100 Million Missing Women”, writer claimed that in the West the number of women is higher to men where in the East the rate of women is low providing sufficient ratio like he says, “. . . the ratio of women to men is typically around 1.05 or 1.06, or higher” where “in South Asia, West Asia, and China, the ratio of women to men can be as low as 0.94, or even lower” ( Sen 1). Moreover, at the end of the text, Sen talks about political process saying that “If this situation is to be corrected by political action and public policy, the reasons why there are so many “missing” women must first be better understood”(Sen 12).
Above all, when we are reading any political text, we have to keep attention gradually to the title, abstract, introduction, sector titles, topic sentences, evidences, and conclusion. Then we will get a brief idea about writer’s claim. Furthermore, we have critically analysis writer’s point of view evaluating the content of the text.
Works cited:
Arends-Kuenning, Mary and Amin, Sanjeda, “Women’s capability and right to education in Bangladesh .” International Journal of Politics and Society, Vol. 15, No.1, September 2001. Print.
Sen, Amartya. “More Than 100 Million Missing Women.”Nybooks Archives. Dec, 1990. Mar 4, 2013.
AUW's Interpreting Texts, Spring 2013 
Hi Moury…..
You have indeed done a nice job by providing ample of strategies that will surely help student to read this section easily and comfortably. Along with this, I also like the way you present your thoughts and explains them. But I do not find your personal interpretation of the direct quotes that you have incorporated in your writing. Overall, you have done a good job of explaining Sen’s, Amin and Arend’s argument.
Moury, you have done a nice job throughout your interpretations. I liked the way you started your introduction and also have done a very nice job in incorporating textual evidences like ‘direct quotes’ to support your own claim. Moreover, the description you provide about the structure of the political text and the strategies will surely help the readers to understand about the different sections of the political text. But, you did not mention anything about how can we use political texts to enact political changes. Overall, your thoughts are clearly expressed. Good job and keep it up!