Questions_Insights_Connections

When you finish a class’s readings you should be able to note a novel question, an insight, and a connection (a QIC). They are a consequence of active reading but quicker to write than writing responses.

Keep each part to one to two sentences, anchored in a specific concept, example, or quotation. Use specifics (i.e., authors names or concept) and avoid unnecessary “I think” and “I wonder” and “I found it interesting” phrases. Focus on more than just the (shortest) reading. In class, you should be able to share and discuss each.

Question

A good question is:

• genuine: you want to know;
• specific: derived from a specific claim, passage, or example;
• higher-order: is closer to what, how, and why rather than who or when (see higher-order questions);
• tractable: you can think about how the question might be answered.

Weak questions are predictable.

• “What is the Haber-Bosch process?” (recall)
• “How does this affect society?” (vague gesture)
• “How do we solve misinformation?” (sprawling)

Insight

An insight is your novel claim. Consider:

• naming a pattern the author leaves implicit;
• surfacing an assumption their argument depends on;
• identifying a tension between two of the author’s claims;
• offering a counter-example, or a “screw-example” that sits on the boundary of a concept (see Making Sense of Concepts);
• applying the concept somewhere the author didn’t and considering what happens
• specifying a scope: “this holds when X, but presumably not when Y.”

Weak insights are mundane.

• “I found it interesting that corn is in everything.”
• “This shows how important food policy is.”
• “The author makes a good point.”

Connection

Make connections between the readings, previous readings or discussions, or things happening in the world or your life.

Strong connections are specific and novel, e.g., “This food policy is akin to Robert Moses’ design for New York’s parkway overpasses: implicit decisions that affect the public unequally.”

Weak connections are generic and mundane, e.g., “This connects to what we read about transportation policy.”