How To Approach a Text: Guidelines for Textual Description, Analysis, and Interpretation

What?  [title, author, date, narrative perspective (s), plot synopsis, setting, characters, themes, genre(s), publication history]

How? [how is it structured? sections? acts? argument?  references?]

Why? [what may the title mean? why is this text interesting and important in the context of the author’s work and in the context of sf studies generally?  what questions does the text raise?  What is unique about it?]

Select one short passage for us to discuss together. [why this passage?]

So What? [3 Discussion Questions for the Class]