Why Analyse Texts?

Type, Audience and Purpose in Non-Fiction

In this course, Dr Clio Doyle (Queen Mary University of London) discusses type, audience and purpose (TAP) when analysing popular culture texts, specifically articles on Taylor Swift. In the first model, we motivate why we should analyse texts. In the second module, we introduce how to use type, audience and purpose (TAP) when analysing texts. In the third module, we introduce our first Source on Swift and in the fourth module we analyse it use TAP. In the fifth module, we compare this text with a more recent article about Swift and discuss the importance of this comparison and analysis.

Why Analyse Texts?

In the first module, we discuss why we analyse texts, focusing on: (i) media and fan attention towards Taylor Swift’s work and how it mimics the close attention used when analysing literature in the classroom, (ii) how popular media portrayals of Swift have evolved, and (iii) examining our preconceptions when analysing texts.