Writing Analytically

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Writing Analytically
Presented by Tonya Merritt, NBCT Paul Laurence
Dunbar High School

• From the fourth edition by David Rosenwasser
• and Jill Stephen

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Blooms Taxonomy
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What is analysis?

• Breaking a whole into its component parts
• How do the parts (literary elements/devices)
  function?
• How do the parts relate to each other?
• Does this part fit into a larger pattern of
  behavior?
• How do the parts of this sample compare to parts
  of that sample?

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Analytical Assignments vs. Reports

• Analytical Assignments
• Authentic and curious audience
• Authentic purpose identify and grapple with
  real issues to which there are no pre-determined
  right answers
• Require real thinking to answer a question or
  solve a problem

• Reports
• General audience or teacher as audience
• Predetermined or formulaic purpose
• Encourage rote regurgitation of facts and
  accepted ideas

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What is an Idea?

• It answers a question it explains something or
  provides a way out of a difficulty in
  understanding something.
• It may make explicit and explore the meaning of
  something implicit an unstated assumption or a
  logical consequence.
• It may connect elements of a subject and explain
  the significance of that connection.
• It often accounts for some dissonance.
• It provides direction it helps you see what to
  do next.

(Rosenwasser 25)
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Gathering Evidence

1. Formulate a question you will try to answer about
   one aspect of the story.
2. Re-read the story underlining words, phrases or
   passages that fit into the category you are
   exploring.
3. Look for patterns in the data. Ask so what? How
   does this contribute to the whole story?
4. Consider a range of plausible interpretations
   rather than assuming that there will be only one
   right answer.

(Rosenwasser 107)
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Formulate a Thesis

• Offer a theory about the meaning of evidence that
  would not have been immediately obvious to your
  readers.
• Focus on an area of your subject that is open to
  opposing viewpoints or multiple interpretations.
• Most effective theses contain tension, the
  balance of this against that, this degree with
  qualification. They are conceptually complex,
  and that is reflected in their grammatical shape
  often they begin with although or incorporate
  however.

(Rosenwasser 194)
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Good Thesis vs. Bad Thesis

• Good Thesis
• Promotes thinking through discovery and depth
• Reduces scope, allowing for depth
• Contains tension, acknowledging opposing arguments

• Bad Thesis
• Promotes demonstration of the same idea with a
  range of evidence
• Addresses a too-large idea, encouraging
  over-simplification
• Assumes its validity

(Rosenwasser 164)
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Writing the Introduction

• Include all or some of the following, as
  appropriate for the papers purpose and
  disciplinary conventions.
• Define the topic and state why it matters.
• Provide necessary background or context.
• Offer the working thesis (hypothesis) that the
  paper will develop.

(Rosenwasser 220)
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The Body

• Zoom in on a representative example, some smaller
  part (a passage, plot point, parallel, etc) of
  the larger pattern.
• Argue for the examples representativeness and
  usefulness in coming to a better understanding of
  the subject.
• Analyze the representative example, sharing your
  observations and conclusions.
• Use complicating (refuting) evidence to refine
  your claims.
• If organizing by order of importance, consider
  the second best reason or example first, the
  others in the middle, and the best last.

(Rosenwasser 160)
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Integrating Quotations

• Acknowledge sources in your text, not just in
  citations.
• according to Marsh, blah blah ().
• Splice quotations onto your own words.
• Patrick Henrys famous phrase is one of the first
  that American schoolchildren memorize Give me
  liberty, or give me death.
• Cite sources after quotations.
• A recent article on the best selling albums in
  America claimed that Ever since Elvis, it has
  been pop musics job to challenge the mores of
  the older generation (Hornby 168).
• Use ellipses to shorten quotations.
• The album OK Computerpictured the onslaught of
  the information age and a young persons panicky
  embrace of it (Ross 85).
• Use square brackets to alter or add information
  within a quote.
• Popular music has always challenged the mores
  of the older generation, according to Nick
  Hornby (168).

(Rosenwasser 340-43)
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Transitions

• Long paragraphs are daunting rather like
  mountains are and they are easy to get lost in.
• List-type organization (using transitions such as
  another and also) is overly loose, not
  identifying how this is related to that.
• Precise transitions (such as similarly and by
  contrast) emphasize the relationships between
  sections of the paper.
• A good transition reaches backward, telling where
  youve been, as the grounds for making a
  subsequent move forward.

(Rosenwassen 252)
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Writing the Conclusion

• Functions of a conclusion
• Judgment
• Culmination (Synthesis)
• Send-off
• Strategies for a conclusion
• Pursue implications
• Come full circle by interpreting results
• Identify limitations

(Rosenwassen 229, 232)
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Works Cited

• Carey, Angela. Analytical Writing Instruction.
  http//www.education.ky.gov/KDE/InstructionalRes
  ources/HighSchool/EnglishLanguageArts. 03
  January 2006.
• Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen.
• Writing Analytically, fourth ed. Boston
• Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.