Textual Analysis: The Assignment
Rough Draft Due: Feb. 2
Peer Review (2) Due: Feb. 5
Final Copy Due: Feb. 12
Length: 3-5 pages (Please note, if you turn in less than 3 pages of content, you will receive a "0".)
For your first essay you will be analyzing a written text, an article. Think of this paper like a "style analysis" (Read, Reason, Write pages 49-51). You will need to locate an article in your textbook that presents an argument and perform an analysis on the article. You will answer the questions: Is the text effective? How do you know? In other words, the main point of the paper is to argue that the text is or is not effective, not to present your agreement or disagreement with the author's ideas. In fact, I should not be able to tell whether you agree or disagree with the author's ideas.
Here are the steps you’ll follow:
Locate an article in your Read, Reason, Write textbook which makes an argument (contains a claim). The article you use must be derived from Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, or 22 (please note, do NOT use Chapter 19) in your Read, Reason, Write textbook. Be sure the article takes a stance (i.e. is argumentative). Choose just one article. Be sure to choose a whole article, not just a section of an article. If you aren't sure if you have used the whole article, you might want to check the index or table of contents for page numbers.
You MUST follow my organizational plan and thesis template. In other words, I am giving you the basic structure for the thesis and the paper!
I. Introduction: Present your hook statement. Then, summarize your article. Don't forget to identify the title and author before you begin your summary. The summary should include the main argument, main ideas, and means of proof. Don't forget to cite in MLA at the end of the summary (before you present your thesis). Present your thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph. Use this thesis template: The text is/is not effective due to ___________, _________, __________, and __________. (Choose only one argument (is or is not effective) and present as many supporting points in the comment section as you need. Look at the structure below for the points.)
II. Body Paragraph I: Credibility of the Author. How does the author set up his or her credibility within the text? How does this make the text effective or ineffective? You are welcome to include an outside factor or two (such as if the author has a PhD, for example), but try to stick to factors within the text. You are analyzing ethos (the author's reputation for honesty and reliability, in other words). Give examples directly from the text, in other words. Cite the examples in MLA. Keep in mind that the blurb presented before each article is not part of the article.
III. Body Paragraph II: Appeal to Audience. You will discuss the effectiveness of the author's appeal to the audience. Firstly, identify the intended audience (through clues in the text). Does the author effectively or ineffectively appeal to this audience? How? How does this prove the whole text is effective or ineffective? Give examples from the text. Cite the examples in MLA.
IV. Body Paragraph III: Validity of Logic. You will discuss logic in this section. Remember, you are not showing whether or not you agree, you are only showing if the logic is solid or if it is flawed. Give examples from the text. Cite the examples.
V. Body Paragraph IV: Quality of the Evidence. You will discuss the quality of the evidence. Is the evidence credible? How do you know? Is it representative? Is it manipulative (too emotional, for example)? Is there sufficient evidence to support the claim? Is the evidence relevant to the claim? Give examples from the text. Cite the examples in MLA.
VI. Conclusion: Tie up the paper without repeating everything you just proved. You are welcome go over some of the main ideas, but try to leave the audience thinking. In other words, don't just summarize your paper.
3. Your essay should follow the essay structure above with an introduction, an argumentative thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion (see above). If you would like a blank outline template to follow, click on the link: Outline--Textual Analysis.docPreview the documentView in a new window. You may expand the logic and evidence sections if you so choose. For example, if you would like to include several paragraphs analyzing the evidence instead of just one, you may.
4. Your essay should include a Works Cited page which includes the article you are reviewing and NOTHING ELSE! In other words, you should not use more than one source in this paper. The only exception is if you choose to use an outside source for your hook statement. This must be cited as well (in-text and on the Works Cited page). The Works Cited page should be in MLA. No, this page does not count toward your page total!
5. Your paper should contain evidence from the text. Therefore, your paper should contain multiple in-text citations in MLA. In other words, all of your body paragraphs should contain citations. You must cite ANY outside information including quotes, paraphrases, and summaries.
6. Avoid first and second person constructions. Remember, this paper is argumentative. It is not an opinion nor a command-based paper.
7. Warning: I am a stickler for organization! The intent of each paragraph should be very clear. In other words, create strong topic sentences that refer back to the argument. Stick to one topic per paragraph and provide enough support for each topic. You might want to review Topic Sentences for extra help.
I Tweet Therefore I AM
On a recent lazy Saturday morning, my daughter and I lolled on a blanket in our front yard, snacking on apricots, listening to a download of E. B. White reading “The Trumpet of the Swan.” Her legs sprawled across mine; the grass tickled our ankles. It was the quintessential summer moment, and a year ago, I would have been fully present for it. But instead, a part of my consciousness had split off and was observing the scene from the outside: this was, I realized excitedly, the perfect opportunity for a tweet.
I came late to Twitter. I might have skipped the phenomenon altogether, but I have a book coming out this winter, and publishers, scrambling to promote 360,000-character tomes in a 140-character world, push authors to rally their “tweeps” to the cause. Leaving aside the question of whether that actually boosts sales, I felt pressure to produce. I quickly mastered the Twitterati’s unnatural self-consciousness: processing my experience instantaneously, packaging life as I lived it. I learned to be “on” all the time, whether standing behind that woman at the supermarket who sneaked three extra items into the express check-out lane (you know who you are) or despairing over human rights abuses against women in Guatemala.
Photo
Credit Human Empire
Each Twitter post seemed a tacit referendum on who I am, or at least who I believe myself to be. The grocery-store episode telegraphed that I was tuned in to the Seinfeldian absurdities of life; my concern about women’s victimization, however sincere, signaled that I also have a soul. Together they suggest someone who is at once cynical and compassionate, petty yet deep. Which, in the end, I’d say, is pretty accurate.
Distilling my personality provided surprising focus, making me feel stripped to my essence. It forced me, for instance, to pinpoint the dominant feeling as I sat outside with my daughter listening to E.B. White. Was it my joy at being a mother? Nostalgia for my own childhood summers? The pleasures of listening to the author’s quirky, underinflected voice? Each put a different spin on the occasion, of who I was within it. Yet the final decision (“Listening to E.B. White’s ‘Trumpet of the Swan’ with Daisy. Slow and sweet.”) was not really about my own impressions: it was about how I imagined — and wanted — others to react to them. That gave me pause. How much, I began to wonder, was I shaping my Twitter feed, and how much was Twitter shaping me?
Back in the 1950s, the sociologist Erving Goffman famously argued that all of life is performance: we act out a role in every interaction, adapting it based on the nature of the relationship or context at hand. Twitter has extended that metaphor to include aspects of our experience that used to be considered off-set: eating pizza in bed, reading a book in the tub, thinking a thought anywhere, flossing. Effectively, it makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self. If all the world was once a stage, it has now become a reality TV show: we mere players are not just aware of the camera; we mug for it.
Photo
Credit Source: Twitter, April 2010.
The expansion of our digital universe — Second Life, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — has shifted not only how we spend our time but also how we construct identity. For her coming book, “Alone Together,” Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T., interviewed more than 400 children and parents about their use of social media and cellphones. Among young people especially she found that the self was increasingly becoming externally manufactured rather than internally developed: a series of profiles to be sculptured and refined in response to public opinion. “On Twitter or Facebook you’re trying to express something real about who you are,” she explained. “But because you’re also creating something for others’ consumption, you find yourself imagining and playing to your audience more and more. So those moments in which you’re supposed to be showing your true self become a performance. Your psychology becomes a performance.” Referring to “The Lonely Crowd,” the landmark description of the transformation of the American character from inner- to outer-directed, Turkle added, “Twitter is outer-directedness cubed.”
Continue reading the main story
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Letters: I Tweet, Therefore I Am AUG. 26, 2010
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The fun of Twitter and, I suspect, its draw for millions of people, is its infinite potential for connection, as well as its opportunity for self-expression. I enjoy those things myself. But when every thought is externalized, what becomes of insight? When we reflexively post each feeling, what becomes of reflection? When friends become fans, what happens to intimacy? The risk of the performance culture, of the packaged self, is that it erodes the very relationships it purports to create, and alienates us from our own humanity. Consider the fate of empathy: in an analysis of 72 studies performed on nearly 14,000 college students between 1979 and 2009, researchers at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan found a drop in that trait, with the sharpest decline occurring since 2000. Social media may not have instigated that trend, but by encouraging self-promotion over self-awareness, they may well be accelerating it.
None of this makes me want to cancel my Twitter account. It’s too late for that anyway: I’m already hooked. Besides, I appreciate good writing whatever the form: some “tweeple” are as deft as haiku masters at their craft. I am experimenting with the art of the well-placed “hashtag” myself (the symbol that adds your post on a particular topic, like #ShirleySherrod, to a stream. You can also use them whimsically, as in, “I am pretending not to be afraid of the humongous spider on the bed. #lieswetellourchildren”).
At the same time, I am trying to gain some perspective on the perpetual performer’s self-consciousness. That involves trying to sort out the line between person and persona, the public and private self. It also means that the next time I find myself lying on the grass, stringing daisy chains and listening to E. B. White, I will resist the urge to trumpet about the swan.
Rough Draft Due: Feb. 2
Peer Review (2) Due: Feb. 5
Final Copy Due: Feb. 12
Length: 3-5 pages (Please note, if you turn in less than 3 pages of content, you will receive a "0".)
For your first essay you will be analyzing a written text, an article. Think of this paper like a "style analysis" (Read, Reason, Write pages 49-51). You will need to locate an article in your textbook that presents an argument and perform an analysis on the article. You will answer the questions: Is the text effective? How do you know? In other words, the main point of the paper is to argue that the text is or is not effective, not to present your agreement or disagreement with the author's ideas. In fact, I should not be able to tell whether you agree or disagree with the author's ideas.
Here are the steps you’ll follow:
Locate an article in your Read, Reason, Write textbook which makes an argument (contains a claim). The article you use must be derived from Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, or 22 (please note, do NOT use Chapter 19) in your Read, Reason, Write textbook. Be sure the article takes a stance (i.e. is argumentative). Choose just one article. Be sure to choose a whole article, not just a section of an article. If you aren't sure if you have used the whole article, you might want to check the index or table of contents for page numbers.
You MUST follow my organizational plan and thesis template. In other words, I am giving you the basic structure for the thesis and the paper!
I. Introduction: Present your hook statement. Then, summarize your article. Don't forget to identify the title and author before you begin your summary. The summary should include the main argument, main ideas, and means of proof. Don't forget to cite in MLA at the end of the summary (before you present your thesis). Present your thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph. Use this thesis template: The text is/is not effective due to ___________, _________, __________, and __________. (Choose only one argument (is or is not effective) and present as many supporting points in the comment section as you need. Look at the structure below for the points.)
II. Body Paragraph I: Credibility of the Author. How does the author set up his or her credibility within the text? How does this make the text effective or ineffective? You are welcome to include an outside factor or two (such as if the author has a PhD, for example), but try to stick to factors within the text. You are analyzing ethos (the author's reputation for honesty and reliability, in other words). Give examples directly from the text, in other words. Cite the examples in MLA. Keep in mind that the blurb presented before each article is not part of the article.
III. Body Paragraph II: Appeal to Audience. You will discuss the effectiveness of the author's appeal to the audience. Firstly, identify the intended audience (through clues in the text). Does the author effectively or ineffectively appeal to this audience? How? How does this prove the whole text is effective or ineffective? Give examples from the text. Cite the examples in MLA.
IV. Body Paragraph III: Validity of Logic. You will discuss logic in this section. Remember, you are not showing whether or not you agree, you are only showing if the logic is solid or if it is flawed. Give examples from the text. Cite the examples.
V. Body Paragraph IV: Quality of the Evidence. You will discuss the quality of the evidence. Is the evidence credible? How do you know? Is it representative? Is it manipulative (too emotional, for example)? Is there sufficient evidence to support the claim? Is the evidence relevant to the claim? Give examples from the text. Cite the examples in MLA.
VI. Conclusion: Tie up the paper without repeating everything you just proved. You are welcome go over some of the main ideas, but try to leave the audience thinking. In other words, don't just summarize your paper.
3. Your essay should follow the essay structure above with an introduction, an argumentative thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion (see above). If you would like a blank outline template to follow, click on the link: Outline--Textual Analysis.docPreview the documentView in a new window. You may expand the logic and evidence sections if you so choose. For example, if you would like to include several paragraphs analyzing the evidence instead of just one, you may.
4. Your essay should include a Works Cited page which includes the article you are reviewing and NOTHING ELSE! In other words, you should not use more than one source in this paper. The only exception is if you choose to use an outside source for your hook statement. This must be cited as well (in-text and on the Works Cited page). The Works Cited page should be in MLA. No, this page does not count toward your page total!
5. Your paper should contain evidence from the text. Therefore, your paper should contain multiple in-text citations in MLA. In other words, all of your body paragraphs should contain citations. You must cite ANY outside information including quotes, paraphrases, and summaries.
6. Avoid first and second person constructions. Remember, this paper is argumentative. It is not an opinion nor a command-based paper.
7. Warning: I am a stickler for organization! The intent of each paragraph should be very clear. In other words, create strong topic sentences that refer back to the argument. Stick to one topic per paragraph and provide enough support for each topic. You might want to review Topic Sentences for extra help.
I Tweet Therefore I AM
On a recent lazy Saturday morning, my daughter and I lolled on a blanket in our front yard, snacking on apricots, listening to a download of E. B. White reading “The Trumpet of the Swan.” Her legs sprawled across mine; the grass tickled our ankles. It was the quintessential summer moment, and a year ago, I would have been fully present for it. But instead, a part of my consciousness had split off and was observing the scene from the outside: this was, I realized excitedly, the perfect opportunity for a tweet.
I came late to Twitter. I might have skipped the phenomenon altogether, but I have a book coming out this winter, and publishers, scrambling to promote 360,000-character tomes in a 140-character world, push authors to rally their “tweeps” to the cause. Leaving aside the question of whether that actually boosts sales, I felt pressure to produce. I quickly mastered the Twitterati’s unnatural self-consciousness: processing my experience instantaneously, packaging life as I lived it. I learned to be “on” all the time, whether standing behind that woman at the supermarket who sneaked three extra items into the express check-out lane (you know who you are) or despairing over human rights abuses against women in Guatemala.
Photo
Credit Human Empire
Each Twitter post seemed a tacit referendum on who I am, or at least who I believe myself to be. The grocery-store episode telegraphed that I was tuned in to the Seinfeldian absurdities of life; my concern about women’s victimization, however sincere, signaled that I also have a soul. Together they suggest someone who is at once cynical and compassionate, petty yet deep. Which, in the end, I’d say, is pretty accurate.
Distilling my personality provided surprising focus, making me feel stripped to my essence. It forced me, for instance, to pinpoint the dominant feeling as I sat outside with my daughter listening to E.B. White. Was it my joy at being a mother? Nostalgia for my own childhood summers? The pleasures of listening to the author’s quirky, underinflected voice? Each put a different spin on the occasion, of who I was within it. Yet the final decision (“Listening to E.B. White’s ‘Trumpet of the Swan’ with Daisy. Slow and sweet.”) was not really about my own impressions: it was about how I imagined — and wanted — others to react to them. That gave me pause. How much, I began to wonder, was I shaping my Twitter feed, and how much was Twitter shaping me?
Back in the 1950s, the sociologist Erving Goffman famously argued that all of life is performance: we act out a role in every interaction, adapting it based on the nature of the relationship or context at hand. Twitter has extended that metaphor to include aspects of our experience that used to be considered off-set: eating pizza in bed, reading a book in the tub, thinking a thought anywhere, flossing. Effectively, it makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self. If all the world was once a stage, it has now become a reality TV show: we mere players are not just aware of the camera; we mug for it.
Photo
Credit Source: Twitter, April 2010.
The expansion of our digital universe — Second Life, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — has shifted not only how we spend our time but also how we construct identity. For her coming book, “Alone Together,” Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T., interviewed more than 400 children and parents about their use of social media and cellphones. Among young people especially she found that the self was increasingly becoming externally manufactured rather than internally developed: a series of profiles to be sculptured and refined in response to public opinion. “On Twitter or Facebook you’re trying to express something real about who you are,” she explained. “But because you’re also creating something for others’ consumption, you find yourself imagining and playing to your audience more and more. So those moments in which you’re supposed to be showing your true self become a performance. Your psychology becomes a performance.” Referring to “The Lonely Crowd,” the landmark description of the transformation of the American character from inner- to outer-directed, Turkle added, “Twitter is outer-directedness cubed.”
Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE
LETTERS
Letters: I Tweet, Therefore I Am AUG. 26, 2010
LETTERS
Letters: I Tweet, Therefore I Am AUG. 11, 2010
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
The fun of Twitter and, I suspect, its draw for millions of people, is its infinite potential for connection, as well as its opportunity for self-expression. I enjoy those things myself. But when every thought is externalized, what becomes of insight? When we reflexively post each feeling, what becomes of reflection? When friends become fans, what happens to intimacy? The risk of the performance culture, of the packaged self, is that it erodes the very relationships it purports to create, and alienates us from our own humanity. Consider the fate of empathy: in an analysis of 72 studies performed on nearly 14,000 college students between 1979 and 2009, researchers at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan found a drop in that trait, with the sharpest decline occurring since 2000. Social media may not have instigated that trend, but by encouraging self-promotion over self-awareness, they may well be accelerating it.
None of this makes me want to cancel my Twitter account. It’s too late for that anyway: I’m already hooked. Besides, I appreciate good writing whatever the form: some “tweeple” are as deft as haiku masters at their craft. I am experimenting with the art of the well-placed “hashtag” myself (the symbol that adds your post on a particular topic, like #ShirleySherrod, to a stream. You can also use them whimsically, as in, “I am pretending not to be afraid of the humongous spider on the bed. #lieswetellourchildren”).
At the same time, I am trying to gain some perspective on the perpetual performer’s self-consciousness. That involves trying to sort out the line between person and persona, the public and private self. It also means that the next time I find myself lying on the grass, stringing daisy chains and listening to E. B. White, I will resist the urge to trumpet about the swan.
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