Analysis: The Core of Everything Erin Breaux English 1020

Pre-writing What do you think analysis is (i.e. how would you define it)? What analysis do you remember doing in the past? What is your attitude toward it? Why do you think you have this attitude and the associations you do?

Why is it important? Analysis… …helps us understand texts and issues better. …helps us think through complex ideas and issues in complex ways (critical thinking). …helps us work through our opinions/positions. …is often part of or a precursor to argument. …prompts us to look at both details and big picture. We can analyze so many things: different kinds of texts, situations, problems, actions, etc. We also do so on a daily basis—dog example, instructor on first day of class example.

To become a great Analyst! 1. Understand what analysis is and what it isn’t, as well as the process. 2. Avoid the most common problems. 3. Know what to do, look for, and ask in the stages of analysis & interpretation. 4. Be willing to invest in the entire process.

Defining… "To analyze something is to ask what that something means. It asks how something does what it does or why it is as it is" (Writing Analytically, Rosenwasser 41). Analysis is separating into parts in order to understand the whole. It is seeing the relationship between parts of a work, but it also may take note of what is not in the work.

Defining (cont.) BUT analysis is more than breaking things down. It is the search for pattern and meaning, leading to interpretation. Analysis is looking at all aspects of something, considering parts. Interpretation is putting what you’ve learned and thought about together, coming to conclusions, considering meaning.

Analytical Basic Process 3. Interpretation (like Conclusion in science) Pulling it all together into ”Working Thesis” What could it mean? What does it say? 2. Analysis Ideas, Connections, & Implications How? Why? So What? 1. Observation Reading/Viewing. Stay in the text. Describe. What?

Now do it again… 4. Observe more. 5. Interpret again. 6. Conclude with more confidence. Revise former thesis. You’re ready to put ideas in outline and then draft form! 5. Interpret again. Account for old and new evidence. Reformulate questions. 4. Observe more. Go back to text. Re-read. Re-view.

Most Common Problems: 1. STUCK WITH SUMMARY 2. JUDGMENT REFLEX 3. CULTURE OF TOO-FAST (Thesis, Generalization) 4. BAD INTERPRETATION THINKING

Problem 1: Stuck with Summary Not getting past observation stage Summary & Description answers What? Who? When? This is the literal/observation level and surface reading/thinking This is often necessary but as a *first step* before you get to analysis. But any description or summary should only be necessary for context or be directed toward proving your interpretative claim. Often, it will only be in pre-writing/thinking. It is very rare to be the end goal in a college assignment. Analysis & Interpretation answers How? Why? To what effect? So what? What does it mean? Why is it important? This is the deeper level and critical reading/thinking

What to look for during Observation What you notice What jumps out at you What is surprising What seems important What doesn’t fit What patterns are there What provokes a strong reaction in you

What to look for during Analysis Assumptions and implications What is implicit vs. explicit Inferences or biases Purposes and effects Relationship of part to the whole What is gained and what would be lost Patterns and inconsistencies The rhetorical situation (context, genre, purpose, audience, author) Questions raised by the text, possible answers, contradictions

Making the Interpretive Leap Here are some great questions you can ask about your specific observations: What ideas or elements are most significant? Why? What do you find most interesting? Strange? Revealing? Surprising? Why? What are implications? What are assumptions? Why could/would this be so? What is the text about/what does it seem to say? Explicitly/literally? And then implicitly? This seems to be about X, but is it really (or also) about Y? What does the observation imply? Where does this observation get us? So what? Why does this observation matter? How can we explain its significance? Why are your ideas/connections important? How do things work together? How do the important elements fit together? What is the author/artist achieving? How does it do so? Why did the creator of the text make a certain choice? What’s your impression and how do you know?

Problem 2: JUDGMENT REFLEX like/dislike, good/bad, either/or, right/wrong; simply evaluating is judging leaps to observation -----------> evaluative claims This is a great start, or it may be the end goal if your assignment is evaluation. Analysis, however, is not automatically evaluation.

Problem 3: CULTURE OF TOO-FAST one-size-fits-all generalization leaps to observation --------> broad generalization different texts and situations will demand different analysis and yield different interpretations

Problem 3: CULTURE OF TOO-FAST Trying to start with a thesis. You may miss something interesting or important because you’re only looking for evidence to support what you think it means at outset. We usually quickly rush to judgment, jump to general conclusions, and have a thesis before we’ve looked at the evidence. Your thesis should always be revised, because you hardly ever have the best one at the beginning. Our assumptions and our thesis should always be re-evaluated with the evidence. Consider Scientific Method! Watch this: http://www.awarenesstest.co.uk/

the antidote to these problems? 1. Give yourself enough time to dwell with the subject. Stay within the “text” first. Slow down—this is the best quality of an observer. Focus and notice. 2. Suspend Judgment at first. It’s important to observe adequately before trying to assign meaning. That way, you are not imposing meaning on the text, but trying to find the meaning from within.

Problem 4: BAD INTERPRETATION THINKING These three ways of thinking will prevent good analysis and interpretation! A. Anything goes. B. It’s just reading into things or making things up. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” C. There’s only one meaning that I have to discover – “needle in haystack.” Two people may also come to different conclusions about the same subject which is OKAY as long as they have evidence.

the antidote to this problem? Pro-Interpretation Premises  Everything means. Everything in life calls on us to interpret, even when we are unaware of doing so. Most issues and texts are open to multiple meanings and interpretations. The key is being able to support your interpretation with evidence. Implausible interpretative leaps are no good. Logic, context, and support (evidence)

Working with Assumptions Uncover assumptions (think backwards): given that the text says this, what must the writers/authors/creators also already believe? what would audience believe? Example: “The student uses his sense of humor appropriately.” What are the assumptions? Example:

Working with Implications List as many plausible implications (think forward) as you can for this statement. If this is true, what else is true? Example: “The sidewalk is disappearing as a feature of the American residential landscape.” What are some implications? Example: “In the female brain, there are more connections between the right hemisphere (emotions, spatial reasoning) and the left hemisphere (verbal facility). In the male brain, these two hemispheres remain more separate.”

New Yorker Cover Practice STEP 1 (Observation): Observe. Focus. Notice. Describe. What do you see (literal level)? STEP 2 (Analysis): How do these things work together? What seems strange? Why do you think creator made that choice? STEP 3 (Interpretation): What meaning or significance would you assign this cover/work of art? What does it reveal? What does it say about society? How may different viewers interpret it differently? STEP 4. Try Step 1-3 again.

Academy awards photo practice

Post-writing Has your view of analysis changed or not? Why? Do you think you will approach analysis differently? Have you been guilty of any of the four common problems? 1. STUCK WITH SUMMARY 2. JUDGMENT REFLEX 3. CULTURE OF TOO-FAST 4. BAD INTERPRETATION THINKING