1. A new way of looking at texts
Says-Does Analysis
A new way of looking at texts

2. Intro to Says-Does Analysis
S-D analysis helps train us to discuss how authors make arguments in texts
“Says” analysis – a simple summary of the text’s content – what the text “says”
“Does” analysis – a description of the text’s techniques – what the text “does”
no references to the content, only to the author’s techniques of statement, argument, explanation, comparison, example, etc.
based on a “does” analysis of a text, you should have no idea what the text is about

3. What a Text Might “Do” Common Terms in “Does” Analyses
Describes
States a proposition
Narrates
Provides history
Lists
Categorizes
Itemizes
Predicts
Explains
Makes a generalization
Compares
Traces
Illustrates
Provides an example
Evaluates
Synthesizes
Cites
Elaborates
Exemplifies
Deepens
Develops
Offers a hypothesis
Supports
Contrasts

4. – The Gettysburg Address – “Says” Analysis
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Lincoln recalls the founding of the United States and highlights liberty and equality as the founding principles most relevant to his topic.

5. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Lincoln refers to the ongoing Civil War and notes that its outcome will determine whether a nation founded on liberty and equality can survive. He cites this struggle as the reason for the memorial’s existence, and he declares the battlefield an appropriate memorial to those who died there.

6. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
He backtracks and claims that the memorial and his speech are actually insignificant compared with the soldiers’ sacrifice. He urges rededication to the ideals (liberty & equality) that the soldiers died defending.

7. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
He points out the task ahead: to ensure that everyone shares the soldiers’ devotion to liberty and equality, to justify their sacrifice, to seek to expand freedom within the U.S., and to guarantee the survival of the American form of government.

8. – The Gettysburg Address – “Does” Analysis
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
In paragraph 1, Lincoln makes a historical reference and emphasizes two central ideas.

9. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
In paragraph 2, he updates the reference to the present by introducing an abstract conflict, which he relates to the time and place of the speech. The next sentences relate the conflict to current events, and evaluates the events that are about to take place.

10. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
The author acknowledges that his argument is invalid on the larger scale, and justifies his reasoning. He draws a contrast, then introduces a new proposition.

11. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
He restates the new proposition, breaking it down into four distinct components and closing with the broadest of the four.