1. Warm-Up
Autumn—associations, memories, what I love or hate

2. “Idea” vs. “Evidence” Idea statements Evidence statements Analysis
Thesis
Color commentary
Implications
“How” it is said
Interpretation
Claim
Argument
Examples
Could be direct quotation
Could be paraphrase
Play-by-play
“What” is said
Concrete detail
Evidence
“From the Text”

3. More on Idea vs. Evidence
Although academic writing involves many sentence types, for our purposes right now, we will be identifying two general categories: idea and evidence. In order to analyze another author’s argument, you must first be able to identify how she is using these two kinds of sentences. In turn, you will observe how you are using them in your own writing, and ultimately, craft your paragraphs using a combination of the two.
Evidence sentences recount specific details from a source text or life experience. Evidence sentences may be summarized in the writer’s own words or in the form of direct quotes from a text. For our purposes, you will often need to quote directly.
Idea sentences state the writer’s specific idea, interpretation or theory about a given topic or a source text. (I define “text” in the broadest sense; it encompasses not only written texts, but also includes any artistic artifact, interviews, conversations, or performances (formal or informal). People themselves may at times be considered “texts” available for our interpretation.)

4. Idea or Evidence?
____ The voiceover narrator says, “In the minors you got to make all the calls, and then one day you get the call,” after which we see him face his first real test.
____ Americans are not without culture; they simply have a different culture from that of Bennett and Hirsch.
____ The greatest patriots in our time will be those who explore our ideology critically, with particular attention to the gaps between mythology and practice.
____ He must call an important and ‘close’ play correctly and then withstand the pressure of dispute.

5. Idea or Evidence?
____ The narrator seems to be feeling some culture shock.
____ He states, “You are white—yet a part of me as I am a part of you.”
____ The author of the poem, “Theme for English B,” displays a sense of self-knowledge and confidence.
____ In a line like “I wonder if it’s that simple, I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston Salem,” it becomes clear that the author is introspectively contemplating his place in his educational surrounds.

6. Shape of an Academic Paragraph
Topic sentence (Idea sentence)
Evidence sentence
Analysis sentence (may be one, two or three sentences)
Analysis sentences (may be one, two, or three sentences)
[potentially more evidence and analysis]

7. Shape of a Body Paragraph, cont.
Big Idea sentence (topic sentence)
Evidence sentence
Two-Three smaller idea sentences
Two-three smaller idea sentences

8. More on Academic Paragraphs (or Body Paragraphs)
The outline on the previous slide gives you a form for Assignment 1.3. It is also the form of any “body paragraph” in a longer essay.
I often break the paragraph into “chunks.” One “chunk” is an evidence sentence plus your analysis that follows. Note that any time you provide evidence, you should follow it with analysis. (Don’t have any hanging quotes).
Your topic sentence is a “bigger” idea sentence than analysis sentences. (“Bigger” in my terms means broader, more abstract, or able to encompass more evidence.) The topic sentence is less specific than the other idea sentences in a paragraph.

9. What does an effective topic sentence do?
Presents a claim about the evidence which will follow
Makes a mini-argument
States your interpretation of the text
For our purposes right now, it argues the effect of the author’s rhetorical strategy (of the text you’re writing on)