This morning in class you began planning and drafting your analysis. Next Wednesday, I will return your handwritten drafts, and you will have the class period to begin revising your analysis on your laptop. In the meantime, continue to study Matt Richtel’s article “Blogs vs. Term Papers.”
The more you examine Richtel’s words, the more details you will notice about its content and form. What meaning does the article convey, and how does the writer’s work with words build that meaning?
Keep in mind that your assignment is an analysis, not an argument. Your aim is not to present your stance regarding the benefits of writing term papers or blogs. Instead, your goal is to develop a detailed study of the article that focuses on the elements that interest or intrigue you the most.
The authors of our textbook, Writing Analytically, distinguish analysis from argument this way: “Argument, in which a writer takes a stand on an issue, advocating for or against a policy or attitude, is reader-centered; its goal is to bring about change in its readers’ actions and beliefs. Analytical writing is more concerned with arriving at an understanding of a subject than it is with either self-expression or changing readers’ views” (5).
For more guidance with your analysis, read the section of Chapter 1 under the heading “Analysis Does More Than Break a Subject into Its Parts” (4-5).
Next Up
Friday, January 28, marks our third Wordplay Day of the semester. To prepare for your team Scrabble games, review the Tips and Tools page on the Scrabble site. Also browse my blog posts devoted to Scrabble. To view those posts, click the Scrabble link in the yellow categories square (below the pink pages square) on the right side of the screen.
Work Cited
Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. Chapter 1: “The Five Analytical Moves.” Writing Analytically, 8th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2019. pp. 2-37.
Jane Lucas 