As you continue to draft your analysis, you may be unsure of how to develop it into a full-length essay of at least six hundred words. Here are some recommendations:
- If you know you want to include a particular point but do not know where to place it in the essay, go ahead and write it down in your journal or type it into your document file. Sometimes the act of putting words on the page will lead you to additional ideas and give you a sense of where you might include that point without a home. In other words, try following this advice from Writing Analytically: “Don’t wait to write until you have an idea around which you can organize a paper. Instead, use writing to get you to the idea” (Rosenwasser and Stephen 123).
- The authors of Writing Analytically also note that writers of analyses “usually find that subtler, less obvious meanings are cloaked by more obvious ones, and so they are distracted from seeing them” (Rosenwasser and Stephen 104). Moving beyond the obvious to the subtle creates a path for development. Applying Rosenwasser and Stephen’s “Seems to Be About X” strategy (104) may provide you with additional claims and textual evidence. Consider these possibilities: “Me Talk Pretty One Day” seems to be about learning French, but could also be (or is really) about the healing power of humor; “The Day Language Came into My Life” seems to be about learning sign language, but could also be (or is really) about overcoming despair; “Letter from Birmingham Jail” seems to be about the need for nonviolent protest, but could also be (or is really) about the deaf ears of those who have not been the victims of segregration; “Back Story” seems to be about Joe Theismann’s career-ending injury and players’ fear of Lawrence Taylor but could also be (or is really) about the excessive violence of football; “The Falling Man” seems to be about the title figure but could also be (or is really) about symbolization: the process of becoming a symbol.
- Imagine that the task at hand is not an analysis but a letter to a friend about the essay or chapter that serves as your subject. Draft that letter in your journal. Begin with a summary and follow with the reasons that your friend will find the essay or chapter as appealing as you do. Offer textual evidence to support your claims. Then step back and ask yourself whether that letter could become a more formal analysis–chances are, it could.
Works Cited
Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. “Rule 6: Use Freewriting to Find and Interpret Topics.” Writing Analytically, 9th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2024. pp. 123.
—. “Seems to Be About X, But Could Also Be (Or is ‘Really’) About Y.” Writing Analytically, 9th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2024. pp. 104-7.
Next Up
At the beginning of Wednesday’s class, I will collect your worksheets for the fourth lesson of Check, Please! Afterward, I will return your handwritten drafts with my notes, and you will have the remainder of the period to begin revising your analyses on your laptops and tablets.
Jane Lucas 