- posed large categories of behavior or locations where certain behaviors took place
- identified specific features/elements of the behaviors, locations, interactions within those categories
- interpreted the meanings of the behaviors and relationships
Those three "moves" are typical of analytic writing. Analysis describes, explains, or interprets relationships between the components (elements) of a process, interaction, text, event, situation or nearly anything that has "parts". Analysis identifies and names the elements/parts of what you are analyzing - and poses a meaningful discussion of the relationships among those elements or parts. The focus of an analytic essay is the meaning of the relationships identified by the analysis. Writers develop a focus by analyzing a series of related overall features of their subject to support a central point. For example, in "The body ritual of the Nacerima," the essay used a discussion of the different rituals associated with the bathroom, dental care, and the hospital as a way to "prove" the superstitious nature of the Nacerima. Because this essay is also a parody of anthropological writing - it also makes the point that anthropologists tend to portray the cultures of "others" as primitive - while overlooking the "magical" assumptions within their own culture.
Analytic process: After discussing Miner's essay - you used analysis to solve a logic problem. We noted the "steps" you followed in your analysis on the board.
1. Identified the different elements (the diamonds, squares, clubls, hearts, and spades)
2. Identified features of the elements (colors + orientations) that made them "different"
3. Looked for patterns in the relationships between the elements by:
- counting (quantifying -as a way to estimate the significance) the numbers of each element,
- looking for which elements were associated with one another
- making hypotheses (guesses) about how to "group" the elements
- making hypotheses about the order or sequence of the different relationships you observed
These are basic analytic "moves" you use in analysis - whether you are doing an logic problem - or analyzing a written text.
After solving the logic problem, we briefly compared the form of a written analysis (Miner's essay) with the process you used to analyze a text.
Miner's essay presented the larger categories/patterns and then supported his interpretation of those patterns with specific examples of relationships among the elements he identified.
In contrast - when you solved the logic problem - you began by identifying the elements - and worked up through smaller patterns to identify the larger patterms (categories).
These observations set up some definite suggestions about the process for writing an analytic paper.
Introduction to cultural analysis: I then passed out Jan Harold Brunvand's "New Legend's for Old" - available in Et Cetera - a journal in the Kean University Library database. We will use this essay to set up the writing assignment for you analytic paper. If you did not receive a copy of this essay in class you should print a copy and read it for next class. There will be a quiz at the beginning of class.
For class March 22:
Read: Jan Harold Brunvand's "New Legend's for Old"
Write: Work on final revisions to your persuasive essay. I will return the revised persuasive essay with comments no later than Monday, March 14, so you have some time to work on it. If you did not turn in the revised persuasive essay by the due date, I strongly suggest that you go to the Writing Center, and make revisions based on the work you do there.
We will spend the first half of class working on analysis. During the second half of class you will update your portfolio and work on the reflective writing for the persuasive essay. The final draft for the persuasive essay will be due March 24, with your portfolio.
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