Writing Analytically » (5th Edition)

David Rosenwasser teaches at Muhlenberg College, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, where he's been since the late 1980s. Along with Jill Stephen, he created and implemented the Writing Across the Curriculum program there through a series of faculty seminars. In these seminars Rosenwasser and Stephen discovered that content faculty from across the disciplines, although they maintained disciplinary-specific writing protocols, essentially wanted the same thing from student writing: analysis. From this premise, their textbook, WRITING ANALYTICALLY WITH READINGS, was born. Rosenwasser received his B.A. from Grinnell College and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in the theory and history of narrative. His current interests include contemporary Irish literature and comic theory. His most recent literary paper was on the contemporary Irish writer Edna O'Brien in relation to the work of Joyce and Yeats.

Jill Stephen teaches at Muhlenberg College, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, where she's been since the late 1980s. Along with David Rosenwasser, she created and implemented the Writing Across the Curriculum program there through a series of faculty seminars. In these seminars, they discovered that content faculty from across the disciplines, although they maintained disciplinary-specific writing protocols, essentially wanted the same thing from student writing: analysis. From this premise, their textbook, WRITING ANALYTICALLY WITH READINGS, was born. Stephen worked in the expository writing program at New York University under Lil Brannon and Cy Knoblauch. She received her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and received her Ph.D. from NYU on rhetorical theory as evidenced in Renaissance poetry and prose. Aside from her writing with Rosenwasser on composition and writing program administration, she writes on poetry, especially Renaissance lyrics. Her current interests include creative nonfiction and theories of metaphor.

The popular, brief rhetoric that treats writing as thinking, WRITING ANALYTICALLY, Fifth Edition, offers a series of prompts that lead you through the process of analysis and synthesis and help you to generate original and well-developed ideas. The book's overall point is that learning to write well means learning to use writing as a way of thinking well. To that end, the strategies of this book describe thinking skills that employ writing. As you will see, this book treats writing as a tool of thought—a means of undertaking sustained acts of inquiry and reflection.

UNIT I: THE ANALYTICAL FRAME OF MIND: INTRODUCTION TO ANAL YTICAL METHODS. 1. Analysis: What It Is and What It Does. First Principles / Analysis Defined / The Five Analytical Moves / Analysis at Work: A Sample Paper / Distinguishing Analysis from Argument, Summary, and Expressive Writing / Applying the Five Analytical Moves: the Example of Whistlers Mother / Analysis and Personal Associations / Assignment: Analyze a Portrait or Other Visual Image. 2. Counterproductive Habits of Mind. Fear of Uncertainty / Prejudging / Blinded by Habit / The Judgment Reflex / Generalizing / Overpersonalizing (Naturalizing Our Assumptions) / Opinions (Versus Ideas) / What It Means to Have an Idea / Rules of Thumb for Handling Complexity / Assignment: Observation Practice. 3. A Toolkit of Analytical Methods. Paraphrase X 3 / Notice-and-Focus (Ranking) / 10 on 1 / The Method: Working with Patterns of Repetition and Contrast / Freewriting / Assignments: Using the Toolkit. 4. Interpretation: What It Is, What It Isnt, and How to Do It. Pushing Observations to Conclusions: Asking So What? / Asking So What?: An Example / Implications versus Hidden Meanings / The Limits on Interpretation / Intention as an Interpretive Context / The Fortune Cookie School of Interpretation / The Anything Goes School of Interpretation / Seems to Be About X But Could Also Be (Is 'Really') About Y / Putting It All Together: Interpretation of a New Yorker Cover / Assignments: Writing an Interpretive Essay. 5. Analyzing Arguments. A Procedure for Reformulating Binaries in Argument / Uncovering Assumptions (aka Reasoning Back to Premises) / Uncovering Assumptions: A Brief Example / A Procedure for Uncovering Assumptions / Analyzing an Argument: The Example of 'Playing By the Antioch Rules' / Strategies for Developing an Argument by Reasoning Back to Premises / The Problems with Debate-Style Argument / Seeing the Trees as Well as the Forest: Toulmin and the Rules of Argument / Refining Categorical Thinking: Two Examples / A Brief Glossary of Common Logical Errors / Assignments: Analyze or Produce an Argument. 6. Topics and Modes of Analysis. Rhetorical Analysis / Summary / Personal Response: The Reaction Paper / Agree/Disagree / Comparison/Contrast / Definition / Assignments: Using the Topics and Modes of Analysis. UNIT II: WRITING THE ANALYTICAL ESSAY. 7. What Evidence Is and How It Works The Function of Evidence / The Missing Connection: Linking Evidence and Claims / 'Because I Say So' / Unsubstantiated Claims / Distinguishing Evidence from Claims / Giving Evidence a Point: Making Details Speak / What Counts as Evidence? / Kinds of Evidence / Using What You Have / Assignment: Distinguishing Evidence from Claims. 8. Using Evidence to Build a Paper: 10 on 1 versus 1 on 10. Developing a Thesis Is More Than Repeating an Idea (1 on 10) / Whats Wrong with Five-Paragraph Form? / Analyzing Evidence in Depth: 10 on 1 / Pan, Track, and Zoom: Using 10 on 1 to Build a Paper / Converting 1 on 10 into 10 on 1: A Student Paper (Flood Stories) / Doing 10 on 1: A Student Paper (Good Bye Lenin!) / A Template for Organizing Papers Using 10 on 1: An Alternative to Five-Paragraph Form / Assignment: Writing a Paper Using 10 on 1. 9. Making a Thesis Evolve. What a Strong Thesis Does / Making a Thesis Evolve: A Brief Example (Tax Laws) / The Reciprocal Relationship between Thesis and Evidence: The Thesis as Lens / What a Good Thesis Statement Looks Like / Six Steps for Making a Thesis Evolve / Evolving a Thesis in an Exploratory Draft: A Student Draft on Las Meninas / Evolving a Thesis in a Later-Stage Draft: The Example of Educating Rita / Locating the Evolving Thesis in the Final Draft / Assignments: Using the Six Steps for Making a Thesis Evolve. 10. Structuring the Paper: Forms and Formats. Romantics versus Formalists / The Two Functions of Formats: Product and Process / Classical Forms and Formats / Writing Analytically's Forms and Formats / The Shaping Force of Thesis Statements / The Shaping Force of Transitions / The Shaping Force of Common Thought Patterns: Deduction and Induction / Thesis Slots / Negotiating Disciplinary Formats / Three Common Organizing Strategies / Structuring the Paragraph / Finding the Skeleton of an Essay: An Example ('September 11th: A National Tragedy'?) / Assignments: Finding Organizing Principles. 11. Introductions and Conclusions. Introductions and Conclusions as Social Sites / What Introductions Do: 'Why What Im Saying Matters' / Putting an Issue or Question in Context / How Much to Introduce Up-Front: Typical Problems / Using Procedural Openings / Good Ways to Begin / What Conclusions Do: The Final So What? / Solving Typical Problems in Conclusions / Introductions of Reports in the Sciences / Conclusions in the Sciences: The Discussion Section / Assignments: Analyzing Introductions and Conclusions. 12. Recognizing and Fixing Weak Thesis Statements. Five Kinds of Weak Thesis Statements and How to Fix Them / Weak Thesis Type 1: The Thesis Makes No Claim / Weak Thesis Type 2: The Thesis Is Obviously True or Is a Statement of Fact / Weak Thesis Type 3: The Thesis Restates Conventional Wisdom / Weak Thesis Type 4: The Thesis Bases its Claim on Personal Conviction / Weak Thesis Type 5: The Thesis Makes an Overly Broad Claim / How to Rephrase Thesis Statements: Specify and Subordinate / Is It Okay to Phrase a Thesis as a Question? / Assignment: 'Love Is the Answer'? Analyzing Clich's. UNIT III: WRITING THE RESEARCHED PAPER. 13. Reading Analytically. How to Read: Words Matter / Becoming Conversant Instead of Reading for the Gist / The Pitch, the Complaint, and the Moment / Uncovering the Assumptions in a Reading / Reading With and Against the Grain / Using a Reading as a Model / Applying a Reading as a Lens / Assignments: Writing Analytically About Reading. 14. Using Sources Analytically: the Conversation Model. 'Source Anxiety' and What to Do About It / The Conversation Analogy / Ways to Use a Source as a Point of Departure / Six Strategies for Analyzing Sources / Assignments: Conversing with Sources. 15. Organizing and Revising the Research Paper: Two Sample Essays. A Sample Research Paper and How to Revise It: The Flight from Teaching / Strategies for Writing and Revising Research Papers / A Good Sample Research Paper: Horizontal and Vertical Mergers . . . / Guidelines for Writing the Researched Paper Assignments: Exercises in Researched Writing. 16. Finding, Citing, and Integrating Sources. Getting Started / Electronic Research: Finding Quality on the Web by Kelly Cannon, Reference Librarian / Plagiarism and the Logic of Citation / How to Cite Sources / How to Integrate Quotations into Your Paper / How to Prepare an Abstract / Guidelines for Finding, Citing, and Integrating Sources / Assignment: A Research Sequence. UNIT IV: GRAMMAR AND STYLE. 17. Style: Choosing Words for Precision, Accuracy, and Tone. Not Just Icing on the Cake: Style Is Meaning / Making Distinctions: Shades of Meaning / Choosing Words: Some Rhetorical Considerations / Assignment: Style Analysis. 18. Style: Shaping Sentences for Precision and Emphasis. How to Recognize the Four Basic Sentence Types / Coordination, Subordination, and Emphasis / Periodic and Cumulative Sentences: Two Effective Sentence Shapes / Cutting the Fat / Assignments: Stylistic Analysis. 19. Common Grammatical Errors and How to Fix Them. Why Correctness Matters / The Concept of Basic Writing Errors (BWES) / What Punctuation Marks Say: A Quick-Hit Guide / Nine Basic Writing Errors and How to Fix Them / Glossary of Grammatical. Terms / Assignment: Grammar and Style Quiz.