Analysis Assignment | Analysis

Key Points in Analysis

Go beyond summary and obvious conclusions

Never rely on stereotypes or unsupported assumptions

Go beyond your own experiences

Answer the “so what?” question Structure

Your Discussion Look at the outline below.

You may follow this suggested outline, but you may also organize your essay differently.

You must have a clear thesis, you must organize your writing into paragraphs, you must provide specific evidence from the texts (details, quotes, examples), and you must explain the “so what?” — tell us why it matters.

Don’t tell what you read, tell us the connections you made between the texts, and explain what is worth taking away from your reading.

Introduce your topic and thesis: since everyone will have a different topic this week, give a little background about the topic, perhaps why you chose it, and then provide a thesis statement. Your thesis does not describe the topic, your thesis tells us what is significant about your texts in the context of your topic.

Thesis: answer one of the following questions

What do we learn from comparing and contrasting these two texts together?

Why is what the texts discuss importantly?

What insight on the topic do we get by studying the texts?

What matters about the topic, and how do the texts show what matters?

Discuss your first text. you may include a brief (1-2 sentence) summary and attribution to the text’s creator.

you should highlight the points that are worth analyzing you should tell us why the points are significant and why they relate to your thesis

Discuss your next text

. you may include a brief (1-2 sentence) summary and attribution to the text’s creator.

you should highlight the points that are worth analyzing

you should tell us why the points are significant and why they relate to your thesis

1st Point of Analysis

you might compare similarities between the texts

you might contrast differences between the texts

you might discuss how the texts provide perspective on a particular point

you might discuss how the texts show different aspects of a topic

2nd Point of Analysis

you might compare similarities between the texts

you might contrast differences between the texts

you might discuss how the texts provide perspective on a particular point

you might discuss how the texts show different aspects of a topic

Conclusion

Reinforce your thesis

Tell us why your points matter

Give us a takeaway: what should we do or think now that we have read your paper?

Mini-Lesson: Resources for Citation

You have a lot of good information in chapter 13 of your textbook,

which is all about MLA style and citation. The OWL at Purdue (Links to an external site.) is an “online writing lab” resource that also has some excellent templates of MLA citations. Do not rely on autogenerated citations unless they come from the library databases. There is no guarantee they are correctly formatted for MLA style.

Look at the example below. The first citation is autogenerated from YouTube. That’s a great place to start, but we are only getting more precise with academic citations. The second example shows an

MLA style citation for the same source. Notice that in the first example, vertical lines separate items.

In MLA, periods of separate items.

What Baby George Taught Me About Learning | Dr. Michael Wesch | TEDxMHK

Wesch, Michael. “What Baby George Taught Me About Learning.” YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 15 April 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7dbl0rJS0.

The goal of a citation is to give enough information so that you (1) give credit to the thinkers behind the source and (2) make it as easy as possible for someone to find the source for themselves.

Note: in a document, all full citations must be formatted with a hanging indent. That is not possible for our Canvas discussion boards, so you will not need hanging indents this week.

Topics and Sources for Discussion

To write your Analysis Discussion, you need to analyze two texts. Choose at least two from the topic. You do not have to analyze all three texts on a topic, but if you do, you can earn up to 15% extra credit.

Choose from one of the following topics, or email me to propose and get approval for texts of your choice.

You can discuss your own experience of the topic in your introduction and/or as a source of information if it is relevant, but you don’t have to.

The technology of the Future: “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

(Links to an external site.),

“Is Technology Re-Engineering Humanity (Links to an external site.)

” from The Economist, and/or at least two episodes of the show Westworld on HBO. Representation: “The Danger of a Single Story” (TED Talk) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “For the fifth time in a row, the new Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse ever”

(Links to an external site.)

from Pew Research Center and/ or at least two episodes of the show Hollywood on Netflix. Gendered Expectations: Original and role-reversed advertisements (Links to an external site.) , “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

(Links to an external site.) ,

and/or “Americans See Different Expectations for Men and Women (Links to an external site.) ” from the Pew Research Center. Mythology: at least two episodes of American Gods from Starz/read the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, read an article about the history of one of the mythological figures

(Links to an external site.)

from the show, and/or analyze an image of the mythological figure within its pantheon or group. (Note: a discussion of the mythology, (or stories, traditions, and meanings) of a figure or figures does not need to comment on personal religious beliefs) Power of Music: “Sonny’s Blues

(Links to an external site.)

” by James Baldwin, “The Power of Music to Affect the Brain

(Links to an external site.)

” from NPR, and/or analyze a song of your choice

Discussion

For your initial post, write an analysis of at least two texts on one of the suggested topics or a different approved topic. Apply what you read about analysis and analyzing fiction, nonfiction, and visual media. See the weekly lesson above for thesis and organization.

Respond to at least two others’ postings.

In your two response posts, continue the conversation. You might consider how the post interprets something you hadn’t considered, compare where you had similar experiences, comment on something you agree/disagree with that you want to compare notes on, you might offer an additional or alternative interpretation, or you may respond another meaningful way.