Analysis 2
Walk through video on how to complete assignment:
https://youtu.be/NG0Y9Jaw4oY
What:
In your second concise analysis paper, you’ll once again compare about 300 words of your own prose to 300 words of a professional writer.
Why:
This assignment uses a different set of metrics than the ones we get from the paramedic method: Paper 2 focuses your attention on sentence structures. Again you’ll be comparing styles, making observations, and drawing conclusions, taking into account each writer’s context, audience, and purpose.
How:
This time, you should try to choose writing samples (one of yours and one from a professional writer) that are about the same topic. For example, you may choose a selection from one of your own high school or college papers and compare it to a newswriter, editorial, or scholar/academic. Nonfiction works best for this assignment.
Download Chart 2 from the assignment folder on Blackboard. If you fill this chart out on your computer, it should fill in the percentages (gray boxes) for you.
Create copies of your two passages for analysis (it may be easiest to retype them) and number each sentence at the start.
Code your two writing samples, that is, count the things that are asked for in the chart. You could use different colored inks or pencils, or a variety of marks (circle, underline, box, etc). Whatever your approach, be consistent between the two samples.
After you have filled in the chart, compose a short essay (900 words, ∓ 10%). Your essay should have a title, an introduction, a section for your observations, and a section for your conclusions.
Your observations should be drawn from the data in your chart. What seems significant or telling to you? Give examples from the writing samples, and cite sentence numbers.
Your conclusions should offer reflections on the data and your observations. Describe the rhetorical effect of what you have observed in each sample. Give examples & cite sentence numbers. Consider the different rhetorical contexts of each sample. To whom is the author addressing this work? What is their purpose, aim, or motive to write?
Submission:
Compile your chart, coded samples, and essay into a single PDF and upload it to Blackboard. If you completed your coding on paper, it’s OK to take a photo with your phone and include that — you don’t need to access a scanner.
Your submission must include all required elements.
