Chapter 27. ANALYSIS
Introduction
Basics
Advanced
Samples
Activities
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Activities Using
Analysis
See also "Activities
& Groups." ---
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
1. ANALYZING A
POTENTIAL EMPLOYEE (individual or small-group exercise)
(a) Imagine you are an employer or work
coordinator starting a job search for a new employee. Make up a company
name, your service or product, and a type of job you need to fill. Make up
a list of what the job requires, and make another list describing the qualities
of the type of person you need for this job.
(b) Next, make up three very
different types of people. Then pretend that they have already completed
interviews and sent you their applications.
(c) Finally, analyze each one using the two lists you made of job requirements
and the qualities in the type of person you need.
2. ANALYZING USING A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW
(individual or small-group
exercise)
(a) As a group or as an individual,
imagine that you are a
celebrity politician, business leader, or entertainment star who is making an important or
unusual speech on a subject of your choice. Write the speech (100+ w.), making several
points.
(b) If you are working in a group, pass
this speech to another group. If you are working as an individual, pass it
to another individual (if you are in a classroom).
(c) Read the speech you have received. Then
summarize three or four main ideas in it (1 sent. each).
(d) Next, imagine you are a person with
an entirely different, unusual, different, or unique point of view in society (e.g.,
an organic farmer, a homeless
people, a Martian invader, rich royalty, etc.). Summarize your point of view
about society and life in general (50+ w.).
(e) Finally, examine each of the three
or four main ideas in "c"--the speech you read--but do so from your
new point of view, in "d": write 50+ words for each point in
"c," explaining how you would see it from this new point of
view.
(f) Read your results to the class.
3. CATEGORY SORTING (class exercise): (a) As a class, decide on a subject to
analyze: one that is common to all of you: your school, its dining facilities, a recent
and well-known event in the news, your writing class, etc.
(b) Then individually choose a role or point
of view (e.g., the cynic, the fair-minded balancer, the "good" person, the
"selfish" person, the troublemaker, etc.). From the viewpoint of that role,
write three or four points about the subject chosen by the class.
(c) Choose what you think is your most
interesting comment. Share your role and your comment with the class out loud. As you do
so, your instructor should write a word or phrase summarizing each.
(d) As a class, edit the comments on the
board with your instructor's help: try to break down the comments into three to five major
areas or categories of analysis: help your instructor decide which comments should be
grouped together and why.
4. ANALYZING A PAST EXPERIENCE
(individual exercise): (a) Choose an experience in your life that was intense at
the time but now is long ago enough for you to be able to be reasonably objective about
it. Describe the experience (100+ w.).
(b) Next, choose three to five main points or parts of the
experience, and explain the meaning or importance of each from at least three
different viewpoints each. Your viewpoints might include the meaning of your
experiences to you when you had them, a different meaning they might now have (not
exactly the same meaning), how others saw your experience at the time (if
different from your viewpoint), how society and/or culture in your geographic
area or a different one might see your experience differently, or how systems of
thought (like moral or ethical beliefs, psychological interpretations, or
philosophical ones) might view your experience differently (100-200+ w.
total).
(c) Share your results with your instructor or class.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
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THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHAPTER:
As an individual or a group, read the chapter and take
notes about it using one of the methods in "General
Study Questions."
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ROUGH DRAFT: As an individual or a group, write an
analysis of a reading as described in this chapter. Use the subtitles
shown in the "Introduction" or the "Basics" section as
subtitles of your rough draft, and write at least 50+ words in each body
section. If you are working as a group, you may, if your instructor
allows, develop a fictional and fanciful background and subject for your
rough draft.
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GROUP MAPPING & PLANNING: Divide into
small groups of 3-4 people randomly. In each group, one person each should
volunteer to be
(i) the facilitator (the person helping everyone to do the
work),
(ii) the writer/recorder (who does the writing for the group),
(iii) the reader/announcer (who reports
the group's works to the class), and
(iv) if there is a fourth, the timekeeper, the observer taking notes about the group's way of working,
and/or the "social encourager"--someone who finds questions to encourage quieter
members of the group.
The group should then follow these steps using a
timetable given by the instructor, either in a small, close circle with the
writer using pen or laptop, or at a segment of the whiteboard with the
writer using a marker:
(A) What is the key or essence of this type of paper? Brainstorm an
interesting, fun idea (serious or silly) to write about.
(B) Then look at the "map" or blocks of how to build this type of paper,
from introduction through the body sections to the conclusion. The
instructor can either project it on a screen or draw it on the board.
Then fill in the parts with 50-100 words for each main body section, and
20-50 for the intro and conclusion (depending on the instructor's
directions).
(C) If your instructor suggests this, add a good made up illustration,
graphic, or quotation or two to each section from an "expert" and give
credit to your made-up expert. (Note: Never add made-up detail or
experts to a real paper.)
(D) Have your reader/announcer read your result to the entire class.
(E) After all groups have gone, then the "observer" in each group--or the
facilitator--should answer three brief comments on how the group process
happened: "What worked well," "What didn't," and "How could it be changed?"
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GROUP CRITIQUE OF A
LATER DRAFT:
If your class has a paper all of you are preparing for grading, gather in a group to
critique each other's developed drafts:
(a) Simply pass the papers to each other;
your paper preferably should be checked by three other people. (Some
instructors prefer that you make several copies, distribute them to your
group members, take the copies home that you receive, and comment on them
there.)
(b) Write comments for each other.
To do so, use a a
set of grading guidelines (or "rubric"):
for example, "How are the contents,"
"How is the organization of parts," "Do paragraphs work
well," and "How well have editing errors been corrected?"
Preferably, you can use the guidelines your instructor applies when grading.
(c) For each question or requirement in your guidelines, write one or more
comments. Your comments should be substantial and specific (more like a
complete sentence, and more specific than just "Nice!" or "Needs
work"). Your comments also should be positive or helpfully
constructive: when positive, they should offer specific praise of a particular part, detail, or
method; when constructive, they should offer specific advice about what to add or do to make
the paper better.
(d) Add a final positive or constructive comment about how you think the
average reader of this paper might respond to it, and/or how the paper could
be changed or fixed for a stronger or more positive response from its
audience.
(e) After
receiving your comments from others, take them home. Review
what they have written. Remember
that your readers are not commenting on you as a person, but rather on how
easily (or poorly) they have been able to read your paper as its audience
members. Pay attention in particular to comments that may have
been repeated by more than one of your readers.
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