Chapter 27. ANALYSIS      Introduction   Basics   Advanced   Samples   Activities --- 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 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." 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. 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?"       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. --- Return to top.

Research Writing