Everyone's An Author
"Writing Analytically"
This chapter provides a friendly introduction to the concept of analysis, first tying it to basic real world situations that students are familiar with, then the typical analytical approach to literature one expects in an English class, and then finally to having to form opinions and comment on information regarding world events, varying arguments, and current issues. By presenting all of these as under the larger umbrella of general analysis, the chapter helps students understand their application of critical thinking when it comes to their own lives, and then slowly moves from that familiar vantage point to the progressively more unfamiliar. The big emphasis is that in our modern world, having analytical skills is key both in the classroom and out of it.
"Since our world is awash in information, the ability to read it closely, examine it critically, and decide how—or whether—to accept or act on it becomes a survival skill. To navigate this sea of information, we rely on our ability to analyze." (226)
There's a helpful focus on multimodality, discussing how each medium has different elements for making a convincing argument. This should affect both how students view different mediums, and also how they compose their own analysis, since an oral presentation is going to require a very different approach from a multimedia blog post.
The chapter also suggests that analysis will look different in different circumstances. For instance, different academic disciplines have their own unique expectations for how and what type of information will be conveyed and discussed. There is also the important factor to consider that analysis is not done in a vacuum, it is in conversation with others, and not everyone is coming to the conversation from the same place. Tackling our own cultural bias is an important thing to note, because students are often unaware of the lens they look at the world from, assuming it is the norm. The following quote really stood out to me and helped tackle that concept:
"Analyzing and understanding beliefs, assumptions, and practices that we are not familiar with may take extra effort. We need to be careful not to look at things only through our own frames of reference." (233)
"Visual Analysis"
This section is the one my own presentation for the week will be based on, so my focus when reading it was considering how visual analysis can be applied in the classroom. As someone who loves the video format and is partial to YouTube video essays, this was a particularly interesting chapter for me, because having a course in which students examine visual media by creating their own visual analysis sounds fascinating and exciting to me.
In some ways, analysis of visual texts is not different from analysis of alphabetical texts. It involves looking at the elements of the text and how they contribute to the overall message. But these very elements are unique to the medium, and they might not be one students are used to analyzing.
"When you analyze a visual, you ask the same questions you would of any text: How does it convey its message? How does it appeal to audiences? To answer such questions for a visual text, you’d begin by considering each of its elements—its use of color, light, and shadow; its perspective; any words or symbols; and its overall composition." (256)
This chapter lays out how a student might choose to approach analyzing a visual work, with all the elements their analysis might include in a helpful list:
A Description of the Visual (What draws your eyes first, the most notable elements?)
Contextual Information (What's the purpose of the text, who is the target audience?)
Attention to Any Words (Words in visual texts are noteworthy, what's their purpose?)
Close Analysis of the Message (Which elements are key to conveying the message?)
Insight into What the Visual "Says" (What argument is being made?)
Precise Language (Is your analysis detailed or vague?)
"Analyzing and Constructing Elements"
Similarly to the chapter on "Writing Analytically", this chapter does a good job first establishing how arguments are made in day to day life, such as what argument you are conveying about yourself when choosing an outfit. From there, the author has students consider how other people are constructing arguments, and how to be aware of their existence. These arguments, it's important to note, are not negative disagreements that should be avoided, but an ongoing conversation, with reactions and counterreactions to any given issue.
"Arguments, in short, don’t appear out of thin air: every argument begins as a response to some other argument—a statement, an event, an image, or something else. From these images we see how important it is to analyze any argument you encounter—and consider the other side—before deciding where you yourself stand." (412)
Some questions students should ask themselves when looking at an argument before they take a position on the topic is:
Where is the argument coming from? Who is the source of the argument? Is it somebody who has a conflict of interest, whose bias might come from some sort of political, monetary, or social gain that makes it difficult to trust what they're saying? Are they an expert on the issue, what sort of credentials do they have to be making the argument they're making?
What's the claim? Sometimes the claim is easy to identify; for instance, in an essay the argument being made is the thesis. Other times it can be less obvious. When looking at an analytical text, take the time to be familiar with what the actual claim is.
What's at stake? This important question often goes overlooked, but it's important to be aware of why the argument matters and who will be affected by the outcome of choosing one side over the other. The book provides four questions to consider for answering this broader one:
What are the facts?
How can the issue be defined?
How much does the issue matter, and why?
What actions should be taken as a result?
The rest of the chapter discusses logos, ethos, and pathos, which are important concepts for students to be aware of when dissecting an argument. It also goes into the potential drawbacks of each of these ways of creating an argument, laying out a couple of fallacies which I think is very helpful for a freshman student learning to write analysis because identifying such fallacies and logical inconsistencies isn't something that's often taught at a high school level.
Overall, I continue to find Everyone's An Author a great book to assign to freshmen who need a gentle introduction to writing that comes with lots of guidance and a positive approach to writing that can help boost students' confidence.
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