Alfonso Martinez-Arceo

English 101

Nagel

10 April 2023

Chapter 1

❖ Writing as a tool of thought

- Analysis: greatest impact on the way to learn

- Learning to write well = learning to use writing in order to think well (makes you

smarter)

- Learn to feel comfortable and to focus more on what's necessary rather than what

you do wrong

❖ Why faculty want analysis

- To understand material rather than just responding to it

- Relating ----> Reporting

- Search for meaning

Distinguishing analysis from summary, expressive writing, and argument

- Communication (writer, subject, audience)

- The communication triangle

- Writing is analytical

❖ Analysis and summary

 - Summary differs from analysis (recount and reduce someone else's ideas)

- Summary has less interpretive leaps than analysis

❖ Analysis and expressive writing

- Expressive writing significantly differs from analytical

- There is an “I” doing the thinking and selecting the details to consider

❖ Analysis and argument

- They differ in the questions they try to answer

- Offer evidence

- Make claims

- Supply reason to justify claims

❖ Analysis versus debate style argument

- agree/disagree

- Debate model

- Reasoning or trying to understand doesn’t always mean to defeat the opposition

❖ Ethos and analysis

- Not just conclusions also includes thought process that led to the conclusions

- Ethos pathos logos

- Learn how to adopt different self representations for different academic

disciplines

❖ Counterproductive habits of mind

- Analysis is a frame of mind, a set of habits for observing and making sense of the

world
 - Anti Analytical frame of mind with its own set of habits (shut down perception

and arrest potential ideas at the cliche)

❖ The judgment reflex

- Judging is like an on and off switch

- Leaping to judgment lands in mental pathways you’ve grown accustomed to

- Writer needs to take account how his or her judgment has been affected by the

details of the situation

❖ Arguments vs Opinions

- Arguments seeks support from evidence

- The key task is not so much the substitution of knowledge for opinion, but

substituting well constructed arguments for unexamined opinions

- Assumptions that everything in the end as an opinion

The Five analytical moves

❖ Move 1 : Suspend Judgment

- Merely what passes through thinking is reacting

- These are habits reflexes of this mind

- In analysis the goal is always to understand before you judge

❖ Move 2 : define significant parts and how they’re related

- Train to attend closely to detail

- Becoming observant is not natural, it;s learned

- Notice and focus

 - Repeatedly ask what you notice, rank what you notice by creating a list, explain

why you’re selection is most interesting

❖ Noticing and rhetorical analysis

- When you become attuned to noticing words rather than just registering general

impressions, you understand the message on not just what gets said but how it

gets said

- Rhetorical analysis is an essential skill because it reveals how voices in the world

are perennially seeking to enlist our support and shape our behavior

- Everything has rhetoric

❖ Freewriting

- Freedom to experiment without readers saying you are wrong

- Freedom to just pay attention to what you notice and see where these observations

might lead you

- Goals to not produce a finished paper but to start your train of thought

- There aren’t many rules to freewriting

Make the implicit explicit push

❖ Explicit (overly stated) Implicit (suggested)

- Moving forward

- The process of converting suggestions into direct statements

- Implications aren’t really there, requires more of “reading between the lines”

❖ Pushing observations to conclusions

- Asking “so what?”

 - Describe significant evidence

- Begin to query your observations by making what is implicit explicit

- Push your observations and statements of implications to interpretive conclusions

by asking “so what?” again

Look for patterns of repetition, contrast, and for anomalies

❖ Steps to the method

- 1. Words that repeat exactly: forty X 2, blonde X 2, how far we've (I've) come >

2, light x 2, reminisce, reminiscing × 2, filter, filters > 2, Brooklyn Heights × 2

- 2. Strands: jump rope, laughter,play, hopscotch (connecting logic: childhood

games, the carefree worldview of childhood), Coors Light, Marlboro Light filters,

beer bottles (connecting logic: drugs, adult "games," escapism ?), smack, burning,

breaking (connecting logic: violent actions and powerful emotion: burning)

- 3. Binary oppositions: how far we've come/how far I've come (a move from plural

to singular, from a sense of group identity to isolation, from group values to a

more individual consideration) Burning/putting out Coors Light, Marlboro

Lights/jump rope, hopscotch How far I've come (two meanings offar?, one

positive, one not) Heights/stoop Present]past

- 4. Ranked repetitions, strands, and binaries plus paragraph explaining the choice

of one of these as central to understanding.

- 5. Anomaly
1. What active reading tools did you use for this assignment? Why?

I employed the PWR method for this assignment because it is a more effective approach when

engaging with textbook readings.

2. What active reading methods did you implement for this assignment? Why?

Using bullet points, Taking notes and summarizing key points in the chapter Identifying

important themes and concepts

3. Explain the 3 most valuable pieces of information (include Subtitle, your summary, and page

number) for you from this chapter and HOW you plan to APPLY in your writing.

Subtitle: The Five Analytical Moves Summary: The chapter introduces five analytical moves that

can help in writing: suspending judgment, defining significant parts and their relationships,

making implicit ideas explicit, pushing observations to conclusions, and looking for patterns of

repetition, contrast, and anomalies. Application: I can apply these analytical moves in my writing

by incorporating them into my thought process and writing routine, ensuring that my work is

well-structured, critical, and thoughtful.

Subtitle: Ethos and analysis Summary: The chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding

and using ethos, pathos, and logos in writing to effectively communicate with the audience.

Application: By incorporating these rhetorical appeals in my writing, I can create persuasive and

engaging content that resonates with my target audience.

Subtitle: Freewriting Summary: The chapter suggests using freewriting as a tool to start the train

of thought and explore ideas without the fear of being judged or wrong. Application: I can use
freewriting as a technique to brainstorm ideas, get past writer's block, or generate new

perspectives on a topic and help me get started on future potential writing papers

4. If any, what were the most confusing parts (state page number and which paragraph) of the

chapter and why do you think it poses a problem? OR what questions do you have from the

suggested strategies or methods introduced in the chapter?