Chapter 2 Reading for Academic Purposes: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

Chapter 2

Reading for Academic Purposes:

Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

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Overview

• The chapter looks at two ways of reading, with two sets of strategies:

1. Strategies for close reading

2. Strategies to analyze the rhetorical situation

• It includes an essay by Jonathan Kozol as a writing sample and then demonstrates the various strategies using that essay.


Two Sets of Strategies

• Strategies for close reading help you understand what a text says and means, as well as how a writer presents ideas and conveys meaning.

• Strategies to analyze the rhetorical situation, referring to the larger context of issues, andhow a writer identifies and responds to thecall to write.


Reading… is it Active or Passive?

• Reading is more than letting your eyes glance across the page.

• The first set of strategies enable you to become a more active reader.


Strategies for Close Reading

• Reading is research, whether it is done to prepare to write a formal paper or decide which movie to go see with friends.

• Your reading style is tied to your purpose and the context of the situation.

• The purpose of this set of strategies is to equip you to do active and critical reading.


Strategies for Close Reading

• Underlining

• Annotation

• Summarizing

• Exploratory writing

• Outlining

• Describing the writer’s strategy


Strategy One: Underlining

• Underline words and phrases to help identify key points and main ideas.

• The text encourages selective use, so don’t underline too much.


Strategy Two: Annotation

• Annotation refers to comments written in the margins; the purpose is to keep you actively engaged as you read.

Several suggestions include:• Point out key features and ideas• Agree or disagree with the writer• Raise questions• Draw connections


Benefits of Annotation

• Annotation is one of the most powerful skills you can develop; the key ideas you identify should make it much easier to construct an outline.

• It helps you to master the content.


Strategy Three: Summarizing

• Condenses material to focus on the key ideas; generally the summary is half or less the length of the original content.

• The text lists five steps on page 36.

• This section presents a sample summary of the reading about the homeless.


Strategy Four: Exploratory Writing

• Also called freewriting, the purpose is to use what you’ve read for a starting point, and then just write nonstop for five to 10 minutes.

• Don’t stop writing to fix, edit or revise; just see where your ideas take you before stopping to read what you’ve read.


Strategy Five: Outlining

• Creating an outline helps you see how writers have organized or structured their material.

• See page 38 for a sample outline of the reading about the homeless.

• Outlines reveal the relationship of ideas, with main ideas as Roman numerals and the supporting details as Arabic numbers.


Strategy Six:Describing the Writer’s Strategy

• This strategy builds on the outline of key ideas, which helps you to analyze the organization by describing how the writer connects the parts.

• It takes a look at the overall purpose of a document. To do this, divide the document into sections, grouping paragraphs together that fit together and label each section and identify its function. See the sample, page 40.


Writing Strategies

• See the box on page 40 for the complete list.

• It lists a dozen strategies that include narration, description, illustration, definition, compare/contrast, and explanation of causes and effects.


Combining Both Sets of Strategies

• The first set of strategies helps you understand the content of the document.

• The second set helps you to understandits context.


Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

• Use background information about the context of issues, the writer, and the publication to better understand the essay or document.

• The purpose of this is to examine the writer’s purpose and relationship to the readers.

• It also includes looking at the writer’s use of language (tone, denotation, figures of speech, and stereotypes).


Sample Rhetorical Analysis

• See the article by Kevin Powell, “My Culture at the Crossroads,” which first appeared in Newsweek magazine.

• It is followed by a student sample of a rhetorical analysis; it is annotated to point out the features and show how the writer pulled the ideas together.


Writing Assignment

• The assignment is to find a persuasive article and then analyze its rhetorical situation, and write an essay that presents your analysis.

• More details are found on pages 54-55; your instructor will let you know whether your class will be doing this particular assignment, and provide you with additional guidelines.


Student Companion Website

• Go to the student side of the Web site for exercises, chapter overviews, and links to writing resources for this chapter:

http://college.hmco.com/pic/trimbur4e

Documents

Chapter 2 Reading for Academic Purposes: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation