Monthly Archives: February 2016

Helping students plan and write a rhetorical analysis

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Part 2

In the previous post I wrote about close reading and extracting meaning from the text selection. Once students have a grasp of those skills, they can begin to analyze a text. Some may balk, but the instructor or tutor has to keep asking questions.

What to ask to help a student begin analyses:

  1. First, if there is an assignment prompt, the student must understand what is being asked. Discuss that.
  2. Ask the student, “What is the biggest idea you encountered in the reading selection?”.
  3. Other questions that follow can be along the lines of
  • What is your emotional response to the text? Explain.
  • What is your intellectual response to the text? Explain.
  • What are your beliefs, values, and experiences that can help you support your responses?
  • Were there particular parts of the text that you responded to?
  • What do you think the author’s purpose was? How can you tell?
  • Who do you think the author’s intended audience was? What clues support your view?
  • What is the genre of the reading selection? Does it overlap with any other genres? Can you point to particular place in the text to support your answer?
Prompt the student(s) to talk about the text selection. Jot notes on scratch paper or on the board.

It may help to summarize, by saying something such as, “Now that we have talked about the reading selection and the assignment prompt and identified these ideas (point out three identified concepts), tell me what your thoughts are for writing”.

At this point the instructor or tutor may need to practice extended wait time since many students will sit there hoping you will tell them what to do or say. Be patient or suggest a break and reconvene later.

I have said, “In the next session you are going to do all the talking”.

To refresh your memory on the concept of wait time, check out this internet resource which includes references:

http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-1/think.htm

Helping students plan and write a rhetorical analysis

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Part 1 READING FOR UNDERSTANDING

Many college students, unless they have received intensive instruction and feedback on writing analyses, tend to simply retell the content/story or say they liked or agreed with it or not. They do not know what it means to analyze. Some say they do not feel qualified to analyze a professional’s work.

One of the biggest problems in learning to analyze is that students have not read the material more than once. Even if they read it one time, it was only a surface reading or skimming. With such cursory attention, understanding is difficult and analysis is impossible.

Reading closely and making annotations must be modeled explicitly and practiced. Sample readings with annotations are often available in textbooks, but students will frequently glance over those without interacting with the text.

Although students may find it laborious and pointless, walking through a text selection paragraph by paragraph to extract meaning can turn out to be illuminating. After reading each paragraph the instructor can ask, “What was the big idea in that paragraph?”, “Can you summarize the paragraph in one short sentence or one word?” At this point students are tempted to point to the topic sentence or thesis statement. Students can be asked to create a sentence of a certain word length or to create a Haiku. Either way they are forced to look for the big ideas.

Once the instructor has walked students through this process using a few paragraphs, students can be given time to practice either individually or in small groups. I have had each group visually map the reading selection on the white board with numbered columns corresponding to the paragraphs. They must identify the big idea with one word or a Haiku. This can also be done with chapters of a novel or acts in a play.

I have created two handouts to accompany this post. One provides directions for using Haiku as a summarizing tool and the other walks through  planning and writing a rhetorical analysis.

A strategy for summarizing difficult reading material using Haiku

helping students plan and write a rhetorical analysis (2)