Hints for students when writing or revising an analysis draft

Posted on August 30, 2016 by drakemp

When writing an analysis draft, students often resort to statements such as “the author did a good job…” .

They have a hard time understanding the difference between evaluation and analyzing.

An analysis infers the meaning or purpose of something; it makes an interpretation.

It is the process of separating something into its constituent elements.

However, an evaluation makes a judgment about the quality of something, such as an argument or decision

Practice in analysis

Posted on August 30, 2016 by drakemp

This post is an assignment I designed using the “Everything’s a Remix” website.

I have used it to get students started on choosing topics for exemplification essays or beginning to think about choosing topics for research essays.

PRACTICE IN ANALYSIS

This will take several separate days.

There are seven videos. Some of them are parts of the total “Everything’s a Remix” video.

Watch everything.
Jot down some notes of your thoughts and impression as you watch. Save those. Label your notes with the date.
After you have watched everything, write a paragraph about what stood out to you. Save it with your notes. Label your notes with the date.
Identify 5 major ideas in the full version video/ the first one titled “Everything’s a Remix”. Save the list. Label your notes with the date.
Another day. Choose two videos to watch again. Write down the titles.
Without looking at your previous notes, jot down some thoughts as you watch. Save them. Label your notes with the date.
Without looking at your previous paragraph, write a paragraph about what stood out for you this time. Save it. Label your notes with the date.
Seriously, NO PEEKING! Without looking at your previous notes, identify 5 major ideas in the full version video/ the first one titled “Everything’s a Remix”. Save the list. Label your notes with the date.
Another day. Compare your two sets of notes, paragraphs and 5 major ideas. What do you notice? Label your notes with the date.
Pick one of the major ideas you identified and re-watch the video to see if you have it right.

Write about it using all of these prompts:

Keep it factual- only about the video ideas. NO OPINION!
What was the context of the idea?
What is the significance for this major idea today?
How are the ideas of remix and plagiarism similar?
How are the ideas of remix and plagiarism different?
How is the video related to the exemplification essay assignment?
What ideas would you adopt for a possible research project in another college class?
What did you learn 1) from watching the videos more than once and 2) making a series of notes and writings about the videos?