MAPPING AN ANALYSIS

How to Communicate Your Interpretations

A follow-up to the Understanding Analysis PPT

PREVIEW

• From Thinking to Composing• Creating Your Map

• Analysis Thesis: main claim• Support: reasons and evidence• Example• A Note on Conclusions

• Activity 1, 2, 3, & 4• Conclusion

FROM THINKING TO COMPOSING

Remember from the rhetorical situations PPT: communication requires three elements, the message, communicator, and audience. Coming up with an interesting or useful interpretation of a text means nothing if you can’t get that interpretation across to an audience.

FROM THINKING TO COMPOSING

One of my undergraduate professors called the process of communicating an interpretation “leaving breadcrumbs” for the audience. You start from your claim and then leave breadcrumbs for them to follow you all through your essay or presentation. That way, they don’t get lost, and they know how you got from one point to the next.

FROM THINKING TO COMPOSING

Analysis only works if you• Figure out what you think and why• Have strong evidence and reasons• Clearly communicate your thought process

to your audience

CREATING YOUR MAP

The term mapping is just a metaphor for your analysis composition plan. Just like the map gives you a specific path to follow to get from one place to another, the composition map permits you to see all the directions for the journey of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs. You have already learned how to organize thoughts and pick appropriate examples for your support in a description and reflection. The same organization principles for the intro, body, and conclusion hold, but the map for an analysis follows more of an argument-style approach to the outline where you make a claim and support it with reasons, which are basically minor claims.

CREATING YOUR MAP

An effective analysis map includes:• Strong guiding thesis/major claim• Reasons/minor claims• Evidence/details that support both

ANALYSIS THESIS

Point A & BWhere the audience will start and where they

will end up. The thesis:• Overviews key literal aspects of the text• Connects them to the specific figurative

message of your interpretation• Stays on point

ANALYSIS THESIS

• Who the space appeals to or what the space assumes about people who use it

• What the space “authors” (designers/owners/constructors) want people to think or feel

• What the space really “says” in contrast to its purpose or the “author’s” intentions

Note: Your interpretation for a space analysis can cover one or more of a few types of messages

SUPPORT

The directionsHow the audience gets from point A to B. Support

covers:• Minor figurative claims about the literal

textual details• Descriptions of the textual details• Explanations of how and why those literal

details support the minor and/or major figurative claims

EXAMPLE

hotel lobby from the understanding analysis PPT

EXAMPLE

Remember, you want to avoid obvious interpretations, such as, this lobby is meant to draw people in to stay at the hotel, so the owners make money. That’s obvious because it’s a money-making establishment. However, the type of space this is, a hotel, is relevant to your overall interpretation if you take it beyond the obvious. Also, avoid getting too detailed in your thesis or your intro. There will be plenty of time for the evidence later.

EXAMPLE

Major claim developed from analysis exploration:

• LITERAL DETAILS: The open seating arrangement and plant wallscape

• FIGURATIVE MESSAGE: The space appeals to cosmopolitan types who prefer socializing to tourism.

EXAMPLE

Creating a Thesis:

Combine the literal and figurative, indicating to the audience what claims you will prove with details and evidence in the body.

EXAMPLE

Creating a Thesis:

By combining open seating and a plant wallscape, this hotel lobby creates an atmosphere geared more toward socializing than tourism (claim 1), which sends a message welcoming to cosmopolitan types (claim 2).

EXAMPLE

Minor claims:Here is where you will develop descriptions and

explanations about the literal details and show how and why they connect to the major claim/thesis. In the following minor claims examples, each is broken into literal and figurative information, and each uses language to tie it back to the major claim.

EXAMPLE

Minor claims:• The open seating arrangement provides plenty of

room for multiple groups to meet for chats, before dinner, after meetings, so people can linger within the hotel confines for their enjoyment (1).

• A wallscape of lush greenery and tall plants growing throughout the lobby combines with a modern decorative style bringing to mind a typical city atmosphere where small enclaves of nature pop up regularly (2).

EXAMPLE

Support for minor claims:Here’s where all that description from P1 comes

into play—developing clear pictures in your audiences’ minds for your support. You can also do things like create analogies to help them see the same associations you make, and you can use personal experience or anecdotes to develop your associations.

EXAMPLE

Support for minor claims (1):• More specific DETAILS and DESCRIPTIONS about

the open seating arrangement• EXPLANATIONS about how those details can be

interpreted to encourage people to linger--where did you get from the visual element to your ideas about the visual element?

Note: Even though the minor claim topic sentence doesn’t refer back to the cosmopolitan type, you can still tie it in your explanation here.

EXAMPLE

Support for minor claims (2):• More specific DETAILS and DESCRIPTIONS about

the greenery and modern style.• EXPLANATIONS about how those details can be

interpreted to bring to mind a city--where did you get from the visual element to your ideas about the visual element?

Note again: Even though the minor claim topic sentence doesn’t refer back to encouraging lingering, you can still tie it in your explanation here.

A NOTE ON CONCLUSIONS

WHY?

what does it all mean?

SO WHAT?

WHO

CARES?

A NOTE ON CONCLUSIONS

In your interpretation for the minor points, you gave the what of the details and the how of the explanations, but what about the why? What’s the point of appealing to cosmopolitan types or trying to get them to stay? Well, your conclusion is a great place to develop that, and here, it’s okay if you make a commentary about the business purpose, as long as you make it meaningful.

A NOTE ON CONCLUSIONS

Example: In an economy in recession, the concept of the self-sustaining hotel seems quite logical. Why go out when you can have fun staying in? Especially if you got a good deal on Priceline. But then, why travel at all, unless it’s for business? Maybe these types of over-extravagant hotels encourage an insular state of mind. Sure, the lobby is pretty but somehow generic. This could be anywhere, and it reflects nothing of a local culture, no reminders of what lies outside. Isn’t part of the fun in getting away from it all in getting away from the known?

A NOTE ON CONCLUSIONS

That conclusion was just something to think about, and that’s exactly what your conclusions are for. Seeing this lobby, you might disagree with me because you interpret it differently. That’s the beauty of interpretation. If you don’t agree, then come up with your own and show me the way to another perspective.

TIPS

• Repetition reinforces structure• Macro repetition: Tying topic sentences of minor

claims to the thesis/major claim• Micro repetition: Typing topic sentences of

details/evidence examples to the minor claimUse “thesis reminders” to emphasize the structure of

your essay (or reinforce the directions on your map) and repeat each phrase of the outline map as you introduce the paragraph(s) in which you expand and support each point that you want to make. NOTE: repetition doesn’t mean copying. Restate ideas in varied ways to avoid dull prose.

TIPS

• Repetition reinforces structure• Focus is key: No matter how good your thesis

is, your writing is worth little if it does not hold together and demonstrate to the reader how each new point advances the main idea. Mapping creates the coherency by threading the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary adjunct to the thesis statement. A focused map uses the best details as evidence and uses transitions with thesis reminders.

TIPS

• Repetition reinforces structure• Focus is key• Be explicit with the implicit: A common

pitfall—thinking the audience makes the same associations as you. If yellow wall paint makes you think of a nursery and has child-like associations, then let the audience know. Someone else might associate it with a rehab center or a Spanish-style kitchen.

TIPS

• Repetition reinforces structure• Focus is key• Be explicit with the implicit• Don’t claim the obvious: another common pitfall,

but remember, you are trying to go deeper and give your audience something more.

ACTIVITY 1: Mathieu Response

For this minimum 300-word response, answer the following questions. What is the purpose of Mathieu’s essay? What is she trying to prove through her analysis? How does she support her point? What example of fieldwork does she provide and why? What is scotosis, and how does it relate to what you are learning about the processes of analysis? Why does Mathieu want you to be aware of scotosis?

ACTIVITY 2: Fieldwork Notes

An important part of research like what P2 requires includes observation, and in order for observation to be effective, you need to take notes of what you see, hear, feel, smell, and touch in the space you are analyzing. Type the notes you collected while observing the space (if you took them by hand). There is no word limit, but your efforts should be respectable enough in length to show you take this assignment seriously.

ACTIVITY 3: Read this Space

ACTIVITY 3: Read this Space

For this Db post, break down the steps to practice creating an analysis thesis (example on Understanding Analysis PPT)

•Collect details of the space, listing observations. Use the “Questions for Analysis” PDF to help direct your notes.

•Summarize the literal statements the space makes, what it says and does.

•Interpret the figurative messages, the what, how, and why.

•Combine the literal and figurative in a one or two sentence major claim/thesis statement about the space.

There is no word limit, but your efforts should be respectable enough in length to show you take this assignment seriously.

ACTIVITY 3: Read this Space

Post 1 comment to a peer’s Read this Space post. Do you agree with his or her interpretive claim about the space’s message? Did you notice different details or have a different interpretation yourself? Be sure to explain your response.

ACTIVITY 4: P2 Thesis

Email your instructor your working (meaning not finalized or revised yet) analysis thesis for the space you are interpreting. Remember, it should include the literal and the figurative main claim(s) you plan to prove.