MAPPING AN ANALYSIS
How to Communicate Your
Interpretations
A follow-up to the Understanding Analysis PPT
PREVIEW
• From Thinking to Composing
• Creating Your Map
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•
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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 & B
Where 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 directions
How 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 overextravagant 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 claim
Use “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.