Pre-Draft exercise A, due in class F, 10/04
Making sense of a text ultimately rests on being able to point specifically to passages
from the text that led to your conclusions about what it meant. If we are going to make
arguments driven by a search for truth and a respect for reason, we start by collecting
evidence from the thing that is in front of our face: a text (essay, article, textbook, story,
and so forth). In reading, each of us bases our understanding on our own interpretation of
this evidence, and this interpretation is reflected in how we use the text in our own
arguments.
A paragraph outline can help us in this interpretation by identifying the major
components of the argument and showing how each paragraph works with the others to
achieve the author’s purpose. It provides a sketch to help us see how a particular part we
are studying makes sense by revealing its connection to other parts.
For this exercise, you will create a paragraph outline for paragraphs 14-21 of Gopnik’s
essay, “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli?” (pp. 383-391 in WIR). You should study the
example of a paragraph outline on pp. 69-75. Then, starting with paragraph 14 in Gopnik,
examine the kind of material in the paragraph. What kind of evidence does it use? What
is the reasoning or discussion trying to persuade the reader to accept? Then, use your
answers to these questions to figure out the paragraph’s purpose. Is this paragraph
supporting an important claim in the author’s argument? Is it providing a fuller account
of important background information? Is it addressing or refuting a counterargument?
Finally, create a simple outline in which you make a numbered entry for each paragraph
you will analyze for this assignment. In other words you should have an outline
numbered 14-21. Next to each number, compose a sentence or two that explains the
purpose of the corresponding paragraph. Study the example on pg. 74-75 to help you see
how this paragraph outline might look.
Please bring this outline to class on Friday.