1 Module 5 How to identify essay Matakuliah: G1222, Writing IV Tahun: 2006 Versi: v 1.0 rev 1

2 What’s inside How do we categorize an essay?

3 How do we categorize? Consider this when reading or planning an essay: What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general problems and concepts of discipline does it engage with? What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material, literary analysis, personal observation, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)? How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the overall structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific passages to show the characteristics of the author's presentation, including writing style and tone.)

4 How do we categorize? (cont.) Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the author show awareness of them? In what respects does the author agree or disagree? What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise? What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?

5 How do we categorize? An analytic or critical review of a book or article is not primarily a summary; rather, it comments on and evaluates the work in the light of specific issues and theoretical concerns in a course. The literature review puts together a set of such commentaries to map out the current range of positions on a topic; then the writer can define his or her own position in the rest of the paper. Keep questions like these in mind as you read, make notes, and write the review. What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have? For what readership is it written? (The preface, acknowledgements, bibliography and index can be helpful in answering these questions. Don't overlook facts about the author's background and the circumstances of the book's creation and publication.) Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)

6 Analytical Essay Writing Guidelines for an Analytical Essay Divide your analytical essay into five parts: (1) an introduction identifying the text, (2) a statement of the question or problem addressed in the text, (3) a statement of the issue at stake, (4) the actual analysis of text content (the longest) (5) a summary relating the analysis to the question and issue.

7 Analytical Essay Part I (Introduction) Identify the text to be analyzed and define its character -- e.g., an argument, a descriptive account of experience or behavior, a statement of principles, etc. Part II (Statement of the question) Every text is addressed to at least one question or problem. In this part of the essay, state and briefly elaborate what you think is the most important question or problem addressed by the text to be analyzed. Examples of questions: Can virtue be taught? Is God responsible for evil? Can knowledge claims based on sensory evidence ever be necessarily true?

8 Analytical Essay (cont.) Part III (Statement of the issue at stake) In order to understand a question, you must understand the issue at stake, the consequences of answering the question in one way rather than another. In this part of the essay, state and briefly explain what you take to be the issue at stake in the text to be analyzed. This requires answering questions such as the following: Why does the author think the question dealt with is important? What would be the result if the question were answered differently than the author answers it? Why does the author think it is important to avoid that result? What is the result the author wishes to produce?

9 Analytical Essay (cont.) Part IV (Analysis of the text): In this part of the essay, present your analysis of the text. This should be the longest section of the essay. Its organization will depend on the character of the text you are analyzing. Part V (Summary): In the last part of your essay, state in a few sentences the relationship between the text you have analyzed and the question and issue to which it is addressed. Does the text contain an argument for the author's main position on the question? Are the principles or distinctions stated in the text put forward by the author as carrying a special claim so that the question must be decided in one way rather than another? This section of your essay should state what the author sought to accomplish in the particular text you have analyzed. It should characterize the specific contribution made by the text to the establishment of the author's position.

10 Interpretive Essay Writing Guidelines Divide your interpretive essay into four parts: (1) the introduction, (2) the definition of the problem for understanding, (3) the development of the interpretive hypothesis, and (4) the statement of the interpretive claim. Obviously, the third part should be the longest section of your essay. Be sure to identify each part clearly and include in each part the content specified below.

11 Interpretive Essay (Cont.) Part I (Introduction): Identify and characterize in a brief paragraph the text to be interpreted. Part II (Definition of the problem): Define the problem for understanding that you find in the text. Start with a claim that seems to you puzzling, obviously false or wildly implausible. State clearly why it seems false or implausible. Finally, reformulate your objections as a question that you pose to the text.

12 Interpretive Essay (Cont.) Part III (The interpretive hypothesis): Present a rereading of the text that removes your objections and answers the question you posed in Part II. This rereading is necessarily based on a revised understanding of the key terms and distinctions contained in the text. The interpretive hypothesis is the statement of the revision that is necessary. Its adequacy is measured by the extent to which the rereading of the text in fact removes the problem for understanding. Part IV (The interpretive claim): On the assumption that your rereading of the text is successful, i.e., that your interpretive hypothesis is sound, you have learned something about the way in which the author viewed the world that you did not know before. You have encountered and understood a standpoint that was initially alien to you. The fact that this standpoint was alien to you is the explanation for the fact that the text at first presented the problem that it did. An interpretive claim states what it is that you have learned not only about the author's tacit assumptions, but also about your own.

13 Argumentative Essay Writing Guidelines for an Argumentative Essay Divide your argumentative essay into four parts: (1) the introduction, (2) the claim and counter-claim to be supported, (3) the case supporting the claim or counter-claim (4) the summary. Obviously, the third part should be the longest section of your essay. Be sure to identify each part clearly and to include in each part the content specified below.

14 Argumentative Essay (cont.) Part I (Introduction): Identify the question to which the claim is addressed and state the issue at stake in any answer to that question. Part II (Claim and Counter-Claim): State the claim that you intend to support. If you are arguing against a claim made by the author, then state both the author's claim and the counter-claim that you intend to defend. Part III (The Case): Present your grounds -- i.e., the factual or logical considerations you have discovered that support the claim you are advancing. Part IV (Summary): Restate the claim you have defended, indicating any reservations that might weaken your case and make explicit the consequences of your claim for the issue at stake in the question.

15 Argumentative Essay (cont.) Notes: If you are analyzing a text containing an argument, then reconstruct the argument showing how each premise (both stated and unstated) provides support for the author's claim. If you are analyzing a text containing a statement of principles or basic distinctions, explain the meaning of each of the terms mentioned and show how the terms are related in the principles or distinctions. If you are analyzing a text containing descriptive accounts of experience or behavior, restate the author's descriptions so that the author's use or interpretation of them is made clear.