Lumen Analysis Study Plan

In an effort to be more aware of his own rhetoric, Helmut is revising his argumentative essay so that it no longer has a presumptuous, or haughty and overconfident, tone that makes the paper read as if he's already made up his mind about the issue at hand. Why is it important for him to revise his work in this way?

A presumptuous tone can be off-putting to our reader and is not a sound rhetorical strategy.

Which of the following best describes the purpose of process analysis?

A rhetorical style that provides step-by-step explanatory directions with the goal of giving the reader guidance.

Based on a topic choice of vegetarian diets, which thesis would be the strongest?

A well-balanced, vegetarian diet provides significant health benefits, and Americans could benefit from becoming vegetarians

Each of the following is a type of analytical assignment except:

An assignment that asks you to report what happened at an event.

Each of the following may be a barrier to analysis except:

Analysis may facilitate deeper understanding.

Which of the following best defines the idea of suspending judgment when analyzing?

Approaching a topic, idea, or artifact with an open mind

While on an extended bicycle tour across India, Marla is intrigued by the garishly colored, elaborate decorations and advertising images that adorn the sides of buses and trains throughout the country. Because she does not speak the local language or know much about the consumer habits of the local residents, she can only examine the visual details on these surfaces and make a tentative guess as to how those elements might be meaningfully related. Her attempt to break down and categorize these details in a comprehensible way can be described as what kind of analysis?

Critical analysis

Oscar is participating in his high school's Running Start program, which allows him to take courses at the nearby community college. Last quarter he enrolled in English 101 and this quarter he is taking Introduction to Film Studies. While he expected his English class to be all work and no fun, he's surprised to find that he's not enjoying the movies in his new class because his teacher is making the students overthink them. After all, they're just movies and are only meant to be entertaining. What academic problem might Oscar soon encounter in his film class?

He is setting himself up to fail at the task of scholarly, for-credit analysis.

Which of the following expresses an appropriate understanding of how to think about the relationship of judgment to analysis?

Judgment can prevent an exploratory, open-minded process of analysis from occurring

Adrianna is thinking about the best way to add evidence to her research paper and gets advice from the teaching assistant. Which advice would NOT be helpful to Adrianna?

One should use as many sources as possible.

While analysis is difficult, a writer can develop a substantive paper by:

Putting aside preconceived ideas or judgments

For her Speech and Communication class, Leilani receives an assignment to attend a mayoral debate during election season in her hometown. She is asked to take notes during the exchange and to both note the audience members' reactions during the question-and-answer period and to write up a short description of the different techniques and appeals the two speakers used when presenting their arguments. Finally, she is asked to conclude her paper by explaining which candidate she found the most convincing and why. The type of analysis she has undertaken can most accurately be described by which term below?

Rhetorical analysis

For his Media Studies class, Mason is asked to review televised statements given in their defense by the only two American presidents to have been impeached. His task is to consider the degree to which the statements appeal to emotion, logic, or ethics, and to examine what evidence is presented and how that evidence is utilized as support for individuals' claims of innocence. The type of analysis he has undertaken can most accurately be described by which term below?

Rhetorical analysis

Aisha is writing an analytical paper in multiple drafts for her European history class. After handing in a rough draft with a tentative thesis about how World War One affected the development of modern art, she sees a comment from her professor asking her what she believes is at stake in her argument, or why she believes a reader would care about it. What question regarding thesis development is she being asked to ask herself?

So what?

For his European History class, Dmitri is drafting a paper that analyzes the architecture of German cities during both the medieval period and in the present. While noting that some aesthetic features from 15th-century buildings are being ironically quoted on the facades of contemporary buildings, Dmitri adds a section to his paper that combines the names of these older features with those of newer features by hyphenating the terms to create a new term. This section of his paper is demonstrating what scholarly capability?

Synthesis

Based on a topic choice of teacher pay, which thesis would be the strongest?

Teachers have the important job of educating our children and should be paid higher wages to reflect the importance of this task

Read the following draft of an analytical thesis statement and determine which answer below best addresses the problem with it: Maybelline's new ad campaign features beautiful models in fun situations because the company wants to distract people from the fact that it still tests products on animals.

The claim isn't reasoned.

Which of the following is a definition of analysis?

The process of methodically breaking something down to gain a better understanding of it

Read the following analytical thesis statement and determine what is missing that could improve it: The latest ad campaign from McDonald's incorporates throwbacks to previous decades such as images of drive-ins as part of an effort to appeal to more senior citizens.

The thesis statement is missing the "so what."

explicit:

a perspective that is directly stated in a single locatable sentence

implicit:

a perspective that is implied without being stated directly in a single sentence

pathos:

a rhetorical appeal to emotion

ethos:

a rhetorical appeal to ethical considerations, whether regarding the author or the topic at hand

logos:

a rhetorical appeal to logic, often utilizing facts and figures in a strong organizational structure

process:

a rhetorical style that provides step-by-step directions or explanatory guidance

critical analysis:

an analysis of a particular artifact that develops a line of interpretation and identifies interrelated parts of the text that are meaningful

In her Introduction to American Literature course, Letitia is given an assignment to closely read and take notes on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. After completing that step, she is asked to select six sentences that all contribute to the story's mood of horror and fear of the unknown. The process of finding related pieces of evidence that tell us something about the whole text is called

analysis

Synthesis

is the combining of two or more things to produce something new. When you read and write, you will be asked to synthesize by taking ideas from what you read and combining them to form new ideas.

Critical thinking skill analysis

is the process of methodically breaking something down to gain a better understanding of it. Analysis also includes the ability to connect pieces of information as the basis for generalization or explanation.

Carla, a business consultant, has written a report for a local pizza chain that is trying to streamline its food production methods and thus shorten delivery times to customers' homes. The report identifies several individual steps that can be combined into one step, and the restaurant succeeds in its goal. In order to understand the methods being used and to issue a useful report, Carla had to undertake what type of analysis?

process analysis

Which type of analysis would be appropriate for the following assignment description? For this assignment, you will immerse yourself in The New York Times Opinion section, reading multiple contributors and ultimately choosing an Op-Ed that you find interesting and substantial. You will then analyze the methods and ingredients the author has chosen to make his or her case. The author's choices will likely have addressed things like cultural and historical context, purpose, audience, tone, diction, syntax, and will employ some combination of ethos, pathos, and logos.

rhetorical analysis

In his English composition course, Santiago has been asked to carefully analyze three transcripts of political speeches by candidates running for office. His next task is to make a list for each speech that places words referring to emotions in one column and words referring to ideas or concepts in a second column. He is asked to finish his analysis by writing a conclusion that ranks the speeches according to which was the most or least based on emotional appeals and which was the most or least based on logical appeals. To examine these elements in an argument is to perform what kind of analysis?

rhetorical analysisis

A newspaper article tries to establish credibility by using academic language and a scholarly approach. What aspect of rhetorical analysis should Hadley address in his essay?

style or tone

rhetoric:

the art of effective and persuasive communication that is appropriate to a given situation

Which of the following is not an example of analysis?

to share a story from one's own childhood that you consider particularly entertaining