Chapter 2 // From Inquiry to Academic Writing (Greene & Lidinsky, 4th Ed.)

annotating

leaving your mark on the page — called [blank] — is your first act of composing when you mark the pages of a text, you are reading critically, engaging with the ideas of others, and inquiring into their significance

rhetorical analysis

when you identify a writer's purpose for responding to a situation by composing an essay that puts forth claims meant to sway a particular audience, you are performing a [blank]

rhetoric

when you study how writers influence readers through language, you are analyzing the [blank] (available means of persuasion) of what you read

situation; purpose; claims; audience

Steps to Analyzing a Text Rhetorically: 1. Identify the [blank]: what motivates the writer to write? 2. Identify the writer's [blank]: what does the writer want readers to do or think about? 3. Identify the writer's [blank]: what is the writer's thesis? what minor assertions does he or she make? 4. identify the writer's [blank]: what do you know about the readers? what does the writer's language imply about the readers? what about the writer's references or the essay's structure?

claims

[blank] are assertions that authors must justify and support with evidence and good reasons — a thesis being the main assertion

critical reading

[blank] is sometimes called active reading to distinguish it from memorization when you read actively, you bring your knowledge, experiences, and interests to a text, so that you can respond to the writer, continuing the conversation the writer has begun

minor claim

a [blank], although it is an assertion that requires support, it usually does not shape what the writer argues in the remainder of the essay

audience

a writer's language can help us identify his or her [blank], the readers whose opinions and actions the writer hopes to influence or change

critical readers

good academic writers are also good [blank]: they leave their mark on what they read, identifying issues, making judgments about the truth of what writers tell them, and evaluating the adequacy of the evidence in support of an argument

rhetorical analysis

performing a [blank] entails identifying the features of an argument to better understand how the argument works to persuade a reader: • how the writer sees the situation that calls for a response in writing • the writer's purpose for writing • intended audience • kinds of claims • types of evidence

purpose

the [blank] for writing an essay may be to respond to a particular situation; it can also be what a writer is trying to accomplish

situation

the [blank] is what moves a writer to write the urgency of a writer's argument is not always triggered by a single situation; it is often multifaceted

thesis

the [blank], or main claim, is the controlling idea that crystallizes a writer's main point, helping readers track the idea as it develops throughout the essay

genres

types of writing, of which the formal argument is one type, are also called [blank]