Obviously, you want to use the essays in our reader as evidence in your paper, but you need to watch out for simply summarizing the essays and not analyzing them. You know you're summarizing when you are simply retelling what another author has said and not adding anything to it. Remember, in college writing you must move beyond simple description and narration. You must have an argument. That means you need to interpret the evidence you are using, not merely say what someone else said.
Let me give you an example. Here is a thesis and two sample body paragraphs that attempt to prove the thesis.
Thesis: The language enforced by the dominant culture can be an obstacle to a person trying to find a unique voice.
Example A: In school, Anzaldúa faced punishment by English teachers when she spoke Spanish (83) and was criticized by Spanish purists (84). When she spoke English, she was told she spoke like a Mexican and at her school she was required to take two classes to get rid of her accent (83). She explained that she did not know her real identity existed until 1965 when she saw books published in her Chicano language (88).
Example B: Anzaldúa believed that in order to find her voice she had to oppose the rules placed on her by the dominant cultures of the U.S. and Mexico. "I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue–my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence" (88). This "tradition of silence" was imposed upon her. It was the barrier that she had to overcome to find her true, unique voice.
Example A is just a summary. It seems to be on thesis, but there is no analysis. It is simply a description of Anzaldúa's essay. There is no interpretation of the data, no explanation of what it means. No analysis. Example B, on the other hand, shows evidence of analysis. Here the writer attempts to explain what the quotation means, and links it back to the thesis.
So as you're revising your drafts, try to limit summary and focus on analysis.
For more about this, here's a good page.
No comments:
Post a Comment