3-4 Source Mash-Up
This assignment gives you practice in identifying and reporting a trend you’ve identified three or more sources from your body of evidence.
- Start with 10-15 fragments that make up your body of evidence. You can make do with fewer, but lots of instances provides confidence that any patterns you notice are meaningful ones.
- What patterns do you see? Try to identify three patterns, then choose one that seems especially odd. Alternatively, focus at the outset on a simple pattern, saving really odd/interesting patterns as a place you might take analysis later in your essay.
- Write a topic sentence that names the pattern. In doing so, use language like “most” or “many” or “8 of 10 ads” to convey a sense of its prevalence.
- Follow up with sentences presenting 3-4 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence (“In a New York Times article dated 10/16/63″ or “In a 1967 ad”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence—but leave most bibliographic details to the footnote. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern. For example, if I was interested in how ads present women in supporting roles: “A 1965 Norelco ad shows not just a clean-shaven husband, but his admiring wife.”
- End the ¶ with a conclusion that finds new significance to the pattern—a restatement of the opening claim that raises the ante or shifts the focus to a further insight.
Put your finished ¶ in the comments, below.
3-4 Source Mash-Up
This assignment gives you practice in identifying and reporting a trend you’ve identified three or more sources from your body of evidence.
- Start with 10-15 fragments that make up your body of evidence. You can make do with fewer, but lots of instances provides confidence that any patterns you notice are meaningful ones.
- What patterns do you see? Try to identify three patterns, then choose one that seems especially odd. Alternatively, focus at the outset on a simple pattern, saving really odd/interesting patterns as a place you might take analysis later in your essay.
- Write a topic sentence that names the pattern. In doing so, use language like “most” or “many” or “8 of 10 ads” to convey a sense of its prevalence.
- Follow up with sentences presenting 3-4 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence (“In a New York Times article dated 10/16/63″ or “In a 1967 ad”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence—but leave most bibliographic details to the footnote. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern. For example, if I was interested in how ads present women in supporting roles: “A 1965 Norelco ad shows not just a clean-shaven husband, but his admiring wife.”
- End the ¶ with a conclusion that finds new significance to the pattern—a restatement of the opening claim that raises the ante or shifts the focus to a further insight.
Put your finished ¶ in the comments, below.