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ENGL 3179/5179: Elements of E-Rhetoric Elements HomeProjects
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Elements > OverviewOfMethod
Overview of Methodform Stoner and Perkins, chap 3 Getting used to critical method means proceeding systematically, from description to analysis to interpretation. Each phase gives you material to build on in the next. In describing, you often begin to see patterns within the message that were not immediately evident, for example, argument structures, organizational patterns, shifts in point of view, word choice, and so on.... So, in doing description you must pay close attention to internal characteristics of the message: form, style, organization, and lines of argument.... You must also attend to the envrionment of the message: the social ... context, the nature of the audience(s), similar messages in the environment.... You must draw from all the knowledge you possess about the communication process in order to accomplish this task with rigor, depth, and precision. (Stoner and Perkins, 29)
In analysis, you bring in a search model - a theory - and draw on your description to address two ends. The first is to "identify the parts of the messages and look for relationships between the parts...."
The second is "to uncover the choices [the writer] made when constructing the message." (S & P, 32).
Interpretation builds on your description and analysis to make sense of the findings of the analysis. It is drawing conclusions about the rhetorical patterns you discover in the analysis so that something significant is learned from the analysis (S & P, 36).
Interpretation answers, "What does that add up to?" |