David Hung

Analyzing texts or images is not something that is new to us. We are always taking in new information and processing it. Everything you take in makes you feel a certain way or think a certain way. If you learn how to think in a way where you ask why it makes you feel or think that way then you might not be as easily persuaded or dissuaded. There are many different tools that can help you think like this and each one can be applied differently or better in certain situations. Not only should you look at the rhetorical appeals in ethos, logos, and pathos, but you should look at the text’s context and ask yourself some questions. Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose of the text? You should also consider the time period and the genre of the piece in question. There are also theoretical lenses that you can consider, such as race, gender and sexual orientation, the discrimination towards the disabled, the role of social class, and the role of non-human elements.

I find myself usually analyzing music. Especially with certain rap songs it’s fun to analyze their choice of words and find out what they meant. Usually it is pretty straight forward but they have hidden meanings in their songs sometimes. Nowadays that has changed a bit with the rise of “mumble rap” (which is pretty much just straight trash) but that is something else for another day.

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Arin Kukharsky)

Summary:

Everything with an intent has an analyzable rhetoric. In order to analyze this rhetoric, we have to go beyond the text in question to figure out how it affects us. We have to examine various parts of the text and their relationship to one another. Lenses, or theories, are ways of looking at texts. There are a wide variety of lenses, such as the Aristotelian lenses of ethos, pathos, and logos, providing many ways to analyze any text. When analyzing, it’s important to consider the text’s context as well as view it through theoretical lenses. When finishing up an analysis, we shouldn’t forget to offer the reader our interpretation of the text after taking it apart and putting it back together.

Response:

Reading this section of JTC, I found the plethora of methods of analyzing texts intriguing. The fact that there are so many things to consider when performing a critical analysis really makes it seem like picking a text apart bit by bit and scrutinizing every little detail to the point where there’s nothing left to say. The tools provided in this section are extremely useful and will definitely come in handy the next time I put on a lens and examine something critically.

Question:

Should I try to examine every aspect of a text until there’s nothing left to look at? Is there ever a reason to hold back?

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Lok-See Lam)

Summary:

Text analysis, or “meta-thinking”, is going beyond the words or ideas in front of us and figuring out how it works. For example, certain texts trigger strong emotion within us, and thus we must find out how that is. In order to analyze the text, we must break it down into simplistic pieces, then put it back together. By breaking it down, we can evaluate each element of the whole picture. The lens is the point of view from which we analyze from, and things we consider include the intended audience, purpose of the text, the genre, and the media or platform it is placed in. Additionally, the timing of the text, the limitations due to the audience’s beliefs, and the cause that led to the text being composed. Finally, theoretical lenses are used to account for the role of characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, ableism

Response:

I think it’s amazing to learn that there is so much the reader can know without the author explicitly stating it in the text. Just as it is said that humans only use 10% of their brain, when we read the text without analysis, we are missing the whole story. If we analyzed most of the elements of any given artifact, a whole new picture would form.

 

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Jackie Li)

Summary

There are many ways that a viewer can think and see when looking at certain types of texts, and the way that people view certain texts varies from person to person. There are many ways for one to interpret a text, due to the different views and opinions that people have that are unique to others. Based on how much one knows about a text, can have an impact on the types of lenses they would use in order to further analyze the text. In most ways, it is rhetoric as the viewer may have various different interpretations on the piece than others. There are many factors that one must consider when analyzing texts, such as the backstory or even just how the media is presented physically. Someone can take a look at many factors in regards to the text, which in term gives the viewer a meaningful idea when analyzing the piece. The various tools allow for the observer to get a better understanding of what the text is and what it could be interpreted as.

Response

The tools presented in the article are great ways to help people in analyzing pieces of work. It allows for people to interpret the text in their own way, and develop their own views and feelings towards the form of media. This format allows for people to interpret these texts faster and easier, allowing there to be various viewpoints in regards to the text. People would become better at critical thinking, which in term helps them in the long run since it is about helping someone understand certain ideas better in their own ways.

Question

Would it be better to start analyzing the more specific areas of a text or starting with the basics? Is getting the wider picture first a better way to analyze texts and then work down to the specifics, or is the reverse just are reliable as well?

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Erik Alatorre)

Rhetoric is in everything we encounter. While we can just look from a distance the next step is to analyze the rhetoric. To analyze is to think about what previous life experiences best relate to the rhetoric at hand and how it’s influencing your opinions. It’s also thinking about how other people with different life experiences will look at the same rhetoric and arrive to another conclusion. When analyzing rhetoric it can be easier if you take the bigger picture and break it down into smaller ones. Doing so will allow you to look at the smaller details and then understand how they all work together to create the bigger picture. Analysis does not solely include the written text but the context of it as well. What was going on in the world or in a particular country at the time that inspired the text? Who is the text written for? Answering these questions can provide a whole new perspective that’ll open up your mind.

In brief, when analyzing a text you are answering the why and the how. Why was the text written? And how does the text serve its purpose? What I found most interesting about the text were the theoretical lenses. I have never encountered the formal names of these theories but have encountered them in readings throughout my years in school. A question I have is regarding whether this is the best method for analyzing any form of rhetoric. Are there other methods? What was the criteria behind choosing this method?

How Does Analysis Work? (Eunice Ban)

Summary:

Everything we see is rhetoric and everything rhetoric, we analyze. When we analyze something, we take it in and it makes us act or think in a particular way. Rhetorical analysis is how we can use “meta thinking” in order to think outside of the box about a subject in order to figure out how it works. The author of the section “Tools for Analyzing Texts” wants the reader to learn that with analysis, we can learn how a text makes us feel a certain way whether it be sadness or happiness or any other type of reaction. There are certain lenses for analysis which can be applied in the text’s context such as: audience, purpose, genre, and media. These four categories are important rhetorical concepts that are essential in analyzing a text. Using these lenses to analyze a text, we can come up with different theories and intentions of our own.

 

Response:

After reading this section of the book, I was surprised to see how many techniques there are in analyzing texts. It was very informative and taught me that analysis is not only in text and reading but is in our daily lives. When I thought of analysis, I thought of school and how in english class we would analyze a text or in science class we would analyze a concept. However, after this reading I learned that analysis is used in situations we encounter, on advertisements on the subway, on labels on products, and more. This is interesting because if I can learn to expertize how to analyze something, everything would be much more awakening.

 

Question:

Is there such thing as too much analysis?

 

Tools for Analyzing Texts [Tristen Chau]

Summary

Analysis, much like rhetoric, is something you do everyday. Whether it is looking at sets of numbers or at billboards on the highway, analysis let you grow as a person. Analysis is significant because it allows you to look at situations in a new perspective. One way of analyzing something is asking yourself how it made you feel. Angry, sad, happy, or frustrated? Identifying your feelings lets you think more clearly and thoughtfully on the situation. In the classroom, we will be analyzing the work of professional writers and if their evidence/argument is credible. A few important things to consider when analyzing a text is the audience (who is the author aiming to get through to), genre (does the type of writing affect the message of the text), purpose (why is the author writing this text) and the media (whether the time period in which it was written affects the texts message and effect).

Response

I thought that this article was very interesting because I always associated analysis with education, with some type of finance related field or an english research paper. What I did not realize is that we use analysis for everything. To problem solve, you need to take a step back and analyze the situation to try to gain new insight. Even after watching a movie, you must analyze all the parts to see if you liked it.

Question

How do we as readers know if a writer’s source is correct so we can start analyzing?

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Josh Liang)

Summarize this reading in your own words (150 words).

As critical thinkers, we have to analyze the texts that the world has to offer and interpret them in a way that seems meaningful. Rhetorical analysis requires us to analyze the subject as a whole and also the small elements that make up the text. The relationship of these small elements can help us find an interpretation or new insight. Whether we accept the rhetor’s point or not is completely up to us, but we also have the choice to apply our own perspective to the matter. Other ways of looking at rhetoric or lenses can help us see text differently rather than having an idea forced onto us. Analysis of rhetoric consists of important elements such as the intended audience, it’s purpose, genre, medium, the timeliness, difference in ideology, and circumstances that result in a rhetoric being composed. When we utilize these lenses, we can see that there is much more intention to a text than our own first impression of a subject.

What’s your response to this text? (response)

After reading this text, I can conclude that there may have been times where I overlooked a text and not have grasped their purpose of composing it. Even though I may have my own opinions, I may be missing the entire point and what it means for me as an individual.

What question do you have after this reading?  (question/connect)

Is it acceptable to end up with different results when analyzing the same text? Or does every analysis have to lead to one answer?

Analyzing Texts (Surojnie Deonaraine)

Summarize this reading in your own words (150 words)

Analysis involves looking at relationships of specific ideas to create a whole conclusion. It is also about deriving the meaning behind the rhetoric used and how it affects its audience. Text can invoke different reactions from us but analysis uses small parts to figure out what triggered a certain type of reaction to give a whole conclusion. The tools used to view text in different ways are actually called theories that have certain reactions because it is only seen in that one way. Different types of writing also use different tools to analyze them. Analysis takes into consideration the statement being made as well as the supporting evidence. It also takes into account the audience, purpose. genre and medium used. Analysis also looks at the environment the author is in and what prompted him/her to write the test. There are also unique elements for fiction such as narrator and implied author. Metaphors are something that both fiction and nonfiction share and can be used to analyze the text. The role of gender, ethnicity, race and disability are all lenses that can be used to analyze as well.

What’s your response to this text? (response)

Analysis is very intertwined with psychology because it’s about how the rhetoric affects people and how they think as a whole. I find this intriguing because I like learning about how people can go against the odds and think outside of everyone else. Knowing the demands rhetoric can make and the affect it can have on you can be very helpful in decision making and it’s interesting to me how people are currently being manipulated.

What question do you have after this reading?  (question/connect)

After you describe what you see/read, what lense/tool should you start with? Should you start with the tool that related to the first description you noticed?