Writing analytically

This book is about analysis--the process of asking, thinking about, and determining what something means or why something does what it does. This book also focuses on ideas--what they are, how they operate in a piece of writing, and how you can make them happen. Finally, it shows you the important connections between analytical thinking, well-developed ideas, and effective writing. Because learning to write well requires learning to use your writing as a tool to think well, Writing Analytically will teach you to do both.

Includes index.

Unit I: The analytical frame of mind : introduction to analytical methods. Introduction : Fourteen short takes on writing and the writing process ; Toolkit of analytical methods I : seeing better, seeing more ; Analysis : what it is and what it does ; Toolkit of analytical methods II : going deeper ; Writing about reading : more moves to make with written texts ; Making interpretations plausible ; Making common topics more analytical -- Unit II: Writing analytical papers : how to use evidence, evolve claims, and converse with sources. Reasoning from evidence to claims ; Analyzing arguments ; Using evidence to build a paper : 10 on 1 ; Making a thesis evolve ; Recognizing and fixing weak thesis statements ; Using sources analytically : the conversation model ; Finding, citing, and integrating sources -- Unit III: Matters of form : the shapes that thought takes. Forms and formats across the curriculum ; Introductions and conclusions across the curriculum ; Revising for style : word choice ; Revising for style : the rhetoric of the sentence ; Revising for correctness : grammar and punctuation -- Appendix.