Overview of Conceptual Writing
In a high school history course, the instructor may request that the student select an event to analyze. In order to accomplish this, the student needs to search for articles in a newspaper or magazine. Apart from those sources, it may become necessary to investigate studies compiled by universities or other professional organizations in order to formulate a more substantial written analysis of the topic.
The quantity of writing will depend on the library inventory, the student’s schedule and the initial deadline. Assuming the student has selected at least 10 articles, the next phase can begin. It involves three main cycles: prewriting, writing and rewriting. The articles are processed during the prewriting. The main point of prewriting is to identify the author and publishing date of the article being reviewed. The other pertinent considerations revolve around: where the article first appeared, why the author felt a need to write about the event and what concerns does the article attempt to reconcile. The next cycle commits all the information judged to be important to the topic into written format. Prior to this, the student may have stored facts in the margins or on note cards. It may prove practical to rearrange that notation into a formal outline to provide a unified and more clear estimation of the narrative underlying the writing.
In general, the first paragraph opens the writing by presenting the articles and how they relate to the central theme of the writing assignment. The group of paragraphs that follow the first paragraph describe the series of evidence and analysis that support the guiding theme. The effort invested at the library or online is revealed in how robust and compelling the body paragraphs appear to the reader through examples, statistics or artifacts. A written analysis as thorough and insightful as one requiring page upon page of body paragraphs will effectively retain the attention of the audience. That being the case, the last paragraph of the analysis should be mindful of this eventuality and restate or remind by relaying the critical points in a concise and cogent manner. A rewriting of every word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and punctuation occurs generally immediately prior to the deadline. Besides corrections of spelling and meaning, the student is advised to ensure that each topic statement is relevant to the main idea. Any changes to a group of topic statements, should not be set aside without realigning with the main idea set forth at the start of the writing. At conclusion, any diversion from the line of reasoning will overturn the clear thinking behind a week or month of labor.
Once the assignment is near completion, the last portion of the writing takes place. That is, all the material has been properly cited, the drafting has eliminated material or implicitly referred to omitted material and the pages have been proofread for accuracy. At this point, the writing is submitted for grading. In situations where an oral presentation is required, the writing may also be made publicly available on the internet, within a school publication such as a newsletter or a specialized journal.
Method of Analysis
The procedure presented above requires more effort which will be described further. The topic in question is the start of the inquiry. For the sake of this endeavor, the topic is: The Falkland Islands War. A plausible question to investigate could be: Was a major confrontation averted by waging battle between England and Argentina? Initially, there may be an abundance of sources to choose from since it was an international incident involving Europe, United States, and Latin America.
The library has a variety of sources to help in formulating a central theme, among them; books, reference guides, magazines, newspapers, so on. An encyclopedia serves as a way to clarify important facts about the subject. The way to cite an encyclopedia articles is shown below.
“Article Title.” Encyclopedia Name. Edition or Year Published.
Unlike an encyclopedia, a book written by a historian, journalist or analyst will provide an in depth account of the event. The way to cite a book is shown below.
Author. Title. City Printed: Publisher, Year Printed.
A newspaper or magazine gives added insight to the people, places and particularities which enlighten the writing and would appear superficial without it. The way to cite a magazine or newspaper is shown below.
Author. “Article Title.” Publication Name. Date: Page(s).
Many of the sources listed above will undoubtedly conveniently appear on the internet. The way to cite an online article is shown below.
Author (if available). “Document Title.” Website. Electronic Publication Date. Date Accessed. <URL>.
These types of sources and their respective citing format are a standard means for keeping track of information that does not belong to the student but that will form the basis for the writing of the topic. They are typically listed in a Works Cited section at the end of the writing. As the student reads them, a sequence of notes will begin to accumulate. Those notes will form a record of names, dates and direct quotes for use in the analysis. As stated earlier, a trustworthy analysis needs at least 12 sources to be considered thorough. The researching segment will, however, handle two or three times as many sources for the story to be credible.
The vast amount of information will seem overwhelming at first. Recall earlier that an outline is a practical way to keep all angles clear and consistent. Usually, lengthy material can be paraphrased or summarized to a certain extent. When that is not possible, the outline below may be of value to maintain progress toward the deadline.
I. Introduction: The Cause of the Falkland Islands War
A. Historical Significance
III. Global Interest Claim: England
IV. Alliances
B. Europe & North America
A. No Lingering Encroachment
These methods are vital to the efficient composition of analytical writing. An extra layer of refinement can only make good writing even better. There are many questions to consider if that is the desired effect. Does the introduction capture the interest of the reader and clearly present the main idea? Does the writing incorporate at least three paragraphs, or for advanced courses, three pages to develop the analysis? If an outline was used, do all paragraphs relay information accurately and in tandem with the wider topic?
Research