Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Sources of extracts used in the text
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Reflection and Research
- Part II The Dynamics of an Essay
- Part III Language
- 7 You, your language and your material
- 8 Analytical language I: sentences
- 9 Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies
- 10 Cohesion and texture
- 11 Conventions of academic writing
- Appendices
- Index
9 - Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Sources of extracts used in the text
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Reflection and Research
- Part II The Dynamics of an Essay
- Part III Language
- 7 You, your language and your material
- 8 Analytical language I: sentences
- 9 Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies
- 10 Cohesion and texture
- 11 Conventions of academic writing
- Appendices
- Index
Summary
Who, or why, or which, or what, Is the Akond of Swat?
edward learAnalysing versus describing
In your writing there will be a place for description. You will need to describe such objects of your attention as a painting, the kinship system of a particular society, the land forms of a stretch of country, a chain of historical events, and so on. You will also from time to time need to describe what the authors of your sources have said about the subject matter you are enquiring into. But in modern academic writing, it is generally true to say, description by itself is not enough. It must be used to serve the purposes of analysis — of reflecting upon the significance of the information, the data, the evidence and the arguments that you assemble in your attempt to answer the question raised by your topic. We have noted in an earlier chapter that one of the more common remarks tutors make on an essay is that it is ‘Too descriptive’ or that it ‘Needs more analysis’. How can these criticisms be met?
We have already seen how important it is for your essay to establish a case and argue for it.
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- Information
- The Student's Writing Guide for the Arts and Social Sciences , pp. 186 - 203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989