Text analysis scheme II

Every text is different, and so are each of you. Remember an original response may be highly desirable. Start by responding to the text. Don't comment on features that are missing unless there is a significant comment to make. Don't try to include everything, comment on the most significant aspects of the text. Read the text carefully, think, brainstorm and decide on the best order for your points. You are aiming for an essay that is well ordered and clear. Is there a sense of your own voice, originality or a personal response? Your essay should not be vague, but firmly rooted in close textual examination. Always include concise quotations as evidence. Show your specialist linguistic and literary terms. Don't be repetititive.

What is it?

Newspaper, article, diary, advertisement, political manifesto, sermon, short story, poem... Is the word 'genre' helpful? Are there recognisable genre conventions, or does the writer break such conventions? Effect? This might be a significant point to make early in your analysis.

Content?

What is it about?

Intention/Purpose

To entertain, persuade, instruct, advise, inform. This might affect the language. For example, if it seeks to persuade the text may use emotive, connotative language, and make value judgments. If it is informative, concrete nouns and factual adjectives might dominate the text. If it is instructive, imperative verbs are very likely. A story may have intensifiers and the nouns may be heavily modified. An argumentative text may have tentative modals. Remember that a text may have more than one intention.

Form?.

Headlines, italics, bold, punctuation and deviations from the orthodox. Don't spend too long on this, this is language, not Media.

Structure?

How is the content organised? Is it chronological? Does it have flashbacks? Is there a logical development of argument (if, so, therefore, thus, because)? Is there a juxtaposition of ideas? How is the text introduced and concluded?

Authorial Voice?

How conscious are you of the author? What kind of narrative is this - first, second or third person? Is the tone conversational, confessional? Is s/he subjective or objective? What does the author foreground?

Style?

Formal, colloquial, use of dialect, standard, nonstandard. What characterizes the lexis (Latinate, verbose, taciturn, field specific, laconic)? What about the syntax, are the sentences simple or complex, or is there an unusual word order? Is there dialogue, monologue or reported speech? Are nouns pre/post modified? Is the tone ironic, humorous, sad, angry, patronising? Is the tone consistent or does it shift? Does the text make use of shocking, taboo language? Are there any rhetorical devices? Active or passive voice? Metaphors and other literary techniques? Prevailing tense forms & articles? Alliteration, assonance, imagery, simile, rhyme, personification...

Argument?

Persuasion, political tract, sermon, advertisement. Is there evidence of bias, or does the writer make concessions to the other side of the argument? Does the writer anticipate the other side of the argument? Is there a plea to or sense of camaraderie with the audience? Is there a more sophisticated lexis?

Social Issues?

Class, gender, race, age.

Miscellany

Puns, euphemisms, archaic language, affixation, use of quotations, ambiguity, idiom, clichés, stream of consciousness, phonological features, foreign words, nonsense words, rhythm, anecdotes, didactic, satire, hyperbole, vernacular, coherence, sarcasm ...

DON'T MERELY POINT OUT FEATURES. SAY WHY THE WRITER HAS USED THEM AND CONSIDER WHAT THE WRITER IS TRYING TO CONVEY. WHAT? HOW? WHY? EFFECT?

Appendix II