l&l

• What are the 3 simple questions that can effectively summarize an analysis for any part of this course?

  - What is the author trying to achieve/communicate?

  - How has the author done this?

  - What impact does this have on the audience?

  
• Expand the acronym: TAPDANCE


  1. text type
  2. author
  3. purpose
  4. devices
  5. audience
  6. narration
  7. context
  8. explanation

  
• Text type TAPDANCE


  What text type is the text (e.g. poem, play, novel, short story, etc.)?

  
  

  What are certain features common in that type?

  
  

  How does the text demonstrate/go against those features and to what effect?

  
• Author TAPDANCE


  Who wrote the text?

  
  

  What's their cultural background like? Their upbringing? Childhood?

  
• Purpose TAPDANCE


  Why was the text written? (i.e. what intent did the author have? What messages/ideas did they want to convey?)

  
• Devices TAPDANCE


  What stylistic/literary devices, rhetorical appeals, etc. are used in the text?

  
• Audience TAPDANCE


  What is the text's target audience (i.e. audience the author wrote the text for)?

  
  

  How does the author write for that target audience? To what effect?

  
  

  Does you text relate to any additional audiences not originally intended? Why and to what effect?

  
• Narrative TAPDANCE


  What's the progression of thematic ideas in your text? If it's fiction, what's the plot progression?

  
  

  Why might the author want to include the thematic ideas they do in the order they do?

  
• Context TAPDANCE


  What's the context in which the text was originally created by an author or interpreted by an audience? Consider things like:

  - Social and cultural norms/stereotypes

  - Political views/movements

  - significant/recent historical events

  - An author's background (upbringing, culture of origin, etc); i.e. authorial context

  - A text's purpose (texts written professionally within a certain field may be written differently than a casual text for the general public)

  
  

  How might different audiences originating from different contexts interpret text differently?

  
  

  If comparing text from different authors, how might different authors originating from different contexts produce texts with different (or similar) content, ideas, use of language, etc.?

  
• Explanation TAPDANCE


  WHAT'S THE EFFECT OF ALL OF THE ABOVE ON THE READER?

  
• expand PETAL


  Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Link

  
• point (PETAL)


  State exactly what you're going to discuss in your paragraph—your main point/topic, so to speak (this should be your paragraph's 1st sentence).

  
  

  This should be a specific thing, e.g. thematic idea, stylistic device(s), context, etc.—don't be vague!

  
  

  Your point should answer the three main LangLit questions.

  Make your point clear enough that anyone listening to you/reading your response should be able to understand what you'll be going on to argue right away.

  
• evidence (PETAL)


  Provide evidence related to your texts that demonstrate the arguments made in your Point. This includes:

  Quotes from your text. Cite exact locations for this: page numbers, line numbers, acts/scenes, etc.

  Paraphrasing from your text. Use this for larger chunks of your text where you're not looking explicitly at language (e.g. diction).

  Contextual information, e.g. societal/cultural influences & norms from when the text was originally written.

  
• technique (PETAL)


  Identify the specific formal techniques/features (rhetorical techniques, stylistic devices, etc.) present in the evidence you just provided.

  
  

  In each quote you cite, what devices, rhetorical appeals, etc. are being used?

  
  

  You can more or less skip this for contextual info.

  
• analysis (PETAL)


  Analyze the effectiveness of said features in your evidence in conveying a certain effect on the audience.

  - Is tone, mood, or atmosphere created?

  - Is the author using a rhetorical appeal, stylistic device, etc. in your evidence to make an argument of some sort?

  - Does this evidence develop a theme in your text?

  - For context, how does the contextual information you just provided influence the text's narrative, use of language, etc. and/or a reader's interpretation of the text?

  
• link (PETAL)


  Link everything you just said—your point & supporting evidence/analysis—back to your thesis (i.e. overall argument).

  
  

  You must explain everything in terms of the overall arguments you're making! Otherwise you're just yeeting out irrelevant points, which in the context of a larger analysis is awful.

  
• What are rhetorical appeals?


  methods used by writers to persuade readers of certain things, such as viewpoints or ideas, by appealing to aspects of a reader's thought process.

  
• What are the 4 types of rhetorical appeals?


  logos, pathos, ethos, kairos

  
• What is logos?


  Appeal to logic

  
• What is pathos?


  Appeal to emotion

  
• What is ethos?


  Appeal to righteousness of the argument/of the speaker's right to convey it

  
• What is kairos?


  Appeal of the urgency of the issue, i.e. the necessity to solve it now.

  
• What are elements of graphics and visuals?

  - color

  - scale, size, and graphic weight

  - perspective and positioning

  - font

  - gutter

  - interactions with languages

  
• Color (graphics and visuals)


  What sort of colours are used most/least? Cool colours? Warm colours?

  
  

  Are they bright & vibrant hues? Dull & muted tones? Does this create a certain atmosphere or have certain connotations?

  
  

  If you're familiar with it, you can talk about colour theory and how it might influence a reader's interpretation of a text.

  
• Scale, size, and graphic weight (graphics and visuals)

  Relative to reality/a realistic portrayal, what is being emphasised/exaggerated & what is being under-proportioned?

  
  

  Why might the author choose to exaggerate/under-proportion something? What effect does this have? What message is conveyed?

  
• Perspective and positioning (graphics and visuals)

  If a certain object is shown, is the viewer looking down at it? Up at it? From the same level?

  
  

  What's in the foreground (front of picture)/background (back of picture)? Is the frame facing down/up/head on? Is anything in focus/out of focus?

  
  

  What's implied about the status of things which are portrayed with different perspectives/positions?

  
  

  If you, the viewer/audience, are looking down upon something below you, how might that establish that thing's status relative to you versus if you were looking up at something above you?

  
  

  What does it mean if something is in focus/out of focus? What does this say about what the author wishes to draw attention to (or neglect)?

  
  

  Is the text trying to draw your eye to certain objects? Is there a 'direction' the viewer's eyes are led in (top to bottom, side to side, winding, zig-zag)

  
  

  What might this suggest about the message being conveyed?

  
• Font (graphics and visuals)

  Does the style of font used invoke a certain emotion or atmosphere? Increase comprehension/legibility?

  
  

  Simpler serif fonts are often used for formality & legibility.

  Curvier/more 'extravagant' fonts, usually sans-serif, are often used for visual effect & aesthetics, to draw the reader's attention to something.

  
• gutter (graphics and visuals)

  If you're looking at a comic strip, what types of transitions between panels are used? How does this impact the amount of closure (imagination) needed for the audience to understand the piece?

  
  

  Do transitions speed up the text? Slow it down? Force you to consider one panel over another?

  
• interactions with language (graphics and visuals)


  If you have a multi-modal text (one that combines both language & visual elements), how do the text elements and visual elements enhance each other?

  
  

  Do they work together to create a similar message or are they contrasted to highlight one message over another?

  
• abbreviation


  Shortened version (e.g. LOL for laugh out loud)

  
• absurd


  A form of humor that shows something in an inappropriate, illogical or strange way, aimed to arouse amusement or derision.

  
• academic


  A register that mimics the form of an educational piece (often using jargon, formal tone).

  
• accusation


  charge or claim

  
• alliteration


  Repetition of initial consonant sounds

  
• allusion


  A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art without mentioning it explicitly

  
• ambiguity


  The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

  
• analogy


  A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way (typically for clarification)

  
• anaphora


  the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

  
• anecdotes


  a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person (can be to entertain, act as a medium of familiarity, gain the writer credibility)

  
• antithesis


  the direct opposite, a sharp contrast (e.g. "How can the light that burned so brightly suddenly burn so pale?")