Developing an analysis

Writing practice: Developing an analysis

“Mind over Mass Media” is an essay written by Steven Pinker, a psychologist and linguist who teaches at Harvard University and writes books for a general audience. Annotate Pinker’s article using the guidelines for active reading in 4a. Then put Pinker’s thesis to the “So what?” test (see section 4a). Follow the advice about analyzing a text in section 4d and the writing guide in section 4d to help you develop your own analysis of Pinker’s essay. Your notes here will be a first step in looking at Pinker’s article analytically.

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Question

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“Mind over Mass Media” is an essay written by Steven Pinker, a psychologist and linguist who teaches at Harvard University and writes books for a general audience. Annotate Pinker’s article using the guidelines for active reading in 4a. Then put Pinker’s thesis to the “So what?” test (see section 4a). Follow the advice about analyzing a text in 4d and the writing guide in 4e to help you develop your own analysis of Pinker’s essay. Your notes here will be a first step in looking at Pinker’s article analytically.