25 Sep Federalism or Anti-federalism essay

 At a bare minimum you will need to address one example each of the themes of logos, pathos, and ethos out of one Federalism or Anti-federalism essay. To argue an interesting thesis in compelling way, you will likely need to pull examples from more than one essay.

The unique goal of analysis is understanding of a subject through careful observation and study. This is best accomplished by adopting an ethos characteristic of academic scholarship: nonadversarial in tone, collaborative and collegial in approach, carefully qualified (avoiding overgeneralizations), and subject-centered (Rosenwasser and Stephen 2015, 10). Furthermore, analytical writing involves more than just summarizing information, although careful summary (e.g. of observations, historical background, research approach) is an important step in analysis that can lead to important discoveries relevant to one’s analysis.

As you prepare to analyze primary works and evaluate secondary works related to the American Founding, please keep the goals of analysis in mind. As doctoral students, you are expected to adhere to a high standard of analysis!

To help you move in this direction, I recommend adopting Rosenwasser and Stephen’s “Five Analytical Moves” (2015, 16-33):

Move 1: Suspend judgment (understand the subject before making a judgment)

Move 2: Define significant parts and how they are related (becoming observant is not natural; it’s learned)

Move 3: Make the implicit explicit (push observations to implications by asking “so what?”)

Move 4: Look for patterns of repetition and contrast and for anomalies (notice patterns and exceptions)

Move 5: Keep reformulating questions and explanations