Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [67]
Step 1: Paraphrase the explicit statement. This will produce a range of related ideas and highlight the key terms in the original statement (see Chapter 2, Paraphrase x 3).
Step 2: List the implicit ideas that the statement seems to assume to be true. Ask yourself, “Given what is overtly stated, what must the writer also already believe?”
Step 3: Further analyze the original claim by drawing out implications of the underlying assumptions. What do you now recognize about the statement?
Discussion Uncovering assumptions is a version, with a difference, of Move 4 of the Five Analytical Moves from Chapter 3: it renders the implicit explicit. But in this case, what it is revealing is not what follows from a given statement, but rather, what precedes.
You should be aware that this tool gets used for different purposes. In argument, it is often used (and abused) to catch out the other guy: your opponent’s undiscerned assumption is exposed in order to be attacked. But in analysis, the goal is not attack; as Chapter 1 discusses in the short takes entitled Analysis: A Quick Definition and What’s Different About Writing Arguments in College, analysis can lead eventually to making an argument or claim, but it does not generally conduct search-and-destroy missions. It seeks instead primarily to understand other positions, and in this context, uncovering the assumptions of other writers can be an essential move in helping everyone comprehend more clearly what is involved in accepting or negotiating with another point of view.
Uncovering Assumptions: An Example
In the reference application sent to professors at our college for students seeking to enter the student-teaching program, the professor is asked to rank the student from one to four (unacceptable to acceptable) on the following criterion: “The student uses his/her sense of humor appropriately.”
Step 1: To uncover the assumptions in that statement, we might first paraphrase it a few times:
The student makes jokes in a way that is right for the situation.
The student creates situations that invite others to laugh in ways that are not socially indecorous.
The student has good manners in the way he or she does things that are funny.
The paraphrasing helps identify the key terms in the original statement that are open to interpretation: “uses” and “sense of humor” and especially, “appropriately.”
Step 2: What are the implicit ideas that the claim assumes to be true? And what must the writers of the form also already believe if they have asked that question? Here is a partial list:
students have a sense of humor;
students use their sense of humor in class;
some senses of humor are appropriate, and others are not;
the teacher, the one asked to fill out the evaluation, can distinguish appropriate from inappropriate uses of humor in the classroom by students; and
the teacher probably shares the values and attitudes of the teachers who sent out the form, and by extension, teachers in general have a consensus view on this issue.
Step 3: Let’s return to analyze the original claim, drawing out implications of these underlying assumptions.
Interestingly, the predictive tool that the Education Department has devised to screen its applicants targets humor as a charged site—a classroom space in which a would-be teacher is likely to demonstrate his or her ability to conduct himself or herself modestly, to remain within the bounds of good taste as defined by the educational institution. Further, we see that the Education Department has done some thinking: they’ve figured out that humor is a site of potential danger and subversion. But they have also seen that humor is inevitable, and therefore that they can test their candidates’ adequacy through this convenient focus. If there is going to be a problem, it’s likely to show up there.
Uncovering Assumptions: Another Quick Example
Consider the claim, “Tax laws benefit