{"id":7697,"date":"2018-11-12T10:40:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T18:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.essaypop.com\/?p=7697"},"modified":"2020-07-11T14:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T21:44:49","slug":"interpretation-please-allow-me-to-explain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.essaypop.com\/style-guide\/interpretation-please-allow-me-to-explain","title":{"rendered":"Interpretation – Please, Allow Me To Explain."},"content":{"rendered":"

“If you can\u2019t explain it simply, then you don\u2019t understand it well enough.”\u00a0<\/span>\u2014<\/span>Albert Einstein<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

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Having a Conversation<\/span><\/h2>\n

Remember, an essay is first and foremost, a conversation among three parties. \u00a0One party (and perhaps the most important ) is <\/span>you<\/b>, the essayist. \u00a0You have determined you have something important to say, and you\u2019ve taken the time put put your ideas on paper. You are leading the discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second party (also very important) is your reader. \u00a0To a large degree, your audience is the reason you write. You want to inform, persuade or even entertain them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The third party (often not taken into consideration) is any author, scientist, writer or other expert whom you quote or refer to during the course of your essay. When you bring these folks into your writing with your <\/span>hook<\/span>, <\/span>thesis statement<\/span>, <\/span>bridge<\/span> and <\/span>research detail<\/span>, it\u2019s as though you\u2019re bringing a partner or even team of experts into the discussion, and their voices become an important part of the discussion as well. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your role in this conversation is to help explain and facilitate the ideas being discussed. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The <\/span>interpretation<\/b><\/span> is where this explanation and facilitation happens. \u00a0It is where <\/span>you<\/b> make sense of the research details you have presented in your own words. Interpretation might also be thought of as <\/span>commentary, insight \u00a0analysis, opinion, personal reaction, explanation or evaluation.<\/b><\/p>\n

During the interpretation, facts and evidence are explained to the reader by you in a way that only you can do. Interpretation is critical, because it is what makes the essay yours; it brings your voice into the paper. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What should I say during my interpretation?<\/span><\/h3>\n

It is your responsibility to provide your reader with insight and perspective, and this can be done in many ways. You may choose to <\/span>s<\/b>ummarize or paraphrase a research detail that you’ve presented. Then you might give an opinion or a commentary about what you have summarized. Sometimes you may wish to agree with a research detail that’s been presented or, conversely, you may wish to present an opposing point of view in the form of a rebuttal. <\/span><\/p>\n

The interpretation is your opportunity to bring your own unique insight into the discussion. It is your opportunity to go deep\u00a0and to make substantive observations, comparisons or new points altogether. \u00a0And, as long as your interpretations are relevant to the point you are trying to make in the the body paragraph, you can say almost anything you want.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do remember, however, that you don’t want to fill up the interpretation writing fields with just anything. You need to have a plan and an intention when you explain things to your reader. You want to be strategic and mindful of how you present your interpretations. The Essay Pop system will give you numerous strategies to do so. \u00a0We hope that you will study the models we provide closely in order to understand how to incorporate solid interpretation within your body paragraphs.<\/span><\/p>\n

How many interpretations does each Body paragraph need?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The number of interpretations you use really depends on the purpose and scope of your writing. \u00a0With an in-class, timed, short response, you might only have time to write one research detail and one interpretations. \u00a0If you are writing a longer response, you might add an additional research detail and a second or even third interpretation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This section will provide you with a number of different models where interpretations are used in different ways for different purposes. Incidentally, we recommend that each interpretation range from 3 to 6 sentences in length. They, of course, can be \u00a0longer, depending on how much the writer has to say. <\/span><\/p>\n

One cool aspect of the EssayPOP system is that you can arrange your interpretations in any way you please. \u00a0Using the action icon, you can alternate interpretations to follow multiple research details or you can stack interpretations, on top of one another, if you have a lot of personal insight to share. You can also arrange and rearrange interpretations by dragging by the writing frame handle and dropping them wherever you would like them to go. \u00a0And if you decide you don\u2019t want an extra interpretation, you can always delete it using the action icon. These functions give the essayist total flexibility in the writing process. <\/span>For ease of identification, interpretations will always be highlighted in <\/span>light purple<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The power of sentence starters<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sometimes writers struggle with interpretations because they don’t know how to start them. This is where the sentence starters come in. Oftentimes, just getting some help with starting an interpretation is all the writer needs to get the ideas flowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s say that you just quoted a prominent researcher about the toxic effects of rattlesnake venom on the human body. The focus (or thesis) of your short response is to explain why humans are so mortally afraid of rattlers. In this scenario, a simple sentence starter from the menu such as, \u201cThis shows\u201d, \u00a0just might be what the writer needs to get the first interpretation flowing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once done with this interpretation the writer might decide to add a second interpretation beginning with the sentence starter, \u201cThis also demonstrates\u201d, and then following that phrase with a new series of sentences explaining yet another interesting point of view about our fear of rattlesnakes. \u00a0The sentence starters are available via the pull-down curtain located at the bottom center of the writing frame. All you have to do is look over the available starters and choose one that you like. When you click on it, it will appear in the writing frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Counter-argument and Rebuttal as Interpretation<\/span><\/h3>\n

When you access the action icon selections, one of the options available is <\/span>counterargument<\/b><\/span>; another is <\/span>rebuttal<\/b><\/span>. \u00a0When you present a counter-argument, you are essentially giving time to your opponent or a different point of view. Sometimes these counter-arguments feature an opponent\u2019s opinion and\/or commentary and are, therefore, somewhat similar to interpretation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rebuttals (which are a essayist\u2019s answer back to an opponent\u2019s counter-argument) may likewise use opinion, logic and insight, as interpretation does, in order to make a point or refute an opponent\u2019s difference of opinion. So, while counter-arguments and rebuttals are not, technically speaking, interpretation, they may very well contain some of the same elements of interpretation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interpretation Models<\/span><\/h2>\n

In each of these models, the <\/span>research detail<\/span> preceding the interpretation and the <\/span>closer<\/span> following the interpretation are also shown.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Model 1<\/span><\/h3>\n

Type of essay: <\/b>\u00a0short response \/<\/span> response to literature
\n<\/span>The prompt:<\/b> In Denise Levertov\u2019s poem, \u201cMoon Tiger\u201d, what is the moon tiger really? \u00a0Use textual evidence to justify your answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

… Consider the following lines from the poem: “Look. Its white stripes\/ In the light that slid\/ Through the jalousies”.<\/span> Levertov is inviting us to pay close attention to a very specific clue: the white stripes coming through the room\u2019s blinds. \u00a0It is a physical fact that moonlight becomes separated into lines that are projected onto the floor when they pass through louvered blinds (jalousies in this case). \u00a0The speaker in the poem seems to be a child who observes these lines of moonlight slowly travelling across her room; she imagines that they are the stripes of a tiger “prowling sleekly” across the room. Everything else in the poem, the small head, the large feet, the prowling , the sniffing, is all imagined by the child. \u00a0The moon “tiger” is, very simply, the creation of a child’s overactive imagination and nothing else.<\/span> \u00a0It’s amazing how poet’s often hide that which is obvious in plain sight, but few people seem to notice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Notes<\/span><\/h4>\n