The Art of Metacommentary Metacommentary What is Metacommentary
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The Art of Metacommentary
Metacommentary What is Metacommentary? ◦ Commentary on the commentary Like a song that talks about itself. ◦ Explaining something you’ve said or written “What I meant to say was…” “My point was not ____ but_____. ” “You’re probably not going to like what I’m about to say, but_____” ◦ Telling an audience how to interpret what you have already said or are about to say. ◦ Commenting on your claims and telling readers how to think about them.
Metacommentary Use metacommentary to clarify ◦ No matter how clear your writing is, people will still misunderstand what you are trying to say. ◦ Helps readers process what you are really saying. ◦ Prevents misinterpretations or communication issues. ◦ Prevents fist-fights!
Metacommentary Use metacommentary to elaborate ◦ Helps develop ideas and generate more text. ◦ May help you make papers longer. ◦ May bring out ideas that you hadn’t considered before. ◦ Some templates “In other words_____” What _____ really means is _____” My point is _____
Metacommentary Example. Find the Metacommentary ◦ It is my intention in this book to show that a great … shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense. With this in view, my task in the chapters ahead is straightforward. I must, first, demonstrate how, under the governance of the printing press, discourse in America was different from what it is now – generally coherent, serious and rational; and then how, under the governance of television, it has become shriveled and absurd. But to avoid the possibility that my analysis will be interpreted as standard-brand academic whimpering, …I must first explain that… I appreciate junk as much as the next fellow, and I know full well that the printing press has generated enough of it to fill the Grand Canyon to overflowing. Television is not old enough to have matched printing’s output of junk.
Metacommentary Example. Find the metacommentary ◦ It is my intention in this book to show that a great … shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense. With this in view, my task in the chapters ahead is straightforward. I must, first, demonstrate how, under the governance of the printing press, discourse in America was different from what it is now – generally coherent, serious and rational; and then how, under the governance of television, it has become shriveled and absurd. But to avoid the possibility that my analysis will be interpreted as standard-brand academic whimpering, …I must first explain that… I appreciate junk as much as the next fellow, and I know full well that the printing press has generated enough of it to fill the Grand Canyon to overflowing. Television is not old enough to have matched printing’s output of junk.
Metacommentary some templates for metacommentary ◦ Essentially, I am arguing that _____ ◦ My point is not that we should _____, but that we should _____ ◦ What ____ really means is _____. ◦ To put it another way, _____ ◦ Although some readers may object that _____, I would answer that _____. ◦ My conclusion, then, is that _____
Metacommentary end.