Unit 2: On “Mapping” Text

The material that was provided on the “mapping” of text in Chapter 4 of Irene Clark’s book, Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation was informative. I found that the manner in which you can map is similar to some of the processes that I followed as a high school debater. Part of the beauty about the collection of information and the scrutiny and dissection of content was that we were able to find pertinent material to use in our arguments. It was a challenge to handle this method at first but after a period of time it became routine. Depending on the argument that we were handling, we had a series of questions that we would utilize as we approach each source.

Irene Clark is clearly introducing a way that we can decipher the material and find out how valuable it will be as we advance in securing our thesis focus. This will be so crucial. We each need to find out the value of each source. Following my experience as a debater, the practice seems to be quite familiar to me.

Clark notes how we should identify the “central moves” of the work and also get a sense of the overall topography of the work. Those statements so directly name the most essential tasks at hand. By getting an overall sense of the material and determining what direction it is taking you can see how the material will serve your thesis argument. There are many times when the material can bolster and support an argument. However, there are other instances when the material is simply “flat” and does not aid in the thesis process. I learned of these types of results, positive and negative, when I was a young debater. I had to artfully find the most pertinent and productive material.

In this process my plan is to first use this approach in the review of the material that pertains to the ideation process. There is an abundance of information that is available and I wish to examine this content as it relates to my developing theme that is linked to culture and human experience.

To begin the work that I would like to scrutinize is that of Jon Kolko and Grace Curtis. My interest in their contributions is strong because they each are heavily grounded in the realm of design with knowledge of technological constructs.

Another important suggestion that Clark provided in our “mapping steps” is that we “situate the text within our discipline.” That will certain determine whether or not the material will be of use in the further development of my thesis argument. I am eager to work with the text written by Kolko in his article, “Trusting the Design Process.” His notions on the importance of culture and artifacts are in alignment with the thoughts behind my own thesis.