PEA: Point, Evidence,

Analysis Your guide to sophisticated, effective post-secondary writing

(Otherwise known as the “KIS” method: Keep It Simple)

PEA: Your New Paragraph • Point: Answer the question asked in one or two sentences. Remember the

reader’s needs (reader may not know question, book, article… etc.) so you need to provide context for understanding. BUT NO FLUFF. No book reports, please. No big introductions. Just answer what you were asked.

• Evidence: Use the texts provided to support your point, prove it true. Use at least one, textual quotation in your evidence. Again, remember that the reader may need help to understand. Provide context.

• Analysis: End the paragraph with analysis instead of repetition. Analysis means original thought. Do not repeat your point, do not summarize what you read. Instead, think about the subject on your own and come up with something new. Here are some phrases that can trigger analysis:

If… then, Obviously, It would seem, One may assume, While this is the case here, Looking ahead, Perhaps if,

“P” for POINT

• Your “POINT” should be an argument, something that needs to be supported or illustrated with specific evidence or details.

• This is your Opinion on the matter

“E” for EVIDENCE• Following your POINT, you should write some

immediate evidence to illustrate or defend the POINT you just made.

• In this kind of paragraph, EVIDENCE is quoted material from your source (from whatever you read)

“A” is for ANALYSIS• Big thoughts go here. DON’T ‘wimp-out’ on the paragraph

by writing “In Conclusion…” DEEPER THINKING TIME!• Use one of these phrases:

-If… then…-Obviously…-It would seem…-One may assume…-While this may be the case here…-Perhaps if…-Looking ahead...

Low Level Argument—How you used to PEA

Get off the Monkey Bars, you are not worthy. (Your “POINT”)WHY?Because I said so and I’m bigger than you. If you don’t listen I will pound you into submission. (Your “EVIDENCE” if you were a bully on the Elementary playground.)

You can’t Use this kind of EVIDENCE approach in the ADULT world you now live in.

Sample paragraph

• Question: How are images and words used in Design Layout?

• Answer: Images and words work together to create a great layout and can tell a story over a series of pages.

In order to PEA properly, you need good

support AND a quote, but first ID your

Big Ideas

Big Ideas in this Sample Paragraph:

*Words & images work together*Words can create a story just like images*Words should enhance the image in some way*Words should not repeat what the image is already saying

Big Ideas, then support + quote• Words and Images have a partnership in Layout• Break up the partnership and neither element is strong standing

alone• Words should not repeat what the image is trying to “say”

Wait a minute…I can find a quote for THIS last statement. I read something like this, somewhere…Time to go QUOTE SHOPPING!

Finish with a Flurry

This is the “A” Analysis part of PEA

• The last sentence of the paragraph • Remember, NO Summary here, NO “In Conclusion”, Think

Original Thoughts. Go DEEP brothers and sisters!• Use a phrase from Slide 5 above!

All Together Now!

In Design Layout, images and words are elements that can work together to create a superior product and, over a series of pages, create a compelling narrative. Images and words have a symbiotic relationship when it comes to good design layout. Which is to say that if separated, neither one—image or words—would succeed in standing alone. The words used in layout, however, “…should never simply repeat what the image is saying” (Adams). Words should not merely serve as a caption, but enhance the image to add another layer to the message. Words serving as caption simply create redundancy in the design and ultimately, it fails. It would seem rather important, then, in studying design layout in Graphic Arts that a certain amount of time be spent on examining the close relationship of words and images.