SMARTHINKING Writer's Handbook

Chapter 3, Lesson 3: Section 6

Tagmemics

Objective
In this lesson, you will learn how to use an idea invention (development) method called tagmemics. This lesson will focus on how to apply it to your own essays and your own writing processes, along with providing a bit of background about where the invention process came from.

Note: Tagmemics works best for the brave, thoughtful writer. If you use tagmemics, your writing will be more interesting than ever before!

Tagmemics - A Way to Expand Your Ideas
Tagmemics can be helpful if:

• You find you commonly have trouble expanding on your thoughts, or
• You find yourself stuck on one point, unable to see beyond that point.

Tagmemics can help you expand your ideas and break past such roadblocks in three ways:

1. Invention: It can help you develop ideas in the pre-writing stages by giving you some questions to expand your ideas about a topic.
2. Organization: It can help during the writing process by giving you a possible organizational plan and by helping you fill in gaps in details that you may otherwise miss.
3. Revision: Finally, using a tagmemic "grid," or chart can help during the revision process by offering questions; these questions help you check the thoroughness of your discussion or description.

The most important use for tagmemics is in the invention area, as you will see below, but it can also give you new ways to think about your writing at many points along the way.

Why "Tagmemics"?
Tagmemics, a somewhat odd word, comes from linguist Kenneth L. Pike, who first used the term in the 1940's and 1950's to describe language use. Pike studied the languages of oral cultures, hoping to identify universal linguistic patterns that existed behind all language, oral and written. His main question was how speakers and writers could recognize words (or other objects) without knowing anything about them.

Eventually, he decided that we identify unknown or "strange' things by going through a process that gives us a "way in"-from something we can recognize to something we don't know as intimately. Although Pike worked almost entirely in linguistics, he teamed with two University of Michigan colleagues (Alton Young and Richard Becker) to apply his "tagmemics" theory to writing in general.

Pike developed a system, a sliding scale, to show how an object or idea could move from less complex (and more known and understood) to more complex (and less known or understood), and via that examination be more clearly known and understood. For writing purposes, tagmemics can be useful because it gives us a method to help our writing become more thoughtful and more complete.
Tagmemics encompasses several different kinds of methods, from a nine-cell grid to lists of questions. Tagmemics can also be adapted to a wide range of writing circumstances, from personal essays to research writing and all that lies between.

Tagmemics for invention
Look at the grid below, and you will notice that it asks writers to look at an idea as either a particle (as an item in and of itself), a wave (as part of a changing process), or a field (as part of a greater whole, in relationship to many other things). The grid further asks writers to consider:

1. An idea's contrastive features (what makes an idea/topic different from other ideas/topics),
2. An idea's variation (how an idea/topic can differ from another while still being the same), and
3. An idea's distribution (what range of contexts can appropriately contain it).

You may notice that Pike's tagmemics method borrows some of its language (particle, wave, field) from physics. Rest assured, however, that you don't need to know anything about physics to understand how tagmemics apply to writing!

To better understand the nine-cell grid, as well as tagmemics in general, here are some questions you might ask yourself about your subject, posed both in grid format and in list format.

Notice how the questions in the grid take you deeper as you move from left to right and from top to bottom. The questions may be easier to answer in the first column and row, and then they may seem to be progressively harder as you continue. Most often, by answering the questions on the right side of the grid, you will go deeper into the subject than you thought possible.

The List Format

1. As a particle (as an item in and of itself)

• What is it?
• How do you define it?
• How is it like something similar?
• How is it different from something similar?
• How would you describe it?
• What are its characteristics?
• What parts make it up?
• What do you feel/think about it? What are your attitudes?

2. As a wave (as part of a changing process)

• What is the history of this topic?
• How has it changed from the past?
• How much or how fast does it change over time?
• As it changes, what does it become?
• How are you involved with this topic?

3. As a field (as part of a whole, in relationship to many other things)

• How is this topic similar to another topic? Can you make any analogies?
• What is this topic part of?
• To what class does it belong?

Now, let's break down the invention process and look at a possible topic for a college paper. Let's say my teacher has asked me to write about a problem that I think needs to be solved on my college campus (Sandy Hill College). I decide that a problem worth solving is the small number of public computers available to students on the weekend. Using the particle, wave, and field grid, what questions and answers could I come up with that will help me to develop my essay? Below are examples of both the nine-cell grid and the tagmemic list to illustrate the process of generating ideas.

1. Particle

• What is it? The problem is that only two computer labs (of thirty computers each) are open on the weekends.
• How do you define it? I define this problem as one of greater demand (2000 students on campus) than of supply (60 public computers).
• How is it like something similar? A similar problem would be if the library closed on weekends and students couldn't do their research.
• How is it different from something similar? This problem is different from closing the library because the campus administration seems to understand that everyone needs access to the library, while it fails to see that everyone also needs access to computers.
• How would you describe it? I would describe the problem as one where the administration doesn't understand the value, need, and demand for public computers every day of the week.
• What are its characteristics? The characteristics of this problem are (a) lack of available computer labs, (b) lack of paid lab assistants to help students with computer problems, and (c) lack of understanding that modern students need computers available to them every day-maybe even 24 hours a day.
• What parts make it up? This problem is made up of students with needs, an administration that doesn't understand those needs, student technology fees that provide funding for computer help, and a school budget that somehow isn't using those funds for sufficient computer labs and access. I guess it's also made of more students than computers.
• What do you think/feel about it? What are your attitudes? I'm pretty mad, as far as feelings go. I don't own my own computer and need to access campus computers during the weekends. What I think is that the campus administration doesn't understand how much this problem affects my ability to do my homework when I need to do it (and when I want to do it!). I think there's enough money from my tuition that this need should be resolved.

2. Wave

• What is the history of this process? As far as I can tell, this campus hasn't ever had its computer labs open on weekends.
• How has it changed from the past? There are only four public labs and the seniors I've asked tell me that there never have been more than 2 labs open on a weekend. In fact, two years ago, they say, only one lab was open. I can go talk to someone in the technology department to find out if there is any more history.
• How much or how fast does it change over time? It looks like this problem is a slow one to change. Opening one extra computer lab on weekends in two years, when the student usage has increased (I know at least that there are more students on campus anyway), is a very slow progress.
• As it changes, what does it become? I think it becomes just as much a problem if the number of open labs doesn't begin to equal a proportion of students who need to use them.
• How are you involved with this topic? I am involved because I have a need that isn't being met. Also, I'm not the only one of my friends who doesn't own a computer. And those people who do own one don't really want everyone else to use theirs for homework because they might break the computers or use them when the owners need them. So, I guess I speak for a lot of people.

3. As a field

• How is this topic similar to another topic? Can you make any analogies? Earlier, in my notes, I compared not having enough computers with not having the library open on weekends. I guess another comparison would be with the bookstore running out of books before 2/3 of the students had purchased their books for a semester.
• What is this topic part of? This topic is part of the need to supply students with the tools to do their academic work correctly and on time.
• To what class or category does this topic belong? This topic is part of the college's obligation to the students. We pay fees (large fees) and the college provides (or should provide) services. The college isn't holding up its end of the obligation.

Can you see how using the tagmemic nine-cell grid or the list of questions has helped me to flesh out the details of a paper about a problem to be solved at my college campus? The major questions and answers for a paper are in the grid or in the list, already asked and partially answered. I might need to do more research on the history of the problem how much money it would cost to solve the problem, and why college administrators haven't fixed the problem yet. But, I have the basics of my paper already outlined here! In fact, from this grid or list, I could even develop my thesis statement for writing a first draft.

________________________________________________________

Exercise

The information above has helped the paper's author to really think about the problems related to computer access at Sandy Hill College. Now, look carefully at that information, and-- in a word processing document or using a pen and paper-- write a thesis statement that would address the major problem outlined in the tagmemic questions above. (Remember, a thesis statement is the primary claim your essay will revolve around; it is the assertion that you will work to defend and possibly prove in the body of your essay.)

Once you've come up with your own thesis statement, compare yours with ours. Did you come up with a similar statement?

Our answer: Sandy Hill College needs to fulfill its obligation to its students by providing sufficient public computer labs and lab assistants twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

________________________________________________________

Tagmemics for organization
As you can see, the tagmemic method of invention gives you a somewhat built-in organizational advantage, in that it moves you from the basic generalities to specifics, which is often how effective essays are organized. Writers start by defining the issue and considering its background, and then go on to consider the varying issues surrounding the main subject. You also have gained another view of the subject, by considering in what ways you can appeal to the administrators; they may never have considered the correlations between the importance of the library or bookstore and the importance of available computer labs!

Tagmemics for revision
Another nice feature of tagmemics is that it can give you something to check yourself with at any point in the revision process as well, by giving you some questions to prompt further thought or by giving you a perspective on what you are trying to accomplish in various sections of your essay draft.

For example, you could ask yourself these variations on the tagmemic questions as you are reviewing and revising your work:

Particle
· Have I defined my topic?
· Have I described it in good detail?
Wave
· Have I examined and explained any changes it has gone through?
Field
· Have I accounted for my perspective on the topic and how that can influence how I see it?
· Have I been clear about why this topic is important?
· Have I shown how it plays a role in a larger context?

 

 

Summary
While it can look like an intimidating process, tagmemics is an invention method that can help you find a way to go deeper into your subject and gain a clearer understanding, thereby helping you to more effectively reach your readers. It can also help you get past "blocks," by giving you a series of questions to get the wheels back in motion and giving you a way to identify ideas you may not have discovered any other way. Like anything else, once you gain some practice using it, it will become easier (or at least more familiar), and you will likely be coming up with thoughts and ideas that may surprise you!

For other great idea invention techniques, see Chapter 3, Process, Lesson 3 "Invention Methods" (Brainstorming, Clustering and Mapping, Aristotle's Topoi, Burke's Pentad, and Journal and Freewriting) in this handbook.