SPECTRUMS OF ABSTRACTION                                                Judy Lightfoot
Teachers ask student writers to be specific as if the phrase were meaningful by itself. But specificity is a relative, not an absolute, concept. "Jerseys in the field"  is not in itself specific, just more specific than "cows," which is more specific than "animals" or "natural phenomena."  Most specific of all would be "Bessie, one of the Jerseys in the field." And so on.

This idea is clarified for students when a diagram of a SPECTRUM OF ABSTRACTION is drawn on the board -- a continuum from relative abstraction or generality to relative concreteness or specificity.

The metaphor of a spectrum seems a better choice than a ladder because it avoids the implication that one end is superior to another. Indeed, writing and thinking continually move back and forth along a spectrum of abstraction, and this movement gives writing much of the energy and power that inspire reader interest. Students also need to be reminded of a truth they already know, at least unconsciously -- that the middle ranges of a spectrum are generally the most complex, interesting, and difficult to manage.

THINKING AND WRITING
MOVE BACK AND FORTH ALONG A SPECTRUM OF ABSTRACTION
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
ABSTRACT  
GENERAL  
IDEA  
ARGUMENT  
THESIS  
CATEGORY,CLASS,GROUP 		 Mid-spectrum thinking -- 
reasoning, clarifications, analyses, 
interpretations, explanations, definitions, concessions, qualifiers, counterarguments, exceptions, transitions, connections, 
*mid-spectrum concepts* 
CONCRETE 
SPECIFIC 
IMAGE, EXAMPLE 
SUPPORT 
EVIDENCE 
THING,MEMBER,ITEM  
 
ABSTRACT, etc
 *<---MID-----------------
-------SPECTRUM-------
------CONCEPTS------>*
CONCRETE, etc. 
Nature *mammals *cows *Jersey cows Bessie ... in the field
Global warming *greenhouse effect *air pollution *methane Bessie ... in the field
Growing up on a family farm *Where I got a lasting sense of security and special insights about work *My small jobs in the farm dairy  *Bringing the cows in to be milked Bessie ... in the field
Literary technique *effects of imagery on a reader's imagination *the appeal of images in children's books *images of harmony in Dan's Dairy Diary Bessie ... in the field

Instructional Process:
In class I draw a horizontal line across the whole board and write NATURE at one end of the line and BESSIE, ONE OF THE JERSEYS IN THE FIELD at the other. Then, at the appropriate ends of the line, I add the 12 paired key concepts in the first table below (ABSTRACT/CONCRETE; GENERAL/SPECIFIC; etc.). I ask the class where "Jersey cows" would go, roughly, on a continuum between Nature and Bessie, and write it where they tell me to. Then the class comes up with 2-3 more terms, which I write on the line for them; depending on what they are, we may have to move "Jersey cows" in one direction or the other. I write "mid-spectrum thinking" above the whole middle of the line. This goes quickly -- it takes maybe 5 minutes -- even with time for adding a few details about Bessie's especially well-developed natural Jersey cow qualities to the "CONCRETE, etc." end. I ask them if we care what color the field is, or whether there's a tree in it (in this context, we don't).

 Then I draw another horizontal line with LITERARY TECHNIQUE or FAMILY FARM CHILDHOOD at one end and BESSIE ... GREEN FIELD at the other. With some prompting, the class can generate a quick spectrum of abstractions -- it takes maybe 5 minutes. Students should notice that to make this continuum cohere they need more elaborated mid-spectrum thinking, not just one- or two-word concepts. I end the exercise by asking students whether additional details about Bessie would refer to her natural Jersey characteristics or to something else -- like her peaceful harmony with her surroundings, or her flowery straw hat. And, yes, we may indeed care whether this field is green and has a tree.

Finally, students pair up and mark a relatively specific or concrete passage in each other's drafts, mark the most general or abstract concepts connected with it, and then trace the kinds of mid-spectrum thinking that link the two. This takes them maybe 10 minutes. They can do the same with a published essay.

Outcomes:
The spectrum of abstraction exercise gives students a systematic way to examine language and thought for the purpose of analyzing it and making deliberate choices. It also helps students see why certain examples of discourse cohere better than others, why details without governing ideas can mislead or numb the reader's mind, and why a baggy abstraction resembles Benjamin Franklin's sack with nothing in it ("An empty sack won't stand up," observed Ben). In classes and conference, I start hearing students say a paper needs "better material from the Bessie end" or "more mid-level thinking." With prompting they also notice that Macbeth engages in a great deal of mid-spectrum thinking that is quite weak. Students don't need spectrum handouts, but I use copies of the diagrams in conferences on their writing and thinking. Of course, it's easy to sketch a quick spectrum for a student, too. Seniors often find a diagram as helpful in conference as do younger students.
Notes:
1.  Thinking and writing in fields such as political theory and philosophy may never move from "ABSTRACT, etc." past mid-spectrum kinds of reasoning. Many op-ed pieces don't get very "CONCRETE," either. In fact, every piece of discourse really has own appropriate spectrum of abstraction -- set by the purposes of the writer in conjunction with the expectations of the audience, the demands of the subject and discipline, and the conventions of the genre. A discourse on global warming might never get more specific than a discussion of greenhouse gases; and if Bessie appeared, she'd only be window (or field) decoration, not the essential part of the argument she becomes in a literary analysis or personal narrative.

2.  Still, it's useful for secondary students to be aware that any concept can theoretically generate endless examples or details at the "CONCRETE" end of the spectrum.

 In any case, it's the mediating line of thought (operations collected under "mid-spectrum thinking" in the first table above) that will make a particular discussion cohere.

 3.  Students need reminding, too, that the meanings of details can change if the context of abstractions changes. "Jerseys in the field" could refer to football uniforms unless we know that the governing abstraction isn't "sports." A phrase like "Jerseys in the field" can become a running joke that pops up in my 10th-grade discussions whenever someone makes an ambiguous statement without a clear context.

4.  Finally, I sometimes have to tell younger students, "No, people don't consciously keep a spectrum of abstraction in mind as they think, speak, or write, any more than you consciously remember 'six sentence styles' while trying to produce a sentence, and any more than Shakespeare consciously pondered symbolism as a literary device when writing the dagger soliloquy. But we can use the spectrum concept to trace connections between points in many passages of thought, speech, or writing, including Macbeth's and our own."

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