Graff and Birkenstein are saying that metacommentary is a way to explain your writing to keep the reader from getting lost, or interpreting something the way you did not intend it to be. Zinsser would consider this clutter. He states, “Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon” (Zinsser, 7). To Zinsser, almost anything that is not clear and to the point would be considered clutter.
Logos – A logic argument that persuades the reader by reason; the logic used to support an argument. Pathos – The emotional impact on the reader, causing sympathy with the author’s emotions. Narrative Point of View – The way the story is told. * 1st person: the narrator is a character in the story (“I”). * 3rd person: the narrator is not involved in the story and calls the characters by name.
Dear Appeals Committee, My name is Iulia Blaschevici, and I am writing to appeal the Readers’ decision to reject my Elements of Writing Proficiency essay, “Animal Consciousness.” Contrary to the opinion of one or more of the judges, I believe that my paper demonstrates my ability to read, write and think critically. For example, Reader #38 challenges my critical thinking skills when they claimed that I “did not select appropriate or relevant evidence from the reading set.” I, however, believe that the evidence I used was relative to my points. For instance, on page 3 of my essay, I wrote: “ I also think that it is important to know about human and animal brains;” right after this statement I gave an example from the reading set to back up my claim: “Bernard J. Baars writes, ‘the brain and behavioral evidence for subjective consciousness is essentially identical in humans and other mammals.” The similarity between human and mammalian brains led me to the conclusion that animal brains are an important area of study. While Reader # 38 criticized the former aspect of my writing, they admitted that I had a clear and concise thesis statement. I agree, I think I connected everything to my thesis statement.
When the government or the president addressed this issue they were practicing the art of rhetorical discourse by addressing and reacting to the given situation. Without the problem of health care reform, it is just pointless conversation occurring or what we call “small talk,” at the very least. Bitzer explains that there are three parts that make up a rhetorical situation in order for discourse to occur; exigence, audience, and constraints. The exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect or an obstacle. If I use the speech former President Bush gave after the 9/11 attacks as an example, he delivered those speeches due to the fact that there was a situation that required attention, or exigence.
Paper Number 2: Gaddis Chapter Six While reading Gaddis’ chapter six, he focused on how to question causation. He uses E.H. Carr’s fatal flaw as a big example for the distinction of “rational” and “accidental” causes. Gaddis also gives an alternative view on procedures of causation, and additional procedures historians need to keep in mind when narrate the reality of history. Carr explains rational causes as, “lead to fruitful generalizations and lessons can be learned from them.” While he says that accidental causes, “teach no lessons and lead to no conclusions.” Gaddis claims that Carr clearly confused himself as well as his readers about the differences between the two. Gaddis claims that not explaining clearly the distinction between rational and accidental causes is the more serious problem with Carr.
Kendrick Ellis Professor Long EN 81103-81 14 October 2011 Analysis of “A Proposal to Abolish Grading” “A Proposal to Abolish Grading” is a short essay written by Paul Goodman, who illustrates his feelings on abolishing grading. Goodman thinks that grading is a waste of time and it discourages students; to Goodman tests are a hindrance to students. The beginning of the essay is somewhat of a challenge to Ivy League schools to do away with grading. In the short essay “A Proposal to Abolish Grading” Goodman uses logos, ethos, and pathos to convey a message to various institutions. In the beginning of the essay, Goodman makes an appeal to pathos by stating “I think that a great majority of professors agree that grading hinders teaching and creates a bad spirit, going as far as cheating and plagiarizing.”(191).
The problem in the school structure that Graff recognizes is lack of persuasion to get students to argue. This holds true in my personal experiences in academics. Despite the fact the educating administration is trying to avoid violent disputes because of arguments, they fail to see that properly structured arguments are the best way to avoid violence. Without the school system instilling the ideas and values of argument, students will lack an outlet for an argument consisting of words and are more likely to resort to violence for resolution. In a section of Gerald’s essay he advocates that educated conversation be shared with uneducated audiences as a basis for understanding any scholarly topic as well as a basis for a strong argument.
The introduction is supposed to establish the significance of the subject by commenting on opening lines and providing the thesis and the conclusion closes the discussion persuasively by presenting a clear argument based on summary of the points. In David’s writing, the introduction does not prepare the reader for the upcoming reading at length or contains attention getting lines. The introduction itself in the students paper, is more like a summary of a child’s life without an extend school day than a summary of what the whole essay is precisely about. In the conclusion, it lacks driving the argument towards proving the main point. To resolve the problem the writer should focus on making sure the introduction talks more about the main points the essay is bout, using
One of the major reasons why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts is the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectualism. Regarding the topic of intellectualism, there seem to be two schools of thought. On one hand, many people believe that in order to be an intellectual individual, one should read, write, and discuss great literature and other aspects of classical education. On the other hand, there are those who believe that reading, writing, and discussing various topics that are not usually identified as “intellectual” such as cars and sports are in fact just as impressive. Graff argues that intellectualism is good, and that schools ought to encourage learners to read, think critically and write about their fields of personal interests like fashion, music or cars.
K. V. ENG 101 3/31/14 To Ban or Not to Ban In Dennis Baron’s, Don’t make English Official- Ban it Instead he is insisting that instead of making English the official language of the United States, we should just get rid of it altogether. In his small article he manages to whip up six small arguments to convince the readers of his ludicrous proposal. Rather than actually convincing the readers, his points are unclear, sometimes confusing and unsatisfying. In the end he doesn’t actually set up a solution for his readers, and leaves them with the whole “so what was the point,” feeling. Through his poor perspectives and unfocused essay, I am far from convinced that English should not be the official language but banned.