Com/340 - Content Outline

ENG 130 Introduction to Academic Writing

University of Phoenix Material

Week Three Content Outline

topics and objectives

Rhetorical Strategies

• Explore various rhetorical strategies (narration, description, illustration, classification, process analysis, comparison/contrast, cause and effect, and persuasion/argument).
• Practice various rhetorical strategies for essays (narration, comparison/contrast, cause and effect, and persuasion/argument).
• Analyze published essays for rhetorical elements, principles of organization, and to evaluate how well their rhetorical strategies address their situations.

Week three content outline

1. Writers employ different rhetorical strategies when writing essays.
2. Some situations dictate a specific rhetorical strategy (for example, starting a business may require a proposal).
3. All rhetorical strategies share some components.
4. All essays require titles.
5. All essays should be unified in vocabulary and style.
6. All essays should have clearly defined purposes.
7. All essays should be organized in paragraphs arranged for best effect.
8. All essays should have clearly defined introductions and conclusions.
9. All paragraphs should be linked by transitions.
10. Different rhetorical strategies do differ in some areas.
11. There are a number of different rhetorical strategies.
12. Narration

1)A narrative is a story.

2)Narratives have characters, settings, and meaningful action arranged for dramatic effect.

3)Narratives are often told from a first-person point of view; those that are not usually follow specific individuals through an experience.

4)Personal narratives are rarely part of academic essays.

a)Primarily present in experiential disciplines

(1)Example: Psychology

(2)Example: Anthropology

5)Narratives use a more colorful, vivid vocabulary than many academic essays.

6)Narratives often have an implicit purpose rather than an explicitly stated argument.

7)Narratives often have an expressive purpose.

8)Narratives emphasize emotion over logic.

9)Narrative essays often have styles defined by linked images and metaphors.

10)An entire essay may be a narrative, but narratives can also be used as part of larger arguments.

a)A narrative is often used as an example.

b)Narratives are especially common in situations where data is incomplete.

(1)Example: Developing scenarios of possible futures.

11)Narratives are common in pedagogical situations.

a)Example: Case studies use narratives to illustrate concepts.

b)Example: Parables or fables use narrative to illustrate ethical principles.

12)The challenge in many narrative essays is balancing the desire to entertain and the desire to persuade.

1. Description

1)Description rarely stands alone as a rhetorical strategy.

2)Description is most often used as part of a larger essay.

3)The goal of description is to paint a vivid picture of a person, place, thing, or action.

4)Description appeals to the senses.

1. Illustration

1)Illustration rarely stands alone as a rhetorical strategy.

2)Illustration is most often used as part of a larger essay.

3)The purpose of illustration is to provide examples of abstract ideas or principles.

4)These examples are often concrete and specific.

5)Description is often part of illustration.

6)Illustration is often part of classification, comparison and contrast, and cause/effect essays.

1. Classification

1)The purpose of classification is to create and apply a system that organizes a group.

2)A good classification system also provides greater understanding of the group it organizes.

3)Good classification essays apply single, clearly defined organizing principles.

4)Good classification essays illustrate their organizing principles with examples that are specific and distinct.

1. Process analysis

1)The purpose of a process analysis is to analyze a specific sequence of linked events or actions.

2)All process analyses identify the steps in the sequences analyzed, the order in which they occur, and what is involved.

3)Good process analyses explain why a process works as it does and/or evaluates the process for strengths and weaknesses.

4)One central challenge in writing process analyses is identifying all the steps.

5)Another major challenge in writing process analyses is explaining the steps to readers who know them less well than the author.

6)A third major challenge in writing process analyses is not getting bogged down in the details of each stage.

7)Process analyses can stand alone, but are also often part of larger arguments.

8)Process analyses are most often linked to cause and effect arguments and narratives.

1. Cause and effect

1)A cause and effect essay can focus on explaining either the effects of a specific event, the causes of a specific event, or both.

2)Cause and effect arguments are more challenging than process analyses because they are often written to prevent events that have not yet happened.

3)Cause and effect arguments are also more challenging than process analyses because they are often written to explain causes that were not directly observed.

4)When explaining causes, one major challenge is determining what level to focus on.

a)An event might, for example, have a physical cause (a car's breaks might fail).

b)An event might have a psychological cause (the driver procrastinated getting the breaks checked before the accident).

c)Causes might be personal (individual choices regarding auto maintenance), social (the company that made the breaks did a bad job) or impersonal (random factors).

5)When explaining causes, two other related challenges are determining responsibility and dealing with emotional implications (blame, fallout, justice, closure, etc.).

6)When explaining effects, one major challenge is that one is explaining events that may not have happened or attempting to isolate a specific sequence of causes as most important.

1. Compare and contrast

1)Comparison and contrast is a sharply focused version of classification in which there are just two choices.

2)Often the purpose of comparing two options is to choose between them (or persuade others to do so).

3)Like all classifications, comparison and contrast should also organize the choices examined and bring greater understanding of them.

4)When one compares and contrasts, there are two major organizational options.

a)Alternate between the options (one paragraph on A, one paragraph on B).

(1)Advantage is easy to organize.

(2)The disadvantage is that it is hard to get a cumulative sense of each option.

b)Address all aspects of one option, and then address all of the other.

(1)Also easy to organize

(2)Easy to get a good sense of each option

(3)Hard to keep stay fair

(4)Hard for readers to keep all elements of the first choice in mind

1. Persuasion/argument

1)A persuasive argument aims at persuading readers of a specific thesis.

2)Persuasive arguments may and often do employ multiple other rhetorical strategies as tools.

3)Because the writer's goal is explicitly to persuade, persuasive essays require a stronger understanding of audience concerns than most other rhetorical strategies.

4)Because the writer's goal is explicitly to persuade, persuasive essays often require more research than most other rhetorical strategies.

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