Dan Melzer (2003) presents the results of a study in which he aims to provide a broad view of college academic writing through a survey of writing assignments in different disciplines. Melzer’s research compares to James Britton team’s study of essays from British secondary schools and Arthur Applebee’s studies of essays from 200 American high schools (87). Melzer examines students in various academic disciplines who are asked to conduct research for a variety of purposes including informative, persuasive, expressive, exploratory, and poetic (91). Using both “quantitative and qualitative discourse analysis of the rhetorical features and contexts of the assignments” Melzer explores four main research questions in his essay the purpose of academic writing, the sources they use, the …show more content…
Professors that post their assignments on the internet may be making their assignments more formal than the professors that hand out and discuss their assignments in a more personal classroom setting, allowing for discussion and suggestions. Collecting the assignments over the Internet, however, has an advantage in that the instructors and students filling out Melzer’s surveys may feel that they can speak more freely on the importance of writing in their disciplines and classrooms and the significance they feel it has on their academic career. Overall, I find that Melzer’s analysis of his study in the given article helps a great deal with my research in that he touches base on a variety of academic disciplines. Melzer discusses the different types of research and writing assignments given to college students in different departments. The article summarizes what I am trying to prove through my research: taking an active approach in courses allows students to generate new knowledge and form new theories and ideas instead of simply writing an assignment to pass the
In this article written by David Bartholomae, the author discusses problems basic writers make and about how they must use the discourse (communication style) of the academic community they are writing to, to be an effective writer. Bartholomae believes that “Inventing the University," is being able to assemble and mimic the universities language(5). Which means, if a student wants to be an efficient writer, he or she must be able to speak the language of his or her audience. Bartholomae writes that a common mistake of basic writers is that they don’t use an authoritative voice, and tend to switch into a more passive voice. This could be due to the fact that students have difficulty establishing their mindset or attitude for an audience
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of several civil rights activists who were arrested in Birmingham Alabama, after protesting against racial injustices in Alabama. Dr. King wrote this letter in response to a statement titled A Call for Unity, which was published on Good Friday by eight of his fellow clergymen from Alabama. Dr. King uses his letter to eloquently refute the article. In the letter dr. king uses many vivid logos, ethos, and pathos to get his point across. Dr. King writes things in his letter that if any other person even dared to write the people would consider them crazy.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
The YouTube video “U.S. Armed Forces – We Must Fight – President Reagan” by Matthew Worth was made with the intention to motivate the viewers to support the U.S. Armed Forces. The purpose of this Rhetorical Analysis is to determine whether or not the video has been successful in doing just that, motivating and drawing support for the United States Armed Forces. The video was uploaded to YouTube on February 19, 2012 and has nearly 4 million views. Matthew uses the famous speech “A Time for Choosing” by the United States former President, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who has a reputation for his patriotism, to complement the video. This video has been effective in motivating the viewers because of its strong use of the rhetorical concepts logos, ethos, and pathos.
My English 1310 course was taught by Professor Daniel Stuart. He taught us the concept of academic writing and why it is important. Academic writing is the process of down ideas, using a formal tone, deductive reasoning and third person. Writing done to carry out the requirements of a college or university on a research based level. It requires a starting point or introduction, followed by a thesis on the preferred topic, then comes proving and disproving of the evidence based arguments. Learning academic writing is important because it is a way to communicate our thoughts clearly and originality. It helps us think and see what evidence we can come up to contribute to that thinking. This course approached this idea of academic writing by
Pollan’s article provides a solid base to the conversation, defining what to do in order to eat healthy. Holding this concept of eating healthy, Joe Pinsker in “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods” enters into the conversation and questions the connection of difference in families’ income and how healthy children eat (129-132). He argues that how much families earn largely affect how healthy children eat — income is one of the most important factors preventing people from eating healthy (129-132). In his article, Pinsker utilizes a study done by Caitlin Daniel to illustrate that level of income does affect children’s diet (130). In Daniel’s research, among 75 Boston-area parents, those rich families value children’s healthy diet more than food wasted when children refused to accept those healthier but
“This Course prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes by teaching students to consider the rhetorical situation of any piece of writing while integrating reading, research, and writing in the academic genres of analysis and argument. This course is said to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content with effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics”. (1)
Analyzing the codes used in the University of Arizonas Natural Science On-line Class Attendance Policy, a genre emerges disparaging the traditional view that knowledge is sharpened through the exchange of ideas. To make the class more appealing to non-traditional students the University has designed an attendance policy which does not eliminate traditional forms of interaction, but instead devalues them subversively thus discounting their necessity. Connotations within the policy divert the unsuspecting student into a particular learning mode. This mode, unappreciative of the insights a typical class would normally culture, does not encourage the student to be "present" mentally, an imperative aspect of becoming educated in a cyber class. Therefore by establishing the existence of these de-prioritizing codes, and the extent to which they must inevitably shape the interpretation of the text, we can clarify the level of interaction the policy genuinely intends. We see then the probability of students relating to the individualistic tone of the policy and discounting the requirements to attend to and with others.
In a quote by John Mill, “Does fining a criminal show want of respect for property, or imprisoning him, for personal freedom? Just as unreasonable is it to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary, most emphatically our regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself, and that while no other crime that he can commit deprives him of his right to live, this shall.” Everyone’s life is precious, but at what price? Is it okay to let a murderer to do as they please? Reader, please take a moment and reflect on this issue. The issue will always be a conflict of beliefs and moral standards. The topic
In a persuasive essay, rhetorical appeals are a very important tool to influence the audience toward the author’s perspective. The three rhetorical appeals, which were first developed by Aristotle, are pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos appeals to the emotions of the audience, logos appeals to the facts or evidence and ethos exhibits the credibility of the writer.
The movie trailer “Rio 2”, shows a great deal of pathos, ethos, and logos. These rhetorical appeals are hidden throughout the movie trailer; however, they can be recognized if paying attention to the details and montage of the video. I am attracted to this type of movies due to the positive life messages and the innocent, but funny personifications from the characters; therefore, the following rhetorical analysis will give a brief explanation of the scenes, point out the characteristics of persuasive appeals and how people can be easily persuaded by using this technique, and my own interpretation of the message presented in the trailer.
Jonathan Kozol revealed the early period’s situation of education in American schools in his article Savage Inequalities. It seems like during that period, the inequality existed everywhere and no one had the ability to change it; however, Kozol tried his best to turn around this situation and keep track of all he saw. In the article, he used rhetorical strategies effectively to describe what he saw in that situation, such as pathos, logos and ethos.
Technology has changed our world dramatically over the last several decades. Several generations before us did not have air conditioning, telephones, television much less internet. However, today we have access to all of this and more. Technological advances have not only made changes in how we communicate, but also in how everyday tasks are done. The New York Times explains how social media affects children’s behavior and academics, and how the concept of dating has been altered while Louis C. K. explains how the 21st century takes little things for granted and YouTube channel charstarlineTV shows how daily activities can no longer be done without the use of cellphones.
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.