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Persuasive techniques/rhetorical devices
Persuasive techniques/rhetorical devices
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While preparing for one of his college lectures, Dennis Baron, a professor and linguistics at the University of Illinois, began playing with the idea of how writing has changed the world we lived in and materials and tools we use in everyday life. This lecture slowly transitioned into “Should Everybody Write?” An article that has made many wonder if technology has made writing too easy for anyone to use or strengthens a writer's ability to learn and communicate their ideas. Baron uses rhetorical strategies in his article to portray to his audience his positive tone, the contrast and comparison of context and his logical purpose. Dennis Baron first began his article by connecting with his audience through the use of his positive tone. Baron …show more content…
Baron’s first example of logical explanation is based on privacy. He states“we’re giving up our privacy in ways that writers never did before” (Baron 714). Baron states this because privacy on the internet is difficult to obtain as websites, businesses and social media are trying to learn more about you. Logically, it is impossible to remain private on the internet today, “we’re giving up our privacy” every time we post anything or give our information away. So with this powerful tool we must use it appropriately and be safe in ways that we use it in order to protect ourselves and everyone else who uses it, it's the only logical choice. Baron then gives another example of logic as he states "every new communication technology has the capacity to expand the set of who gets to write and talk, and who gets to publish and be heard" (707). In this part of his article, Dennis Baron explains the logical benefits the internet technology has given its users, such as the ability to get “published” by “writing and talking”. This technology allows anyone who owns a computer the opportunity to create writing pieces for the world to enjoy. Overall, from a logical standpoint, Baron believes writing should not be hindered just because of an increase in writing, but embraced as it allows for creative thinking with endless possibilities that anyone can
“The Onion’s” mock press release on the MagnaSoles satirical article effectively attacks the rhetorical devices, ethos and logos, used by companies to demonstrate how far advertisers will go to convince people to buy their products. It does this by using manipulative, “scientific-sounding" terminology, comparisons, fabrication, and hyperboles.
In the article “Clive Thompson on the New Literacy,” writer Clive Thompson argues that the widespread use of technology and social media does not make kids illiterate and unable to form coherent sentences, but instead, keeps them actively writing and learning. Thompson’s article is based off of a study done by Andrea Lunsford, a writing professor at Stanford University. Thompson agrees with Lunsford that the use of social media and the Internet allow students to be creative and get better at writing. In his article, Thompson quotes John Sutherland, an English professor at University College of London, to inform the audience of the opposite side of the argument. He states, “Facebook encourages narcissistic blabbering, video and PowerPoint have
Mary Pipher’s “Writing to Connect” focuses on persuading its reader through personal experience, expert testimonies, and figurative language that his writing can change the world. At the end of the text, Pipher hopes that her reader believes that one’s words have value and can impact others.
According to Runciman, there are many plausible reasons that students and other people don’t enjoy writing. Evidence, assumptions, and language and tone are the basis for which Runciman makes his argument. Overall, this argument is effective because reliable and well known sources are used in a logical fashion. Also, the assumptions made about the audience are accurate and believable. Runciman used his assumptions wisely when writing his claim and in turn created a compelling, attention capturing argument. The article was written so that students and teachers at any level could understand and easily read it. This argument is interesting, captivating, relevant through its age, and can relate to students and teachers at almost every academic level.
In 1729, Jonathan Swift published a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal”. It is a satirical piece that described a radical and humorous proposal to a very serious problem. The problem Swift was attacking was the poverty and state of destitution that Ireland was in at the time. Swift wanted to bring attention to the seriousness of the problem and does so by satirically proposing to eat the babies of poor families in order to rid Ireland of poverty. Clearly, this proposal is not to be taken seriously, but merely to prompt others to work to better the state of the nation. Swift hoped to reach not only the people of Ireland who he was calling to action, but the British, who were oppressing the poor. He writes with contempt for those who are oppressing the Irish and also dissatisfaction with the people in Ireland themselves to be oppressed.
Michaela Cullington, a student, wrote a paper “Does Texting Affect Writing?” in 2010 for an English class. The paper is an examination of texting and the belief that it negative effective student’s writing. Cullington goes into detail about textspeak- “language created by these abbreviations”- and their use in formal writings. She organizes the paper in a way that is confusing to understand at first (pg. 1). At the end of the paper, she discusses her finding in her own research which comes to show that texting does not affect writing. But this is contradicting to the information she received from the teachers. The students and the teachers were seeing differences in the use of textspeak in formal writing. Cullington has good support for her
...s educational system on traditionalism that focuses on fluency, appreciation, and comprehension. King states, “no one can be as intellectually slothful as a really smart person” (138). As a whole we are “creatures of habit”, thus resisting changes in the traditional sphere of academics. King uses his spin on popular culture to engage future readers and inspire the next generation of writers. “Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.” (King 269-270). “On Writing” is a poignant, educated, and inspiring book, a book that is sure to help hundreds of struggling writers and will motivate others who may pick up the book not for inspiration, but mere curiosity.
David Foster Wallace, author of the essay “Authority and American Usage*,” praises and advocates for “good” writers who have a strong rhetorical ability, which he defines as “the persuasive use of language to influence the thoughts and actions of an audience” (Wallace 628). To have a strong rhetorical ability, an author needs to be aware of whom their audience is, in order to present their information in a way that will be influential on their audience. Wallace recognizes that an author who applies a strong rhetorical ability will be able to connect with the audience so that they respond “not just to [their] utterance but also to [them]” (Wallace 641). An author needs to take into consideration not just content, syntax and grammatical structure (their “utterance”) but also how their character will be perceived by their audience. A positive tone will make the author seem more pleasant and relatable, whereas a negative tone connotes arrogance and pretentiousness. That is why it is crucial for an author to recognize that an audience will respond to “them” and not just their “utterance,” as an author’s appearance to their readers can also shape how impactful their writing is.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Technology is not killing our ability to write, but it is reviving it and pushing our literacy to new directions. Andrea Lunsford, from Stanford University, conducted an experiment to scrutinize college students way of writing. Her results were alarming, "I think we are in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization." Lunsford discovered that only 38% of students writing occurred within the classroom, the rest was written in their own free time. Most of our socializing now takes place online and always involves text or writing. Before the Internet, most of our communication was verbal. The only time Americans wrote was for a school assignment and if their job required writing. Otherwise most people didn't write another paragraph once they left
Language is the foundation of all communication, tone, appeal, and rhetoric devices are the building materials used to build upon it. The marvelous structures built with said materials are often referred to as literature and consumed as media, but they are much more than that. These astonishing and breathtaking structures built from these quintessential building blocks are a medium for change, and have been since the dawn of humanity. Just as literature is composed of tone appeal and rhetorical devices, and these in turn stem from the author, occasion, purpose, audience and subject.
They are becoming more intelligent through technology. People use these skills in their workplaces everyday in order to be more successful, these videogames are helping to prepare the under thirty generation for a brighter future. There is a lot of communication that goes on in these games between players and this helps to strengthen their social skills. In the workplace, these teenagers and young adults can use those skills that will help to improve their self-confidence when they know how to communicate with others. Andrea Lunsford, a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University, conducted a study on her students about their all the writing they do in and out of the classroom. “The first thing she found is that young people today write far more than any generation before them. That is because so much socialising takes place online, and it almost always involves text. Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom” (Source G). She found that young people write more than any generation before them proving that we have skills in writing and that we have developed more than the previous generations. The
Any craftsman knows that you need the right tools to complete a project successfully. Similarly, people need the right language and usage to communicate in a positive way. How people write is often a problem because they don’t have the right tools, but a bigger problem occurs when a writer “is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything at all” (592). If a writer carries this mentality, why try to communicate in the first place? People need...
Every animal on the planet is capable of communicating, be it verbally, physically, or possibly by some means yet discovered. Writing on the other hand is a form of communication exclusive to human beings (and maybe the occasional ape). Children are taught to read and write almost as soon as they can speak. Writing becomes a part of everyday life, and because of this it is easy to forget that writing "is a means of "communication [one] must consciously learn" (Heffernan and Lincoln 3). For this reason writing in college can be a challenge for even the most skilled of writers. While the basics of academic writing may seem like common knowledge, knowing them and understanding them can prove to be quite different. In the writing center it is our job to help writers take what they know about writing, and begin to understand it. Understanding is the basis for ...
Penelope Trunk said, “the type of writing that students do--via IM, Twitter, Facebook, and so forth-- is actually great for building communication skills” (Trunk 2). The reason behind communication skills being built through social media is our generation is practicing with our reading, and writing constantly while on social media. “The fact that students today almost always write for an audience gives them a different sense of what constitutes good writing” (Thompson 2). Our generation has a diverse audience of people that “likes” what we post, making it tempting to come up with a status or post that is well written and appeals to the audience. No matter if it’s an debate, opinion, or planning something with a friend, social media has made us adapt to writing for an audience of different people that we want to impress. It has also helped the generation with code switching, because based on the intended audience we have adapted to making changes in the way we communicate to appeal to a person or group of people. Verbally, our generation takes the skills learned from social media and speak the way they type on social media, appealing to whoever is listening to