Week Three

Dr. Stephen Ogden

LIBS 7001

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 Audience
(“Concepts,” pp. 4-6)

• Identifying the audience is a key factor in analyzing

and composing texts.
• considerations for the writer, re: audience
– social status: above, = to, or below you in status?
– knowledge: what audience knows about your
subject
– other factors: age, gender, class, race, affiliations
Texts and messages often have multiple audiences.
 Ethos / Speaker: “Voice”
(Concepts, pp. 7-9)

• (details later when we discuss persuasion)

• ethos / voice = the writer’s “public image”
• how speaker is positioned in the text, to establish
– a strong character (moral / ethical)
– credibility (believability, competence)
– goodwill with the audience

Texts and messages may have multiple speakers.

One speaker can have multiple personalities.
Aristotle: writing is Techne—a science
with order & rules.
Middle-Ages through to (British) present: Trivium
– Grammar: how words work
– Rhetoric: how to arrange words to get them to do
what you want.
– Dialectic: how ideas are arranged in writing

• Thus, Good Writing is judged essentially by its

EFFECTIVENESS
• Cf: With Quadrivium = ‘Seven Liberal Arts.’

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 What is Rhetoric?
• refers to principles established in ancient Greece,
focused on speaking persuasively (5th-4th c. BCE)
• includes consideration of
– motives or purpose of author / speaker
– audience
– context / genre
– ethos, or speaker’s stance (voice / tone)
– bias (later on in this course)
– arrangement
– style (later on this course)
 Cautions: form & thesis
• As Sargent & Paraskevas (285 ff) state, don’t be
constrained in your writing by
– organization: the five-paragraph essay, which is “a
formula, not a composition” (285)
– thesis statement: avoid being stressed about
starting your essays with a fully worked out thesis
statement
• CHANGE “In this essay here’s what I’ll show”
• TO: “In this essay, here’s what I’m going to puzzle over”
 You as reader vs. as writer
• Professional writers: readers pay to read what
they write
• Students in writing classes: writers pay
readers (instructor) to read what they write
(Sargent & Paraskevas, p. 287)
• Note that “essay” comes from the OF word “to
attempt”
• Use your writing as exploration, within the
“academic essay” genre
 Importance of Arrangement
• identify ways to arrange a The 2nd of the 5 classical essay
‘Discourse’ canons:
• recognize when to use different
types of 1. invention: finding &
– beginnings developing a topic
– endings 2. Arrangement (.1)
– development 3. style
– Transitions
4. memory [critical in spoken
 Arrangement =
discourse]
 "order of ideas”
 “disposition” 5. Delivery
 The Whole Text
 The Parts of the Text .1 The art of ordering material to
 paragraphs deliver intended information
effectively.
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 Arrangement Patterns (in the reader)
 (Western) readers’ assumption is that essay or oration
will have a recognisable pattern.
 beginning (introduction)
 Organized middle (body)
 series of clear transitions (links)
 definite end (conclusion).

 Nb. China & Japan arrange differently:

 qi-cheng–zhuan–he 起承轉合 ki–sho-ten-ketsu
 - begin – follow – turn - bind together

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 Cicero (~100 BC): Classical
Rhetorical Arrangement
1. Exordium—introduces essay subject
2. Narratio—states the facts to be essayed
3. Partitio—divides into subject’s aspects
4. Confirmatio—the proof of your essay
5. Refutatio—states & refutes (rebuttal)
obvious objections
6. Peroratio—effective summation
• 2-5 may be absent (cf. purpose)
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 Taxonomic Arrangement
(Whole Text)
• Universal, Sequential
e.g. Professional Journal
Cicero
n TITLE
1. Abstract 1 & 2 = Exordium
2. Introduction
3 = Narratio
3. Methods
4 = Confirmatio
4. Results
5. Discussion 5 = Refutatio
6. Conclusion 6 = Peroratio
7. References

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 An Organic, or Natural,
Arrangement (Whole Text)
• Idiosyncratic (idio = Gr. ‘single’)
– Changes for each case
– Depends on the position, mood, need or situation of the writer
(relative to the reader(s)
– Reliable elements (in any order) include:
• Capture the audience’s attention (Aristotle)
• Provide or invoke background data or information
• State and Prove the thesis
• Anticipate important counter-theses or objections
• Conclude with an appeal to reader’s emotion
– To his or her better self

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 alternative patterns
 common in personal essays
 can be “heuristics” (Sargent & Paraskevas, p. 288) -
“ways to explore … material”
 always contain these durable elements - but their
order (esp. 2-4) can vary
1. capture the audience's attention
2. provide necessary background information
3. state and prove the text's thesis or central idea
4. anticipate and address possible countertheses
5. conclude w/appeal to the audience's emotions
 Introductions: purposes
SSW, 68 ff

• an introduction “acquaints and coaxes”

• announces essay’s topic
• may directly state the thesis
• sets the tone
• seeks to arouse reader’s interest, draw the reader
into the text
• paves the way for writer’s/speaker’s ideas
• see & consider using examples, SSW, 68-72
 Developing the “middle”
• longest section of essay, paper or story
• develops ideas
• sustains the reader’s interest
• A paragraph or series of paragraphs (in the
“middle”) may combine two or more of
methods of arrangement.
• You can organize your ideas using:
description, narration, process analysis,
definition, classification, comparison
 Some development strategies
SSW, 62-64

• Chronological - as events unfold in time

– telling a story
– "step-by-step” - describing a process, as when teaching
someone how to parallel park
• spatial - details given as the eye sees them
– describing a physical / visual scene, moving from one part of
what's seen to the next (as in films)
• climactic order - common in personal writing
– build to a crescendo, or
– reversed, “landing the heaviest punch first” (63)
 Some development strategies,
con’t
• From easy to difficult
– describe a progressively complex series of skills
(particularly physical skills)
• In order of importance
– least to most: builds interest in reader
– Most to least: captures readers attention (esp. for
manuals & tech. writing.)
• From general to specific: the big picture.
– Effective for abstractions & theories (science, e.g.)
• From specific to general: polemic+ persuation 17
 Transitions
• may be a paragraph, one word or a phrase
• bridges the reader or listener from one paragraph or
set of paragraphs to the next
• professional /technical writing - may rely headings &
numbers to order text
– but the sequence still must be logical and convincing
– a mere heading does not always = a transition
• essay writing/formal speeches - must imbed the
transitions within the text
 Transitions - paragr. / words
1. Transitional paragraphs in longer essays
– announce a “shift” from one group of ideas to another
– build coherence; look “behind” and ahead - can
• summarize ideas
• repeat thesis
• forecast ideas to follow
2. Transitional words, in shorter essays or within a
section of a longer essay connect ideas while
signaling a change of subject
• see SSW, 64-67 & 72
 Conclusion of a discourse
SSW, 72-75

• signals that the discussion is complete

• doesn’t take off in a new direction, but can add an
interesting closing thought
• “drives the point home a final time”
• can include a final appeal to the audience’s emotions
• for shorter papers, can be a paragraph
• for longer essays, can be multiple paragraphs
• avoid mechanically using “In conclusion….” See SSW,
72-75
 Inadequate Development within a
Paragraph
• Length is not the matter: effectiveness is.
• Does the paragraph have:
– Topic sentence?
– Connection (explicit or implicit) to previous
paragraph(s)?
– Sufficient supporting examples?
– Summation or Linkage to next paragraph?
• Readability & comprehension are the keys.

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 Paragraph Coherence:
(inter- and intra- paragraph)
• Smooth flow from one sentence to another and one
paragraph to another.
– Clarity of expression
• what kind of word choice does this require?
– Explicit connections between ideas.
• *Remember*: writing is the transmission of idea.
– Use:
• Connecting words & phrases
• Repeated key words
• Pronouns
• Parallelism

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 Paragraph Coherence:
Connecting words & phrases
• Showing Similarity: • Pointing out examples:
– likewise, just so, similarly – for instance, for example
• Showing Contrast: • Showing emphasis & clarity
– at the same time, but, instead, in – above all, again, as it is,
contrast, or indeed, that is
• Showing results or effects: • Indicating Time:
– as a result, because, therefore, – afterward, immediately,
thus, since, consequently previously, at the same time,
• Adding Ideas: now, later, then, presently
– also, beside , furthermore, first, • Conceding a Point
moreover – granted that, of course, it is
• Drawing Conclusions: true that, certainly,
– as a result, in brief, therefore • Qualifying your Point
– however, none/never-theless23
 Paragraph Coherence:
• Repeated Key Words:
– Identifying key words & concepts, from the topic
paragraph, is generally useful for the writing
process.
– Repeating these words and concepts adds to total
coherence. Within a paragraph, very effective.
• Use of Pronouns:
– Words that stand for nouns. Be Varied & clear
• he, him, hers, one, its, they, theirs, these, those

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 Specialised Paragraph Functions:
#1. Introductions
• Weak: • Strong. Use:
– “In this paper” – A directly stated thesis.
– “Wars have always • “The Iraq was to depose the
dictator Hussein.”
afflicted mankind”,
– A definition.
– “As you know, having too
• “Too many tasks relative to
little time is a problem time available creates busy-
many of us face.” ness.”
– In the modern world – A quotation:
today. • “The past is our only
– It is my view that….” knowledge.”
– An arresting statement.
• “I died yesterday”
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 Specialised Paragraph Functions:
Introductions, con’t
• Unusual slant on a • A Question or Problem
familiar theme. • Always effective
– “Professors are people • Can guide and structure
too.”
your essay
• Intriguing claim.
• Stimulates the writer’s
– An “A” is easy to earn
thoughts
• Interesting details
• Engages the reader in
– BCIT has the highest
the matter of the essay
graduate placement rate
• A blend of strategies
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 Specialised Paragraph Functions:
Transitional Paragraphs
• Conclusions
– Restatement of the thesis
– A summary (recapitulation): draw together to
reinforce
– A Question (yes, again!)
– A Quotation
– Ironic Twist or Surprising Observation
– Clever or Whimsical Ending
– Direct challenge
– Recommendation or Hope 27