Thesis: For the purposes of this paper, your thesis (primary claim) should concisely state what the speaker/author has done effectively AND what parts of the text they’ve created are flawed. From the original instructions, here are some models to use as a starting point for how to express your primary claim:
their audience through multiple examples and anecdotes, and as a result it is
enjoyable to read. However, the article is not fully successful in achieving its stated
purpose because WRITER’S LAST NAME’s conclusion does not include any
discussion of how their audience could change their behaviors and address the
underlying problem of TOPIC.
explores a social issue, reviews other scholar’s attempts to understand the social
issue, and then proposes her own analysis of the issue to propose a new solution.
WRITER’S FULL NAME, in her article “XYZ,” does exactly that, and in this paper, I
will discuss the most effective aspects of WRITER’S LAST NAME’s work and explain
why they are so effective for their particular audience and purpose.
problem that needs a solution, as is consistent with the academic genre in which the
article is published. But the article is weighed down by too much information and
too many statistics, facts and charts that are presented without enough context and
explanation. It is possible that some readers in WRITER’S LAST NAME’s intended
audience do not need a lot of context, but context is always vital to be sure that
readers understand where the ideas exist in conversation with other writers and
disciplines. Thus, WRITER’S LAST NAME is only partly successful in achieving their
Body Paragraph 1: Use your first paragraph to briefly summarize what your chosen text is about.
Next 1-2 Body Paragraphs: In this paragraph, your goal is to address whether the speaker/author has successfully connected their text to the broader “academic” conversation about their topic. A speaker/author does this by referencing other texts on the topic, referencing other authors/speakers who have discussed the topic, referencing other specific claims about the topic, and by defining key terms that they use. Therefore, for this paragraph/these paragraphs your goal is to answer these questions: has the writer/speaker sufficiently situated their article within an ongoing
conversation about their topic? Did they cite additional sources and.or acknowledge
others’ ideas, claims, or research in a meaningful way? Does the writer explain key
terms and ideas fully enough for their audience? For you as a reader (whether
you’re in the intended audience or not)?
Next 1-2 Body Paragraphs: In this paragraph, you can discuss the style and tone the speaker/author uses and whether or not that fits with the style and tone expected of this type of text. It may be useful here to reflect on the differences between the other readings and videos we’ve done for class. Some of these speakers/writers were more calm, tended towards more formal, jargon-heavy language; others spoke with high energy, used a lot of humor and more conversational language, and emphasized sharing very personal stories rather than primarily using hard facts/data. These choices have different effects on the audience. For your text, your should consider what is “normal” for that type of text and discuss how the author has or hasn’t fit their style/tone to that standard, and what the effects are. For this paragraph/these paragraphs your goal is to answer these questions: How would you describe the style and tone of the article, and are these choices consistent with the genre of the journal or publication in which the article appears? What are the effects of these choices on the writer’s intended audience? For you as a reader (whether you’re in the intended audience or not)?
Next Body Paragraph (limit yourself to 1 paragraph for this part): Here, you’ll be discussing the speaker/author’s main purpose in creating their text and whether or not they succeeded at it. More specifically, consider what you think the speaker/author is trying to persuade their audience to believe and/or what they’re trying to persuade the audience to do. Based on how the speaker/author has presented their claims, do you think they’ve succeeded in being persuasive? In other words, answer the following: What was the writer’s purpose in writing this article, and how successfully do they articulate this purpose, whether stated or implied? How successful is the writer at fulfilling their purpose?
Next Body Paragraph (limit yourself to 1 paragraph for this part): Here, you can more specifically discuss who you believe this text was intended for (for example: experts on the topic? People who don’t know a lot about the topic but are interested in learning more?). Whatever kind of audience you think the text was intended for, what do you think that audience expected from the text—in terms of its context, structure, tone, the claims it makes. In other words: Who is the intended audience for this article, and how successful was the writer in anticipating their audience’s expectations and understanding of the topic?
Final Body Paragraph(s) (1-2): In this final part, you can address what the speaker/author specifically did to appeal to the audience you just described. For this, you don’t need to address everything the author/speaker did to be persuasive. Instead, pick 1-2 things the author/speaker did that stood out to you as very effective/persuasive, and 1-2 things the author/speaker did that you didn’t think were very effective/persuasive. Discuss both types of things (the effective and the not as effective). In other words, answer the following: in what ways did the writer appeal to their audience and were they persuasive in doing so?