...Rhetorical Strategies: How They Enhance the Essay Today, rhetorical strategies are ubiquitous. They can be discovered in the latest top box office cinematic movie, the beloved binge-watched television show on Netflix, the aggravating commercials we are forced to sit through, the latest best-selling book, etc. Applying rhetorical strategies helps the writer communicate with ease and fluidity. Rhetoric additionally helps the reader or viewer gain interest while making it pleasurable. All in all, rhetorical strategies are simply ways of effectively and adequately presenting material. In the essays of discussion the effectiveness of how imagery, emotional appeal and tone build the writers credibility and enhance the essay will be discovered. For example, Virginia Woolf uses rhetorical strategies in “The Death of The Moth”. Woolf begins by using imagery effectively throughout her essay by strategically incorporating descriptive details. Woolf encountered this moth in the day time, so she begins her essay by stating, “moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths . . .” (para. 1). This statement spikes wonder; what does that mean? She explains that moths in the day “ . . . do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us” (Woolf para. 1). Her sense of imagery is full of color and expression which helps her credibility in her writing. It truly makes...
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...“The Rhetorical Analysis of Gary Soto Essay” In his autobiographical narrative, Gary Soto recreates an experience with his guilty six-year-old self. Ultimately, he shares a story with his audience about how his younger self lost his innocence through stealing a pie. Through the effective use of rhetorical devices, Gary Soto achieves his purpose. Pacing was one of the most useful rhetorical strategies used in his essay. In the beginning of the narrative, a slow pace was implied as Soto explained his “boredom” as he sat “underneath the house… looking for something to do”. He then felt anxious as the “juice of guilt” began to “[wet his] underarms” while he tried to decide which pie to steal. The pace drops to a moderate level after Soto is relieved that he was able to steal the pie and “no one saw” him do so. Soto’s relief was short lived as he went into a panic assuming that his neighbors were...
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...titles, “The People-First Critic Stereotypes The Environmentalists” and “The Environmentalist Stereotypes The People-First Critic”, alluding to the similarity of the arguments presented in the two passages. The first few lines of each passage are dedicated to name-calling and revealing the other side’s intentions and agendas, which both consist of gaining political power. The invective used attacks on both sides, almost making the passage a diatribe. This can be seen in situations whereby the environmentalists call the conservatives “worst bunch of hypocrites”, while the opposing side repeatedly calls the environmentalists “wackos”. Regardless of the right or the left wing, each passage accuses the other of having a “hidden agenda”. Another rhetorical device used by Wilson to reveal the uselessness of the arguments is bathos; towards the end of the first passage, property owners are exalted people who “know their own land”, are caring towards animals and plants, and are the “real grass roots” of the country. Capitalism is also stated as what is best for the environment. Wilson reveals the irony in both arguments that while both the environmentalists and conservatives revile each other, they ultimately accuse the other of the same crime, which is to gain political power and take over lands. Wilson also makes great use of hyperbole throughout the two passages to amplify the illogical cases made...
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...While writing this rhetorical analysis essay I have gained a significant amount of confidence in my rhetorical analysis writing ability. The main reason that I felt more confident was the experience I had from the Chipped Beef essay. I was able to go back and learn from my mistakes on that essay and correct those. That allowed me to be more confident in my writing ability and write a essay without questioning myself and knowing that I knew the correct way to do it. Many areas contributed to my success in this essay, but my most successful area in this essay was the ability to provide quality examples and to have strong analysis of those examples and how they relate to my thesis statement. In my opinion the main reasons I was able to find such successes in this area was because I knew what I did...
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...love/hate relationship between me and English 120. This class has given me greater knowledge when it comes to understanding "why" the author is writing their article, its not just about summarizing what you read, its about fully grasping the complexity of the article. I know that because I have been challenged, and learned to overcome the challenge of writing rhetorical strategies, it is safe to say, that I am read to enter English 124. This paper will illustrate my understanding of English 120 and why I, Michelle Page, feel I am ready to move on to English 124. Let me start with the first paper we wrote in this class, it was an Argument Analysis Essay and I chose to write it on Carol...
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...set the stage for the revolutionary action to take place; the murder of the emperor, Julius Caesar. The scheming Cassius, praising Decius, and dedicated Antony all use a labyrinthine combination of rhetorical devices and modes of persuasion to coerce their victims into their desires of either the death of Caesar or the condemnation of the conspirators....
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...In the well developed essay from Dana Gioia , the author requests the reader's awareness into an important topic in which it’s concerns go towards young Americans incautious lack of interest towards the arts of literature and the significance that these represents. With high methods of persuasiveness like surveys ,effect reasoning and professional opinions, Dana Gioia is able to display the impacts on Americans daily life and general future, if the conditions continue, which persuades the reader's attention to increase literal habits. Throughout his essay, Gioia uses emotional appeal to encourage the reader to take action and commit to his claim. His concern about the effect that the amount of Americans that “ lose this capability” brings...
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...George Curry presents a decent essay on the cruelty and gruesomeness of the symbol of the “noose” entitled, “Calling Nooses What They Are – Terrorism.” Curry’s background presents him as a qualified writer but he falls short in producing a strong argument because he lacks various components that set an argumentative form of writing aside from a more persuasive writing type. Most of Curry’s essay consist of him siting proficient facts which are hugely conducive to his argument, but the fact is the majority of his essay is the statements of these facts and stories and common knowledge. Many things are questionable about Curry’s text which can make his audience “skeptical” of him and what he is presenting. Never in his writing does he qualify...
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...Kayla Morrone September 19th, 2012 Unfettered by guilt, she’s ready for checkout written by Rosie DiManno is an expository essay following the trial and sentence of the formerly known as Karla Leanne Teale. It discusses Karla’s actions, the damage they cause and whether or not she is genuinely guilt-ridden for what she’s done. I feel DiManno writes a well-crafted essay that stimulates an intellectual and emotional response to Karla’s trials. It lets audiences uncover the truth behind Karla Teale and whether or not she is deserving of a new life in Montreal. The author’s purpose in writing the essay encourages intellectual thoughts in order to form a basic opinion of Karla. She then reinforces the opinion through the use of tone, allowing a new emotional perspective. The language the author uses brings together the essay’s objective in reaching a final conclusion of Karla, one that is not admirable. It is difficult to imagine, from my point of view, that someone would defend Karla for the crimes she is convicted of. However, these people do exist and Rosie DiManno makes it her objective in this essay to show Karla’s true colours. She explains Karla’s actions, interprets and then criticizes them to allow the audience to realize Ms. Teale’s underlying intentions. I feel Rosie makes this point clear through her use of rhetorical questions to mock, ridicule and demonstrate Karla’s lack of sentiment. An example of this literary device is seen through the quotation...
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...Types of Essay Introductions 1. A general statement. Begin with a general statement and then follow it with more particular or specific statements leading to your thesis statement. This introductory strategy is sometimes referred to as a funnel introduction because, like a funnel, it is broad at the opening and narrow at the bottom. The issue of whether we should allow marine parks to stay open has been widely debated in our community recently. It is an important issue because it concerns fundamental moral and economic questions about the way we use our native wildlife. A variety of different arguments have been put forward about this issue, but considering arguments for having marine parks and pointing to some of the problems with these parks, it is not difficult to understand our legislation should introduce laws which prohibit these unnecessary and cruel institutions. 2. A Question. Many writers open their essays with a question that is meant to attract the interest of the reader. Sometimes writers use a rhetorical question; that is, a question for which no answer is expected because the intended answer is obvious. An example of a rhetorical question: “Should we allow child abuse to continue?” A writer might open an essay with a question that requires an answer; the need to hear the answer keeps the reader reading. When people think ahead to the year 2050, many different questions come to mind. Does germ warfare have the potential to destroy...
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...WR097 Mar 3, 2013 Funny, Attractive and Entertaining: Richard Lederer’s “English Is a Crazy Language” After Richard Lederer retired in 1989, he wrote a book about how crazy English is. Because he had taught English for many years, he used many interesting comments to writes “English Is a Crazy Language,” the opening chapter of his book. In the sixth paragraph of the essay “English Is a Crazy Language,” the author, Richard Lederer uses many kinds of rhetorical techniques. The use of these techniques makes the entire paragraph more entertaining and easy to read and let the readers know how important the English language is. At the beginning of paragraph 6, the first sentence, “Language is like the air we breathe”(160), is an example of simile. In this sentence, we can find the word “like”, and if there is an explicit comparison between two things using like, it is the signal of simile. In this sentence, the author states the importance of language in a very effective way. The author uses air to describe language, as we all know, air is the most important element in our life, which we cannot live without. Since language is just like air, which means language is all around us and we also cannot live without it. In case some readers cannot understand it, the author explains why language is just like air in the second sentence. “It’s invisible, inescapable, indispensable, and we take it for granted”(160). As we can see, the second sentence is combined with three related...
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...Sindhuja Muppa November 21, 2013 Writing Workshop Mythology “Myths are common stories at the root of our universal existence” (Seger). In the essay written by Scott Russell Sanders, "The Men We Carry in Our Minds" discusses Sander’s perspective on men in comparison to the impression that women carry in their minds. The essay, “Creating the Myth” by Linda Seger shows on how stories are based on our own life experiences. Sander’s argument about how the impressions of men or women are based on ones life experiences relates to Seger’s depiction of myths through the use of rhetorical questions and dialogue. Primarily, Sander uses rhetorical questions in order to discuss how ones life experiences illustrates stories of myths. Sander addresses about when he experienced a situation where he met women telling him men have plenty of joy and privileges. He writes, “and for the first time I met women who told me that men are guilty of having kept all the joys and privileges of the earth for themselves. I was baffled. What privileges? What joys?” (Sander 229). Sander is shocked to find out that women feel that way about men. It is an amusing statement to assume that men have certain stereotypical characteristics in society because it is not necessarily true that woman cannot do some things similar to men. Life responsibilities are equally made for everyone. Sander disagrees and pushes back to how much of a struggle men have to go through in life, equally as women. These questions enable...
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...Leonid Fridman, in his essay, “America Needs Its Nerds,” asserts his disgusted feelings towards the incorrect behavior to Americas intellectually curious “nerds” ( Fridman 3). Fridman’s purpose is to inform americans that we should value “nerds and geeks” (Fridman 29), instead of “athletes [being ] idolized” (Fridman 18). He adopts a disgusted and exaggerated tone in order to persuade Americans to change their ways, and shit their values before America falls apart, and for geeks and nerds to accept and stop being ashamed of themselves. Fridman begins his essay by validating the definition of the word “geek” (Fridman 4) from Websters New World Dictionary, and repeating the word throughout his essay. The dictionary defines greek as a “street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens” (Fridman 6-7). Not only does Fridman define geek, but he also compares the definition to the way this term is used to call “intellectually curious and academically serious” (Fridman 4-5) Americans. “Nerds” (Fridman 29) and “anti-intellectualism” (Fridman 12) are other repetitive terms throughout Fridman’s essay that are used to establish his point, making his purpose broad. By repeatedly using the derogatory terms in a bitter tone, allows us to see to who he is speaking to, and how his point is emphasized that nerds need to stop being ashamed of themselves. In addition, Fridman ends his argument by placing it into the readers hand asking a rhetorical question towards the...
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...Nature vs. Nurture: What are the reasons behind the development of human behavior? Laquinta Gantt Baker College English 102: Composition II Melissa Rigney May 4, 2012 Nature vs. Nurture Theory: What are the reasons behind the development of human behavior? Throughout history, research has attempted to determine if an individual’s personality, behaviors and intelligence are shaped by genetics or the environment, which formed the nature versus nurture theory. The nature versus nurture debate is about the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities (“nature”) versus personal experiences ("nurture") in determining individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. There have been many theories formulated to explain why humans behave the way they do. Explanations vary from demonology to magnetic fluids controlling people's behaviors. Toby Epstein Jayaratne’s article entitled “The Perennial Debate: Nature, Nurture, or Choice? Black and white Americans’ explanation for individual differences” attempts to persuade readers that choice is just as an influential factor as genetics or the environment by examining a group of black and white Americans to determine which of the three factors are most responsible for their differences. The author argues that in order to account for a person’s behavior, their explanation or beliefs about what causes them is very influential in determining the behaviors they exude. To provide evidence for his topic...
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...Rhetorical analysis The article chosen for this analysis is titled " Rescuing Brown v. Board of Education: Profiles of Twelve School Districts Pursuing Socioeconomic School Integration" by Richard Khalenberg who is a senior fellow with the left-of-center Century Foundation This article is addressed to parents with young kids and to the general public. The purpose of this article is to inform people of the importance of why public schools need diversity within their districts. The article focuses on the proponents argument of the impact affirmative action has in creating a more diverse educated society. This article starts out by addressing an issue that happened in eastern Louisville, Kentucky and how diversity is not followed by everyone in the world. The Louisville school district was violating the Constitution by assigning students to schools on the basis of their race. The article mentions the court case of Brown v. Board of Education as a reference to segregation among schools and also provides current statistics of minorities in public school districts that give reinforcement to the claim of inequality. The article then explains how after the courts ruled that there be diversity in the public schools, they explain how much it benefits students to be in diverse classes. Richard Khalenberg says, "Providing all students with the chance to attend mixed-income schools can raise overall levels of achievement". The author of the article is trying to express his...
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