WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations

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Journalistic Writing MCM310

LECTURE 40

WRITING ANALYSIS

An opinion article focuses primarily on the writer's use of evidence and assumptions to support his/her claim

or argument. However, opinion article will on occasion include a discussion of the hidden arguments and the

inherent contradictions in an argument, if the reader finds that those elements are important to the argument

as a whole. Often an article (or analytical essay) has the following "sections," not always in this exact order,

though this is a common order of elements:

1. a summary of the original pieces an abstract usually is a common way to start (In fact, it is

traditional to write as if your reader is unfamiliar with the original work, even if s/he is not, because by

writing the summary in such a fashion, your reader gets a sense of how you interpret the arguments

you are reading.)

· purpose

What is the author's reason for writing?

What is the author's main idea?

scope

What is the author's focus in this piece?

Where does the author concentrate his/her attention?

method

What kinds of evidence does the author provide?

How does the author try to convince the reader of the validity of his/her main idea?

results

What are the consequences of the problem or issue that the author is discussing?

recommendations

What solutions does the author present to the reader to resolve the problem of issue in the

piece?

Does the author recommend action or change in his/her piece?

conclusions

Does the author describe a `cause and effect' relationship or explain the origins of this issue or

problem?

What conclusions does the author draw from his/her study of the issue or problem?

2. Your claim (Your reaction/response to the situation. You will support your claim, your interpretation

of the different sides in the debate, by the details of your analysis of the assumptions and evidence

used in the argument.). There are three types of claims:

Faucal claims: those that can be verified through experimentation, observation, or reason. For example:

· The current temperature is above 0° Fahrenheit.

Sunshine is warm.

My car's battery must be dead since the car will not start and the lights and horn do not work either.

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Journalistic Writing MCM310

· My car's battery must be alright even though the car won't start; the lights and the horn still work.

Value claims: those that express a writer's value system -- what the writer believes is good or bad, right

or wrong. For example:

Democracy offers the greatest chance for people to realize their full potential.

The State of Illinois building in downtown Chicago -- sometimes referred to as "Spaceship Illinois"

-- is an aesthetic failure.

Policy claims: those that seek to change people's attitudes and behaviours toward a particular issue. For

example:

1. We ought to register and license guns the same way we do automobiles.

2. Drivers under the age of 25 with even the slightest amount of alcohol in their blood should have their

licenses revoked for 5 years.

3. An analysis of assumptions (You describe and evaluate the warranted and the unwarranted, the explicit

and the implicit assumptions.)

4. An analysis of hidden arguments (You describe how the assumptions create another implied argument,

the hidden argument.)

5. An analysis of inherent contradictions (If the original authors make statements that contradict your

experience of the world or your ideas, explain those differences.)

6. An analysis of intended audience (See the paragraph below on this page.)

7. An analysis of evidence

rational appeal

emotional appeal

ethical appeal

Evidence

Rational appeal

Emotional appeal

Ethical appeal

facts

trustworthiness

the higher emotions

case studies

credibility

altruism

statistics

expert testimony

love

reliable sources

experiments

...

logical reasoning

fairness

the base emotions

analogies

greed

anecdotes

lust

...

Logical Fallacies: The following logical fallacies are seen common in articles. Remember, logical

fallacies are ways of arguing that are illogical and meaningless

1. APPEAL TO AUTHORITY

EXAMPLE: My teacher says she's voting for the conservative candidate, so I will too.

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Journalistic Writing MCM310

2. APPEAL TO EMOTION

EXAMPLE: I'm sure someone with your vast experience can see that plan B is better. (Appeal to flattery)

3. APPEAL TO IGNORANCE

EXAMPLE: I've never seen an alien, so they must not exist.

4. APPEAL TO POPULAR OPINION

EXAMPLE: Everyone cheats on their income taxes, so it must be all right.

5. COMPOSITION

EXAMPLE: All the parts of the engine were lightweight, so the engine should have been lightweight.

6. CORRELATION IMPLIES CAUSATION

EXAMPLE: There was a full moon the night I had my car accident, so I'm never driving again under a full moon.

7. FALSE CAUSE AND EFFECT

EXAMPLE: Yesterday I ate tuna sandwich and then failed my test. I'm never eating tuna sandwich before a test

again.

8. HASTY GENERALIZATIONS

EXAMPLE: I liked the last Chinese restaurant I went to, so I will like every Chinese restaurant in the world.

Source: Kies, Daniel, Department of English, College of DuPage

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