Chapter 12: Responding to Persuasive
Writing
From this chapter, you’ll learn
1. how the author’s reliance on fact or opinion
reveals the author’s purpose.
2. how to tell the difference between
informative and persuasive writing.
3. how tone relates to purpose.
4. how to evaluate an author’s reasoning.
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Determining Purpose by
Looking at Facts and Opinions
Recognizing the balance between fact and opinion in a piece of
writing can help you determine an author’s purpose. However,
that means you need to clearly understand the difference
between fact and option. Which of the following statements,
then, is a fact and which one is an opinion?
1. On August 17, 1896, forty-four-year-old Bridget Driscoll
became the first woman to be killed by a car; the car was
traveling four miles per hour and the impact proved fatal.
2. The traffic death of forty-four-year-old Bridget Driscoll in
August of 1896 was the first sign that the auto, hailed as an
industrial triumph, was to become a weapon of mass destruction.
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Comparing Facts and Opinions
Statement 1 is a fact because it can be verified, or proven
true, by any of the following sources: records, witness
statements, reference books, and photos.
Statement 2 is an opinion because not everyone in the
world would see that first traffic accident as a sign of the
auto’s destructive power. That’s a personal interpretation,
or understanding, of how that incident might be viewed.
Ask other people if they agree, and the answers will vary
from person to person. Facts, however, do not vary with
their source.
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Factual statements
• are likely to use dates, numbers, and statistics. “Mixed marital
artist Cain Velasquez was born in 1982.”
• are not affected by the person who reports them.
• identify and describe events in language that has little
or no emotional effect on the listener or reader. “In July of 2013,
two miniature horses were attacked and killed by fire ants.”
• don’t make predictions, express value judgments, or offer
interpretations.
• can be verified, or checked, for accuracy.
• aren’t subject to change unless previously unavailable
information or new technology arrives on the scene.
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Quick Check: Is this a fact?
• People keep saying how smart it is to use your
phone as a wallet, but they forget to mention
that if you do, you are a lot more likely to find
your credit card hacked and your bank
account emptied.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
What about this statement? Is it a fact?
© Ulrich Flemming
In the last six years, over ten million bee hives
have been destroyed due to a disease of
unknown origin, called colony collapse disorder.
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Opinion statements
• often use language meant to pack an emotional punch. “When the
British migrated to Australia, what they inflicted on the native
population was nothing short of cruel and bloody genocide.”
• reflect a personal interpretation or point of view. “Based on my
experience of going through the court system, justice is not just
blind, she’s also dumb.”
• are likely to make value judgments, e.g., “Jimmy Carter was a
better president than most people think.”
• frequently predict future events, e.g. “We are going to regret our
failure to address the problem of homelessness.”
• interpret events, e.g., “No matter how hard he tried, Tupac Shakur
could not escape his violent past.”
• cannot be checked for accuracy. “Snakes make great pets.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Quick Check: From Fact to Opinion
The following statement is a fact:
“In 2008 Beyoncé Knowles played the blues
singer Etta James.”
How might you change it into an opinion?
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Quick Check: From Fact to Opinion
Here’s one possibility:
“Beyoncé Knowles rose to the occasion when she
played blues legend Etta James in the movie
Cadillac Records.”
Rephrased in this way, the statement now offers a value
judgment. Beyoncé excelled in playing the part of blues
singer Etta James, whom the author considers a “legend.”
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Quick Check: From Opinion to Fact
The following statement is an opinion:
“Lance Armstrong is a disgrace to the world of sports,
and he should return all of the sponsorship money he was
paid by the U.S. Postal Service during the time when his
sponsors considered him a hero.”
Can you transform that opinion into a statement of fact?
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From Opinions to Facts
Here’s one possibility:
“In January of 2013, cyclist Lance Armstrong
admitted on television that he had used performanceenhancing drugs to win in national and international
bicycle races. As a result of that admission, the United
States Postal Service, which sponsored him, has gone to
court in order to make Armstrong return money given to
him during its sponsorship.”
Now the statement excludes any interpretation,
prediction, or value judgment. Everything stated can be
verified in some way.
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© Ulrich Flemming
A Few Words for the Wise
• Heavily factual texts with few or no opinions are most likely to have
an informative purpose, meaning the author is not trying to
persuade you to share his or her point of view. Rather, he or she is
trying to tell you what you need to know about a specific topic or
issue.
• But, the writer’s selection of facts is important too. Sometimes
writers only include those facts that support their position, leaving
out those that don’t.
• Reading two different sources on the same topic is a good way to
decide whether or not a writer has stacked the deck in his or her
favor. You may discover that even facts, when selected to promote
an opinion, can hide a persuasive purpose.
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Determine Primary Purpose
INFORMATIVE vs. PERSUASIVE
WRITING
The better you are at telling the difference
between fact and opinion, the better you will be
at determining the author’s primary purpose.
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Relying more heavily on facts, informative writing
• makes no attempt to convince readers to share a
specific opinion or take a specific action.
• describes or explains the ideas of others without
evaluating them. “John Dewey’s theory of education
was based on the belief that children learn by doing.”
• suggests that the opinions expressed belong to
people other than the author. “According to science
writer Gina Kolata, ‘The Hawthorne Effect,’ much
written about in psychology and business texts, is
based on very little sound evidence.”
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Relying more heavily on facts, informative writing
• expresses both sides of an argument with equal
effectiveness.
• is likely to appear in reference works, textbooks,
reports, and newspaper articles not appearing on the
editorial page.
• uses language that is unlikely to stir an emotional
response in readers.
• unlikely to make heavy use of imagery.
• makes few references to the writer’s personal
experience and doesn’t address the audience.
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Heavy on opinion, persuasive writing
• attempts to convince readers to share or at least consider
a specific point of view. “If he cares at all about
preserving the environment, the president cannot
approve the building of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.”
• often announces that something should be understood,
done, or evaluated in a certain way. “We need to
promote Internet literacy in our schools”
• expresses competing points of view while pointing out
that one opinion or perspective is better than another.
“While it’s hard to deny that Bradley Manning, the soldier
who released thousands of government documents to
WikiLeaks, made a terrible mistake, it’s equally hard to
approve the treatment he received while initially in
detention at Guantanamo prison.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Heavy on opinion, persuasive writing
• explicitly or implicitly reveals the author’s bias, or
personal leanings. “As the mother of a daughter, I object
to anyone promoting Miley Cyrus as a role model for
young girls.”
• usually employs emotionally charged language. “Any
individual despicable enough to abuse children, the
elderly, or pets deserves a long, harsh jail sentence that
will make anyone who considers doing the same thing
think twice before harming the helpless.”
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Persuasive writing
• appears in editorials, reviews, books that are not reference
works—such as encyclopedias and dictionaries—and web sites
promoting a theory or person.
• makes use of strong imagery designed to sway emotions.
“Muzzle the trumpets, still the drums. The market for reason is
slipping fast. The currency of ignorance and demagoguery* is
daily gathering strength.”
• often includes personal pronouns that refer to the author
and/or the audience. “We cannot allow the teaching of
literature to be abandoned in favor of only those courses
related to job training.”
*demagoguery: the use of speech to appeal to prejudice and uncontrolled emotion.
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What’s the purpose of this paragraph?
At 11:30 p.m. on December 6, 1982, Charles Brooks, the first
convicted murderer to be executed through lethal injection
lay down on a hospital gurney. His body was secured by five
leather straps, and at 11:35 medical technicians inserted two
intravenous needles, one in each arm. A saline solution began
flowing into Brooks’s bloodstream. That harmless solution
was quickly followed by a mix of three chemicals, all of them fatal
to the human body. Brooks died within ten to thirty seconds from
an overdose of barbiturates. The other two drugs, which caused a
fatal muscle paralysis and cardiac arrest, were a form of insurance.
If the lethal dose of barbiturates didn’t kill Brooks, one or both of
the other drugs would ensure his death.
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And what’s the author’s purpose here?
The highly-regarded sleep researcher Robert Stickgold has solved
the mystery of rapid-eye movement, or REM, sleep, which has
long been a puzzle. REM has been a mystery because the brain
waves recorded by electroencephalographs during this stage of
the sleep cycle suggest a highly active state of mind, similar to the
state of being awake. Stickgold, however, has solved the mystery,
and his research shows that during REM, new learning is
analyzed, categorized, and stored in memory. In other words, it’s
during REM sleep that memory consolidation takes place. While
Stickgold’s theory still has its critics, the majority of those
engaged in sleep research believe he has figured out why brain
activity during REM sleep is so intense: It’s because the sleeping
brain is busy working on consolidating the news of the day.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
Just So You Know
• It’s important to mention that in classes where you read, say,
poetry or short stories, you are encountering texts that don’t
really fit into either of the categories described here or in your
text.
• Poets, playwrights, and novelists want to make you participate
in the world more intensely. They aren’t necessarily concerned
with conveying factual information or persuading you to share
an opinion.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
• The more aware you are of a writer’s purpose, the more
attuned you will be to writers who have let personal
prejudices creep into textbooks, newspaper accounts of
events, and reference works, where you would expect to
get information without persuasion.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise: The two purposes, to
inform or to persuade, can intermingle, but one
is almost always primary, or more important,
than the other.
• For instance, to convince you that the global warming is a reality, not a myth,
a writer might start an essay with a straightforward list of facts about
changes in temperature, sea level, plant, and animal life. That information is
there mainly to introduce the writer’s point, which is persuasive: “We must
begin to reduce energy consumption or the damage to Earth and its
inhabitants will only grow worse.” In this case, the primary purpose is
persuasive, and the informative writing just paves the way for the author’s
efforts to convince.
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When thinking about the primary purpose, keep in mind
that
1. the purpose sometimes changes as the reading develops.
2. a persuasive piece of writing can open with a purely informative
introduction but then move steadily in the direction of
persuasion.
3. if informative writing turns persuasive, the author’s overall
intent is usually persuasion, not a balance of the two.
4. it’s far less likely for a writer to open with a persuasive passage
and then become strictly informative.
5. when it comes to identifying the primary purpose, how the
author ends up is more important than how he or she begins.
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The Link Between Tone and Purpose
• A heavy emphasis on facts along with a cool, neutral
tone are a dead giveaway to an informative purpose.
• Similarly revealing are the use of a passionate tone to
express personal opinions. The two together—
passion and opinion--are marks of a persuasive
purpose.
• Recognizing a writer’s tone is particularly important
to critical reading.
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Defining Tone
Like the tone of a person’s voice, tone, or voice, in writing
refers to the attitude, emotion, or feeling about the subject
matter that a writer conveys to the reader. Although nonfiction writers often become identified with a particular tone,
they can shift the tone or voice of their writing to suit the
context or subject matter.
Here are just a few of many possibilities:
• furious
• sympathetic
• neutral
• comical
• bullying
• solemn
• curious
• cautious
• mistrustful
• confident
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How Writers Choose a Tone
Writers choose a tone based on
• their personal feelings about a subject.
• purpose, i.e., informative or persuasive.
• context , e.g., for a reference book or
a weekly magazine, a newspaper front page, or an inside
editorial.
• personal preference: some writers consciously vary
their tones; others are more comfortable assuming a
consistent comic or a serious tone.
• their audience’s age, interest, and experience.
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© Ulrich Flemming
A Word to the Wise
The factors that go into choosing or assuming a tone
can vary with the context, or circumstances. A writer
who pens a letter protesting a bad book review may not
bother to control her angry tone. However, if she is
assigned to write an entry for, say, a dictionary of global
culture, her tone will be more controlled and neutral.
The purpose and context produce the change in tone.
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How Does a Writer Create a Tone?
All of the following can play a role in making readers hear a feeling
or an attitude in the writer’s words:
• word choice
• imagery
• sentence and paragraph length
• grammar, i.e., formal or conversational
• references to the audience or self
• selection of details
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What tone do you hear in the following snippet from Calvin
Trillin’s collection of food essays called “Alice, Let’s Eat.”
“If a research team systematically interviewed serious
shellfish eaters about their most memorable shellfish
experience, I suspect that the unifying theme would
be messiness. Ask anyone who truly loves shellfish
about the best he ever had, and the answer tends to
be a story ending with the table being hosed down
after the meal or mountains of shells being shoveled
into trash bins. It is apparent to serious shellfish
eaters that in the great evolutionary scheme of things,
crustaceans developed shells to protect them from
knives and forks.”
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What tone do you hear in the following excerpt from Trillin’s
memoir about the loss of his wife, Alice, who died in 2001?
• “…she would have been right in saying that the people whose
exposure to her had been through my stories didn't know her.
Still, in the weeks after she died I was touched by their letters.
They may not have known her, but they knew how I felt about
her. It surprised me that they had managed to divine that
from reading stories that were essentially sitcoms. Even after
I'd taken in most episodes of The Honeymooners… it had
never occurred to me to ponder the feelings Ralph Kramden
must have had for Alice Kramden. Yet I got a lot of letters like
the one from a young woman in New York who wrote that she
sometimes looked at her boyfriend and thought, “But will he
love me like Calvin loves Alice?”
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© Ulrich Flemming
Just so you Know
Good writers are conscious of how they sound on the page:
• The Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz, for instance, has said
somewhat regretfully “…my personality tends to be blunt,
straightforward, outspoken. My written personality is nowhere near as
dynamic.”
• Writer Anna Quindlen has suggested that speech therapy for stuttering
may have helped her find her voice as a writer, “I don’t know whether I
developed the written voice and then imitated it, once I had speech
therapy, or vice versa. But in any case, I know that I have a distinctive
voice on the page, and that it’s intimately related to my actual voice.”
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Readers need to pay attention to tone because
• it helps reveal the writer’s purpose.
• it becomes easier for them to recognize the effect of tone on their
response to the author’s ideas.
• it offers a solid clue to the writer’s degree of bias, i.e., the more
emotional the tone, the greater the bias.
• it will make them better readers, more aware of the many different
ingredients that go into an effective piece of writing.
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The Role of Bias in Informative and Persuasive
Writing
The more passionate the tone the more likely it is that the
author harbors a bias for or against the subject or issue
under discussion.
In persuasive writing,
• bias is to be expected.
• bias is only bad if the writer goes overboard and insults or
won’t even acknowledge an opposing point of view.
In informative writing,
• authorial bias is supposed to be almost completely eliminated.
• bias often sneaks its way into the author’s explanation.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
What’s the author’s purpose and can you detect a bias?
What’s a Mining Hall of Fame without Miners?
The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, first opened in 1988,
cries out to be included in any discussion of how history can be
distorted. The Mining Museum doesn’t say much about those who
have done the actual mining in the United States; the luminaries* it
does showcase are mainly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men, most of
them mine owners, executives, or engineers rather than, god forbid,
actual miners, who risked their life to dig metals from the earth. In
reality, mining has been one of America’s most multicultural
occupations with, among others, Italians mining granite in Vermont,
Finns digging for copper in Michigan, and Chinese Americans panning
for gold in the West, but you’d never know that from visiting the
National Mining Hall of Fame.
* luminaries: famous people, stars
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What’s the author’s purpose and can you
detect a bias?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The signs for a persuasive purpose and a strong bias are certainly
there:
Some of the language packs an emotional punch, for instance, the
mining museum is an example of history being “distorted,” or
misrepresented.
This opinion, for that’s what it is, is not attributed to someone else.
The author takes full responsibility for it.
The tone with its sarcasm—“rather than, god forbid, actual miners”—
makes it clear that the author has strong feelings on the subject. So,
yes, there is a bias.
The selection of detail highlights the contrast between what’s
displayed in the museum as the history of mining and the reality of
mining across the country.
Above all, there’s no hint of an opposing point of view.
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The Experienced Reader’s Response to Bias
Once you know the purpose and can detect a strong
bias, the key question is this, Is the writer’s bias so
strong readers need to learn a good deal more
before sharing the opinion expressed?
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11.4 What about this next passage drawn from an encyclopedia of famous
spies? What’s the author’s purpose and can you detect a bias?
Although no state historical marker tells us about her, visitors who step inside Bellevue
elementary school in Richmond, Virginia can learn about Elizabeth Van Lew, the woman
Donald E. Markle, author of Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War, called “one of the great
female spies of all time.” Born in 1818, Van Lew had been introduced to the fight against
slavery when, as a child, her family sent her to a Quaker school in Philadelphia. When the
American Civil War began in 1860, Van Lew had no doubts about which side she was on
and she was determined to do everything she could to further the Union cause of abolition.
To that end, she developed a spy ring consisting of about a dozen wealthy citizens who
shared her Unionist sympathies. Setting up a series of check points on route to Union
headquarters at Hampton Roads, Virginia, Van Lew sent messages to General Grant’s forces.
Like that other tactical genius, Sojourner Truth, who freed countless slaves by guiding them
through the underground railroad, Van Lew knew how to cover her tracks: She let her hair
grow wild and took to mumbling to herself when she was out in public, so that those who
might have suspected her of siding with the enemy considered her crazy rather than
dangerous. Van Lew’s actions in service to the Union were never discovered. After the
war ended, she managed to get her war records from the federal government so no one
could know the extent of her activities. But somehow her neighbors found out, and Van
Lew was shunned by most of the community for the rest of her life.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
11.4 What about this passage? Can you identify the purpose and
do you detect a bias?
At least where laundry is concerned, going green is causing friction between those
who favor hanging laundry on a clothesline to save both energy and money and
those who feel the sight of someone else’s “unmentionables” blowing in the wind
is distasteful. Some states are already taking sides. Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont,
Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting housing associations from
creating legislation or rules that might stop a person from pegging clothes to a
clothes line. The legislation in other states, however, doesn’t help people like Kevin
Firth of Pennsylvania. Firth, who lives in a condominium, was fined $100 for
hanging his laundry outside. And Firth is not alone, so much so that a group called
“Product Laundry List” has formed around one core issue—the right to hang laundry
out-of-doors. Members of the group are determined to fight the housing
associations they think are denying them a basic American right. Carl Weiner, a
lawyer for a number of homeowners associations, says that the “no-laundry
outside” attitude of his clients may change in time as people become more aware of
how much energy clothes dryers consume: Dryers account for about 6 percent of
residential electricity use. But for now, their attitude is “Keep your unmentionables
in your own home. We do not want to see them.”
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Bias and Shaky Support Go Hand in Hand
The more biased the author, the more likely you are to
detect common errors in reasoning like the following:
1.Hasty Generalization: The author offers a broad generalization
that covers a large number of people and tries to prove it with one
example, “Education in the United States is in a sorry state. My
neighbor’s son graduated from high school, and he didn’t know
that Ecuador was in Central America. He thought it was in Africa.”
2.Irrelevant Evidence: The author provides a reason or example
that doesn’t support the opinion expressed. “It’s a terrible mistake
to allow women into combat. Look what happened when women
were first admitted into West Point. Over half of them quit.”
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More Careless Logic
3. Circular Reasoning: The writer or speaker supports a
point of view by repeating that point of view in different
language. “In ten years, e-books will have driven print
books out of the market. Print and paper books won’t be
able to withstand the challenge of e-books; they will be
gone in a decade.”
4. Offering False Alternatives: The writer insists that there
is no other choice but the two described (often insisting
that one is better than the other.) “College students need
to adapt to reading on digital devices or take courses that
don’t require reading.”
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More Careless Logic
5. Careless Comparisons: The writer tries to prove a
point by saying one topic, event, or experience is
similar to or very like another; usually the differences
are more critical than the similarity. “Everyone is
criticizing my uncle for marrying a woman, who is thirty
years younger than he is, but my uncle and his wife are
just like Romeo and Juliet, and look what happened to
them when people tried to keep them apart from one
another.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
• You’ve previewed the major
concepts and skills introduced in
Chapter 12. Take this quick quiz
to test your mastery of those
skills and concepts, and you are
ready to read the chapter.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: More on Purpose, Tone, and Bias
1. What’s the primary purpose of the following reading?
Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United
States, was born in Denison, Texas in 1890. He was the first
professional soldier elected to office since Ulysses S. Grant and
the first president to preside over 50 states. Eisenhower’s
public image was that of a conservative thinker, who believed
deeply in the rights of the states to govern themselves. But the
real “Ike” was a good deal more devious and less conservative
than the public knew. People were profoundly shocked when
Eisenhower called in the national guard to protect black
students trying to enter an all-white high school in Little Rock,
Arkansas. Conservatives didn’t interfere with states rights.
Eisenhower, however, was never a true conservative. As he
himself expressed it in a 1951 letter kept secret for years, he
had always had “liberal sympathies.” He just kept them hidden.
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Finishing Up: More on Purpose, Tone, and Bias
Although the paragraph initially seems to serve an informative
purpose, the primary pattern is persuasive because
1. the author directly expresses a personal opinion,
e.g., Ike was not what he seemed.
2. some of the language is emotionally charged,
e.g., uses the word “devious.”
3. no opposing point of view is expressed.
4. the opinion expressed is the author’s; it’s not attributed
to someone else.
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Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
2. How would you label the following
sentences, fact or opinion?
a. Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower, the 34th President
of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas in
1890.
b. He was the first professional soldier elected to
office since Ulysses S. Grant and the first
president to preside over 50 states.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
3. How would you label these two statements,
fact or opinion?
a. Eisenhower, however, was never a true
conservative.
b. As he himself expressed it in a 1951 letter he
kept hidden for years, he had always had
“liberal sympathies.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
4. What tone do you hear in the following passage
from Jessica Valenti’s blog “Feministing”?
Is her tone
a. enthusiastic?
b. critical?
c. astonished?
d. horrified?
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
• “As I grew up and began identifying myself as a feminist, there
were plenty of issues that continued to make me question
marriage: the father “giving” the bride away, women taking
their husband’s last name, the white dress, the vows
promising to “obey” the groom. And that only covers the
wedding. Once you get married, women are still implicitly
expected to do the majority of the housework and take care
of any future children. I remember reading one study that
said that even couples who had been living together for years
in equitable* bliss ended up with a more “traditional” division
of household labor if they got married—as though signing
that piece of paper somehow skewed their sense of fair play.”
*equitable: equal
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Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
5. Does the author of the following reading express a bias
in favor of or against the prime minister of Russia?
Russian politician Vladimir Putin is a mysterious figure. He has been
accused of many things, among them ordering the murder of journalists
who oppose him. But is the fear and mistrust of Putin deserved or
merited? It’s hard to say. Putin is most frequently accused of tearing up
the Russian constitution and destroying civil rights. Yet if that is true,
how does one explain that Putin won two presidential elections, 2000
and 2004, with impressive margins? And despite descriptions to the
contrary, Putin has a light side. He’s a music lover, with a passion for
Russian folk songs. Plus he can carry a tune. He’s even been known to
turn up at hip hop events, claiming that hip hop promotes a “healthy life
style.”
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
6. If an author argues that dogs make better
pets than cats because dogs are just nicer than
cats, that author is using what kind of
reasoning?
a. circular
b. irrelevant
c. hasty
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
7. If an author says single payer health care,
with the government picking up most of the bills
for medical treatment has failed in Canada and
cites as proof his Canadian neighbor’s
experience with having surgery in that country,
you should tell him that his generalization is
_____________.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
8. If a writer tells you that the country’s
infrastructure* is in great condition and argues
that opinion by saying, the infrastructure in
South Africa is infinitely worse, you should
recognize that her reason is
a. hasty.
b. irrelevant.
c. circular.
* infrastructure: roads, bridges, water treatment plants, dams, etc. i.e. those things
that make a country livable and allow for transportation and movement.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
9. If an author argues that people suffering from
anxiety must be allowed to bring their pets into public
places or else we risk driving those with anxiety
disorders into developing more serious mental
problems, you should know immediately that the
author is using
a. an irrelevant reason.
b. a circular argument.
c. a false alternative.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Finishing Up: Responding to Persuasive Writing
10. If a writer tells you that students need to
have the last word on the content of a class
because they are like paying customers in a
store whose needs and desires come first, you
should immediately recognize that this is
a. a circular argument.
b. a hasty generalization.
c. a careless comparison.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
© Ulrich Flemming
Brain Teaser Challenge
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.
Brain Teaser Challenge
The Greek philosopher Aristotle said that “Character may
almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.”
How might a writer, with the intention to persuade, make
practical use of that information? Do you think Aristotle is
correct? Whether your answer is yes or no, please explain it
as persuasively as possible.
© Laraine Flemming. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.