ReadingThinkingWriting |
Planning: ThinkingAsking questions Identifying search key terms or keywords Locating sources Analyzing and Evaluating Sources Analyzing PLACEAs you begin, it is always a good idea to analyze your writing situation, your PLACE:
Language Audience Context Evidence P.L.A.C.E. and the Art of PersuasionHow Do Writers Persuade You?
Writers appeal to our logic or reasoning when they make claims that are supported by facts, statistics, demonstrations, examples, and research. For example, an advertisement recruiting the reader to enlist in a branch of the military may present a list of the benefits the reader may enjoy: training, housing, salary, health and education benefits, and opportunities for travel. Appeals to authority Often writers will include testimonials of others who claim to be experts on the topic either because of formal education, personal experiences, and/or reputation . Because these claimants have prior experience with the topic, the reader considers this as "expert testimony." For examples, articles and books about diet plans and weight control products often include before-and-after photos and the personal testimonies of people who has tried the diet or weight-control product. Writers may also include recommendations made by professionals. An articles about a feature films may cite the reviews of a well known critics like Roger Ebert ofr a filmmaker like Robert Redford. Appeals to beliefs, values, and needs In one way or another, all writers appeal to our beliefs, values or needs. Writers taking a position on an issue like abortion make strong appeals to our beliefs. Writers making claims about our country, our community, our family, the environment, or money are appealing to our sense of values. These values are often entangled with our human needs. Appeals to these needs can be powerful ways to persuade us the change our attitudes or behavior. The psychologist Abraham Maslow described these needs as a hierarchy.
According to Maslow, we can't be too overly concerned about a higher order
need until our more basic needs are met. Maslow's hierarchy looks something
like this:
Return to the top of this page. Asking QuestionsWhat topic(s) are you considering for this writing project or assignment?Why are you choosing this topic? What do you want to know about your topic?
What does your audience already know about this topic? What does your audience need to know in order to accomplish your purpose? Identifying Search Key Terms or KeywordsTo find the answers to your questions, you may have to do some research. To look for information in the library on on the Internet, you will need a list of search key terms to tell the computer what to search for.If your terms are too general, you will come up with an unmanageably long list of sources. Try to add one or two words that will narrow this list. For example, you could search for information on the general subject wolf. However, you search may be more effective if you are more specific: Minnesota Timberwolf. On the other hand, if your search key term is too narrow (or misspelled) the computer may not recognize it at all and tell you there are no results for this search. That does NOT mean there is no information on your topic. It only means that that particular search engine could not find any entries containing the term that you named. Try again. Use a different term or try another search engine. The Library of Congress Index of Subject Headings lists the terms that the computer will recognize. Consult this multi-volume index in your college library to expand your list of search key terms. Return to the top of this page. Locating SourcesWho else is talking or writing about your topic?Where are they located? What are they saying? Are they experts? To answer these questions, go to Planning: Writing to design a research plan for your project. You may also view the PowerPoint presentation, Searching PALS, the on-line catalog for Minnesota College and University libraries. This presentation covers the following topics:
"Compsite" published by Allyn & Bacon Purdue University's On-Line Writing Lab Netscape.com Return to the top of this page. Analyzing and Evaluating SourcesWhat questions do you want your analysis to answer? It's important to consider this, because different kinds of analyses will yield different kinds of information. For example, a rhetorical analysis like P.L.A.C.E. will focus on the writing situation and the question of how a writer or speaker attempts to persuade an audience. A model of argument like Stephen Toulmin's focuses on the kinds of evidence a writer presents to support a claim. Toulmin's model asks in-depth questions about evidence (data, assumptions, backing and rebuttal); P.L.A.C.E. asks questions about purpose, language, audience and context that Toulmin does not include. To demonstrate these differences, contrast these two models. These are only two of a variety of models used to construct and analyze essays or arguments.
Return to the top of this page.
|
|
|
|
Search | Home
© Copyright 2006 the WorldWide Writers' PLACE - Elizabeth A. Nist & Erika Lindemann |