The Paragraph
Rhetorical strategies used
- Rhetorical strategies are some of the most commonly used writing tools in literary works.
- This style is more common when writing fiction than it is when writing research reports or historical books.
- Griffin finds this tool very viable in her writing.
- It helps her to ensure that her readers remain alert when going through her work.
- It enables her to bring her readers on board in terms of contributing their opinions to this report.
- Graff and Birkenstein (2007) say, “What then occurs if the soul in its small beginnings is forced to take on a secret life?” (p. 240).
- It is not a question that needs an answer from the reader.
- It is a style of writing that the author uses to demonstrate how dismaying it is that children were forced to lead lives that did not befit their age.
- It helps her in emphasizing the fact that during the war, young boys were recruited as soldiers, some of whom did not even understand the meaning of the war itself.
- It also surprised her that some young boys were thrilled by the fact that they will be combating foreign enemies.
- In her perspective, she does not find a reason good enough that can make underage boys find fun joining the military.
- Graff and Birkenstein (2007) say, “Is this the way he will finally prove himself?” (p. 244).
- According to her, the young boy in question only wanted to prove himself by joining and actively participating in the military.
The Analysis
The claims and evidence of my paper 2 draft appear to form a system. For example, the introduction consists of claims that are developed and supported by evidence in the body of the text. Some of the claims (for example, the work being a research paper, albeit unusual) are supported throughout the work; some of the evidence can be used for different claims (for example, the method of information gathering is used to prove several claims). Still, every paragraph also contains its claims and evidence, as does the one analyzed in this work.
The first five sentences of the paragraph devoted to the rhetorical strategies are claims. The first two are general statements about the phenomenon of rhetorical tools; the next three sentences describe the way Griffin uses the tools. In fact, the relation between these two groups of opening sentences is also that of claims and evidence: the first two sentences are used as a basis for the next three, and the latter can be described as an illustration to the first two sentences. Still, the third sentence is the key claim of the paragraph, and the sentences 4-5 can be described as the claims becoming evidence to the claim 3. The two sentences develop and refine the claim number three as they explain the function of the rhetoric tools that are declared to exist in the third sentence.
The following sentences provide the evidence to the claim three. Sentences six and twelve contain actual evidence from the Griffin’s work; the rest of the sentences contain evidence and claim-evidence to these two sentences. For example, the sentences from seven to eleven are claims that develop and explain the purpose of the tool described in the sentence six. The claims ten-eleven are used as the ground for the evidence number twelve while the claim number thirteen is used to develop and explain the evidence of the same sentence.
At the first glance, the direct evidence seems to be underrepresented in the paragraph. At the same time, the explanatory claims, as well as transitional claims, are also necessary to describe and interpret the evidence, and removing them in favor of direct evidence appears to be counterproductive. The main problem I see in the work is that the key claim is left unattended by the end of the paragraph. Perhaps a conclusion should be drawn that demonstrates the correlation of the main claim and the proposed evidence along with its explanations and interpretation.
References
Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2007). “They say/I say”: The moves that matter in persuasive writing. New York: W.W. Norton.