PB2B: Making Moves

PB2B

Below are some common moves used by renowned writers and some that I created myself by observing patterns among essays we have read in class.

Entertaining Objections:

This is a chance for the writer to acknowledge an opposing/differing viewpoint from his own in order to show the audience that he has considered other sides. It demonstrates his ability to see other people’s perspectives—to be open-minded— which builds his ethos credit. Then when he offers reasoning to oppose this viewpoint and support his own, the audience is more likely to hear him out. A good example is from Peter Elbow’s Two Kinds of Thinking: “You might also argue that intuitive thinking is better enhanced by silent musing; or going for a walk or sleeping…but such attempts…often merely postpone thinking” (Elbow, 59). His introduction of a counterargument provides an outlet to emphasize reasoning towards his own point.

Establishing Why Your Claims Matter:

              This is critical in any argumentative piece; it takes the exigence and magnifies it to a bigger, often global, scale. The purpose of this “bigger picture” is to turn the problem into one that affects the reader, not just the writer. This move allows one to explicitly state why the reader should care about and listen to his argument, because sometimes it’s less obvious. In Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis, Carroll states that “college is not the only place where an understanding of how rhetoric works is important” and explains further that rhetorical expertise can be used “from boardrooms to your children’s classrooms or churches to city council meetings” (Carroll, 57). By giving examples of everyday situations in which rhetoric is necessary, the reader is more likely to find the information useful.

Making What “They Say” Something You Say:

              This move relies on relatability to engage readers. It is used in more informal writings; the author uses personal pronouns to refer to himself and achieve a more conversational tone. The author often refers to a belief or opinion that he has or an experience he has had in the past to hopefully draw upon a belief/experience that his readers also share. The purpose is to get the readers to agree with him on some level so they will more easily be convinced of his main argument.  Mike Bunn illustrates this move with his statement “I was an English major in college, but I don’t think I ever thought much about reading” (Bunn, 72), which uses the fact that he attended college and disliked schoolwork to get on his young readers’ levels.

Capturing Authorial Action:

Capturing Authorial Action introduces “experts in the field”, the field being either the area in which the writer’s argument lies or the field that opposes said argument. These people don’t actually have to be experts but have some level of credentials and a strong opinion about the topic. This device can be used to support or provide a counterargument for the author’s claim, but it simply shows the reader that he’s done his research and is not just speaking for himself. Bunn exemplifies this concept when he says “Author David Jauss makes a similar comparison…” (Bunn, 74), which follows the formula “X thinks ___”. In this case, his reference supports his argument.

Explaining Quotations:

This is always an effective move. The author shows that not only can he provide evidence, but that he is aware of the connection between it and his claim. Doing this can also allow readers to better understand why the evidence actually serves as evidence—what it is about the quote that adds value/significance to the writer’s case. After providing a lengthy quote by “leading professor” Carolyn Miller, Dirk continues with “In other words, Miller is saying that all genres matter because they shape our everyday lives” (Dirk, 254). This statement provides a clear explanation for the point Dirk wants to get across by using Miller’s quote.

Moves I Coined

Piece-by-Piece:

              Most of the readings we’ve discussed in class so far have incorporated this technique to create a more comprehensible structure. Writers separate sections of their paper by placing titles above each new section. The title provides a clue to the reader as to what will be discussed in the following segment, and provides clear transitions between two areas of the argument. One perfect example is Responding to Other Students’ Writing, where Staub uses subtitles like “How do You Get Started?” to separate different main points regarding peer-review. Titles in question form are common in essays that teach the reader how to do something, whereas non-question titles appear in more argumentative pieces.

Rhetorical Rhetoric:

This is a simple yet subtly powerful method in which the writer asks a rhetorical question. The question serves to ignite active thinking within the reader, to get him to think deeper about the addressed topic and not just read the words on the page. The desired outcome of asking these thought-provoking questions is for the reader to generate his own opinion on the matter and to learn to analyze. In Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking), Boyd asks the insanely simple yet investigative question “Why is it funny?” to get her student readers to understand the “extent to which we… internalize our rhetorical tools” through media, literature, and social influences (Boyd, 90).

The Knee-Slapper:

With this move, the author uses humor to attract younger readers (people our age). A funny line is usually inserted near a significant point in the argument to draw attention to that point. Its purpose is to make a bland or serious argument more lighthearted and fun to read, so that readers are more likely to pay attention. Boyd concludes Murder with “You can see now that when I told you [about rhetoric]…I wasn’t just feeding you a bunch of bull” (Boyd, 100). In this case she hints at using explicit language to cause a laugh and make the conversation less formal.

Self-Critique:

This is a less common but very effective move in which the author takes parts of his own work to get students thinking about his writing techniques. Doing so encourages readers to dissect what they read, to discover its underlying parts and think about why the writer made certain choices. Bunn demonstrates this by deconstructing his opening paragraph in How to Read Like a Writer and providing examples of questions the reader should ask in order to understand his own moves.

Writing about Writing:

This last move is defined by an author’s demonstrations of specific writing techniques in order to teach about good writing. Instead of just talking about it, the author includes examples of the concept he is referring to. This provides an aspect of visual learning, where the writer can see first-hand exactly what is being discussed. The samples also serve as potential templates that readers can use in their own writing. In So What? Who Cares?, Birkenstein and Graff provide examples like “These findings have important implications for the broader domain of _____” to show good ways to give “real-world applications to your claims” (Birkenstein  & Graff, 99).