Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Swales & Feak, Article 14, Unit 3

In Swales & Feak, Article 14, Unit 3, the authors focus on the problem-to-solution writing style movement. They say that this structure will prove useful when writing critiques and introductions.
They also discuss process descriptions. They say it makes sense to see describing the parts of a process as the steps required to provide a solution to some problems. So the authors feel that giving tiny steps will help a writer follow their pattern and produce results. In this case, that means providing a solution to the problem that has been posed.
The authors say that a writer must be informed and organized if they are to follow an argumentative approach to a problem-to-solution task. If a writer wants to be evaluative then they should be questioning and perceptive.
An example essay "The Role of English in Research and Scholarship" is provided. The essay purports that the number of English essays is inflated. Also, the number on non-English essays are underrepresented.
The authors point out that the word, "However", introduces the counter-argument. The authors want to convince the reader that the problem really is a problem.
The authors wonder how many points must be made in order for the argument to be convincing. Of course, the more points that are made, the more convincing the argument will be.
The next essay describes a desert climate in Chile - the Atacama Desert.
The authors say that the passive voice is used in this essay to describe a technical process. Therefore the perceptiveness of the essay is meant to convince the readers.
An active voice is used to describe nature. Also -ing can be used to describe a result. Indirect questions can be persuasive and they are less likely to make a reader defensive.
Another way that information can be presented is in a question-and-answer format. Since the answers are possible solutions, they can be very convincing.
Students generally provide a topic sentence when they present a paper. Then they provide an answer based upon their research. In order to make their position more convincing, they should use one of the essay writing methods mentioned above.

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