Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A: The Study of Principles and Rules Of: Composition
A: The Study of Principles and Rules Of: Composition
following:
1: the art of speaking or writing effectively:
a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of
ancient times
b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or
persuasion
2
persuade, the author or speaker must win over the heart, mind, and soul of their
audience to be most successful, just as in the days of of the ancient Greeks.
In Nick Carrs article, Is Google Making Us Stupid, the author uses many of
these same strategies to examine the changing landscape of technology and its effect
on the average person. He engages the reader through a mixture of storytelling and
personal experience to make the purpose of his article more clear, language and style
to make his point of view, and research facts and statistics to lend credibility. Credibility,
purpose, and language are the key strategies that Nick Carr uses to build a relationship
between the text, audience, and himself.
In the beginning of the article, Nick Carr references Stanley Kubricks 2001: A
Space Odyssey, engaging the audience with a poignant story of HAL, the computer.
Throughout, subtle references captivate the audience, as you can feel how Nick Carr
feels as he ends the article with his own personal feelings about the death of HAL,
referencing the similar death, figuratively, of human intelligence. With his comparison
between the two, the reader becomes more wholly involved with the sentiment of Nick
Carrs portrayal of losing someone or something, whether its a fictional computer from a
movie or our ability to think. As an insightful writer, Nick Carr immerses the audience
into questioning their own feelings and forcing them to think about their own personal
view of technology, communication, and how people have changed the way in which
they think. By quoting HAL at the end of the first paragraph, Dave, my mind is going, I
can feel it. I can feel it., Nick Carr than is able to easily lead the reader into his own
personal experiences. He says, I can feel it, too. Over the past few years Ive had an
uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain,
remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. Throughout, the reader is
able to apply their own experiences, to compare with Nick Carrs, in order to more fully
understand his point of view. He manages to timeline how his way of reading, thinking,
and understanding has changed over the past decade as technology has become more
prevalent in his life. He utilizes conversations with fellow academics to back up his own
experiences, Im not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends
and acquaintances--literary types, most of them--many say theyre having similar
experiences. Overall, through his own experiences, as well as the experiences of
others, he is able to make the purpose of the article clear, to educate the reader on the
effects of technology.
In order to lend credibility to his article, Nick Carr references scientific research
and psychological studies, as well as quoting leading researchers. After informing the
reader of the research done at the University College London, he fortifies the findings
with quotes from leading academics, such as psychologists, sociologists, scientists, and
historians. Nick Carr uses the example of Friedrich Nietzsche to bolster the research by
explaining how one technology changed the way Neitzsche thought and spoke, just as
the internet and newer technologies are changing the way people do today. He tells the
reader, the process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the
changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical
clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating like clockwork. Today,
in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating like computers. But
the changes neuroscience tells us, go much deeper than metaphor. He makes direct