WP2 Reverse Outline

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.
VII.

VIII.

Introduction
a. Sources can range from formal to informal
b. Same sources can branch into different disciplines
i. Use and effects of cannabinoids in military veterans with posttraumatic
stress disorder by Kevin Betthauser/Jeffrey Pilz
ii. Race/Ethnicity Differences between Alcohol and Marijuana Use Disorders
by Lauren Pacek
iii. Non-academic Buzzfeed post
c. Thesis: While the academic sources successfully reach their goals of being
informative and the non-academic source achieves its goal of creating a humorous
response in the audience, it is ultimately the non-academic source that proves to
be the most outstanding due to its unique conventions and moves, such as
informal language and the use of bullets.
What is in the beginning of each article
a. Scholarly articles capture attention/inform briefly by using:
i. Few sentences to describe purpose, summary, and conclusion
b. Buzzfeed informs briefly within the title
c. Different ways of providing context to capture attention
i. Buzzfeed is able to provide enough context in the title alone
Headings
a. Subtopics in articles help separate the information
b. Buzzfeed uses numbered points
c. Academic sources have subheadings such as summary or conclusion.
Jargon/diction is different in the sources
a. Acronyms
i. Betthausers article: PTSD
ii. Paceks article: NESARC
Tone
a. Buzzfeed: informal, sarcastic
b. Scholarly articles: serious
i. Built-in credibility
ii. Educated authors
Differences between the scholarly articles
a. Racial perspective: More evidence/statistics based
b. Psychological perspective: Focuses more on results of experiment
Effects of moves
a. Different authors have different purposes for each move
b. Buzzfeeds numbered list creates pattern and flow
c. Academic articles use of columns create organization
Different targeted audience
a. Scholarly articles: people interested in the research
b. Attracts people interested in the respective discipline
c. Buzzfeed: non-academic audience
i. Informal words such as idiot and wtf
ii. Low-level syntax stands out more significantly

IX.

X.

Effectiveness
a. Equal for each, just different because the audience is different
b. Specific moves within each piece may have varying levels of efficiency
c. Overall is similar
Conclusion
a. Moves of each author varies from piece to piece depending on content and
purpose
b. The nature of each sources level of formality impacts how the author executes his
or her thoughts.

One big problem I had with WP2 was that my paragraphs were quite extensive and long. I found
it difficult to break up my paragraph into smaller chunks. However, this reverse outline helped
me see and differentiate between ideas where a break in paragraph would be appropriate.
Previously, I was apprehensive about splitting up a paragraph by examples if they belonged
under the same argument. However, I realized that that is an okay thing to do, and it could
actually also help spur new and more specific arguments and topic sentences that tie back in with
the thesis.