WP2 Reverse Outline

Paragraph #
Main point
1
Because these publications all discuss
the same topic of marijuana
legalization, its essential that readers
understand the rhetorical features
being used such as exigence, tone,
and personal choice of moves, in
order to understand who the specific
audience is for each piece.
2
Understanding the exigence is
important because it helps you begin
to discover the purpose of the
rhetoric. It helps you to understand
what the discourse is trying to
accomplish. In other words, you can
begin to understand a pieces
exigence by asking yourself what the
writer is responding to.
3
In the case of the first article
mentioned, the question the author is
responding to is rather complex:
How would legalizing marijuana
impact the youth in society? From
the title of the second article
mentioned, you can already assume
that it will be discussing marijuana
legalization from an economic
standpoint. The exigence of this piece
could then be What affect does
legalizing marijuana have on the
economy? Lastly comes the blog. As
it is from a personal perspective on
the topic, the question the author is
responding to may be as simple as
Why should marijuana be
legalized?
4
Knowing why the piece was written
and who its for can help explain why
the author might have made certain
choices or used particular techniques
in the writing, and you can assess
those choices and techniques based in
part on how effectively they are
fulfilling that purpose and reaching

How/why it supports argument

This is my argument.

This supports my argument that

readers need to understand purpose to
begin understanding the intended
audience.

Although this paragraph doesnt

necessarily support my thesis
statement directly, the information
provided is helpful to understanding
exigence, which is necessary to
understand my argument.

Backs up my claim that knowing the

purpose is important to finding out the
audience because different authors
have different purposes depending on
audiences.

the intended audience.

In the first journal published by the
American Academy of Pediatrics, the
tone is professional and scholarly.
The author makes specific moves
such as using medical terminology,
formatting the piece into columns,
and using visual graphs and statistics.

As they are both scholarly pieces, the

tone of the second article is also very
professional and educational. The
author makes specific moves such as
using economic terminology and
citing a bunch of references.

7&8

In opposition to the formal, academic

tone of the two previous articles, the
tone of the blog is informal and
personal, coming from the heart,
speaking of the authors own
opinions on the legalization of
marijuana. The author makes specific
moves such as choosing to format the
article in a numbered list, and using
casual language

It is quite difficult when it comes to

comparing the effectiveness and
persuasiveness of each of these three
articles because each specific piece
has a different audience to effectively
provide information to.

Because of the professional tone, use

of medical terminology, and data
shown, one could infer that the
audience is a healthcare professional
interested in learning the potential
impact of marijuana legalization on
adolescents. Because the author uses
medical terms, you can eliminate all
audiences that wouldnt understand
those terms and because its in a
professional tone, you can expect that
the audience would be someone of
intelligence.
Because of the educational tone, use
of economic terminology and
abundance of references, readers can
infer that the intended audience is any
educated economist concerned with
how legalizing marijuana would effect
the economy. Because the author uses
econ terms, you can eliminate all
audiences that wouldnt understand
those terms and because its in an
educational tone, you can expect that
the audience would be someone
professional.
Because of the personal tone, biased
opinions, and casual language, readers
can interpret that the intended
audience of this blog is any person of
any age that has the ability to read and
wants to know personal opinions on
why marijuana should be legalized.

The scholarly journals both had more

educated, specified audiences of
different disciplines and therefore had
to use formal tones and provide
concrete evidence, such as data, to
support their arguments. In contrast,
the blog had a very broad audience
varying in age and level of education,

and thus conveyed an informal,

conversational tone and no real use of
evidence to support his opinions.
Furthermore, there is no real way to
compare the effectiveness of different
writing styles and genres, as each
specific genre is effective towards
their own intended audience.