FINAL EXAM

REVISION
ENGL 203
Dr. Maureen Nicolas
 Concepts on which you will be evaluated:
■ 1. Conventions of formal, academic writing;

■ 2. Analysis of writing elements;

■ 3. Synthesis of ideas presented in literature;

■ 4. Ability to respond meaningfully to

information you receive.
 Evaluating The Central Argument
■ The evaluation of a writing’s central argument is what we
refer to as a critical analysis

■ Every piece of writing can be analyzed/evaluated by

determining how two different elements are used in relation
to the audience and purpose (central arg.)
■ These elements work together to effectively communicate the
author’s central argument
 Purpose and Audience
■ Before discussing the elements, two important aspects of
a writing should be highlighted:
– Purpose
– Audience
■ When critically analyzing a piece of writing, you should
acknowledge how well the writing addresses the
intended purpose and audience.
■ The elements of the writing should complement the
writer’s intended purpose and audience – this is what
you analyze
 Audience
■ Who is the author targeting in writing this text?
(There is usually a specific audience in mind
depending on the purpose of the text)
■ For example:
– Young readers/scholars
– Uninformed/general public
– Educators
– Scientists
 Purpose
■ the reason behind writing this text / what the author is hoping
to achieve through his/her/their text
■ For example:
– To entertain
– To inform
– To create awareness about the subject being discussed
– To criticize
– To analyze a certain situation
– To push for change
– To introduce a new perspective to a certain issue
– Note: the purpose can help readers identify the audience
 Elements of a Critical Analysis
■ In order to decide whether or not the writer is
effective in establishing his/her purpose the
following elements should be considered:

■ Evidence (and credibility)

■ Tone (and language) – this includes word choice and
sentence structure.
 Evidence
■ Relevancy and Sufficiency of Evidence - is there enough
of the right kind to support the claim?
– Does the author cover a range of different sources of
evidence?
– Are the sources the author uses credible?
■ Statistics - can be misused, manipulated or misinterpreted.
■ Comparisons and Analogies - reliability depends on how
closely they correspond to the situation
 Evidence (continued)
■ Look for Emotional Appeals
– Emotional appeals can be an effective way to
communicate an argument depending on the issue and
purpose
– Emotionally charged or biased language
– An ineffective emotional appeal is the use of a “False
Authority”
■ athletes endorsing underwear
■ movie stars selling shampoo
– “Join the Crowd” Appeal or Bandwagon
 Evidence (continued)
■ Evaluate the logic of the argument
■ Errors in logic are commonly called logical fallacies
■ Non Sequitur (“It Does Not Follow”)
– “Because my doctor is young, I’m sure she’ll be a good doctor.”
■ Circular Reasoning/Begging the Question
– “Female police officers should not be sent to crime scenes because
apprehending criminals is a man’s job.”
■ Hasty Generalization - conclusion derived from insufficient evidence
– “Because one apple is sour, all of them in the bowl must be
sour.”
 Credibility
■ A piece of writing that is determined to contain good
evidence can be deemed to be credible.
■ The credibility of a text can also be determined through an
evaluation of the author’s background.
■ What is the author’s:
– professional/educational background? personal involvement with the issue
at hand? expertise in the topic he/she is discussing?
■ This information can give the reader more insight into the
credibility of the author.
– Can we rely on what he/she says? Can he/she possibly be biased? Is the
author an authority in such a topic? Does his/her area of expertise and
experience lend to this authority?
 Tone
■ The tone also plays an important role in how effectively the purpose is
achieved.
■ The tone of a written text can allow readers to feel angry or empathetic
about an unjust situation, for example. If this is the case, then the author
intending such a reaction has achieved his purpose.
■ Examples of tone:
– Angry or bitter or critical - conversational
– Praising Motivational or inspirational - pedantic
– Urgent or warning - scientific and informative
– Sympathetic (Feeling sorry for)
– Humorous/serious
– Hopeful/hopeless
– Passionate/enthusiastic
– Encouraging
 Language
■ Creates the tone
■ The phrases and vocabulary used by the author
should be analyzed to determine whether they
are appropriate given the purpose and audience
■ Identify the word choice as, for example:
– sophisticated, academic, conversational,
technical, figurative
 The author effectively communicates her claim that the lack of meaningful representation of disabled
people in the media is universally damaging through a tone that fluctuates between sarcastic and dispirited.
The dispirited attitude is portrayed through words that the author has chosen to describe herself, specifically
“crippled” (para. 1) and “totter” (para. 1). Both words clearly create an image of a physically weak person and
evoke feelings of sympathy in the reader. The author perhaps hoped that her able bodied audience would feel
sympathy so that they would more easily accept her position expressed later in the article that able bodied
people are also harmed by not seeing disabled people in advertisements and film. The feeling of dispiritedness is
further solidified in the image the author creates of the erasing of disabled people from society. She chose to use
variations of the word “efface” twice; “effaced” (para. 4) and “effacement” (para. 5). An important aspect of the
author’s claim is that by not including disabled people in the media, disabled people feel isolated. She vividly
succeeds in expressing what this isolation feels like to her audience by twice using a word that literally means to
erase and make something become insignificant. While the dispirited tone permeates the article, the author
also injects moments of sarcasm to fulfill her purpose of highlighting the absurdity of advertisers’ rationale in
excluding disabled people from their ads. By posing obviously mocking rhetorical questions such as “If you saw
me pouring out puppy biscuits would you think these kibbles were only for the puppies of cripples?” (para. 4)
and “If you saw my blind niece ordering a Coke, would you switch to Pepsi lest you be struck sightless?” (para. 4),
Mairs highlights the ridiculousness of the advertisers’ rationale for not including disabled people in their ads. The
balance Mairs achieves between sarcasm and dispiritedness produces her desired goal of making her able
bodied audience aware of the negative outcomes that come from the lack of representation of disabled people.
Critical Analysis
■ A critical analysis should begin with the identification of
the central argument, audience, and purpose.
■ The analysis should proceed with an analysis of the tone
and/or evidence with explicit examples from the text.
■ The tone and evidence should be discussed as they relate
to the audience and purpose and if these elements are
effectively leveraged in the text.
 What does it mean to synthesize
information?
Synthesizing sources can mean summarizing,
paraphrasing, and/or quoting source material,
thinking critically about it, comparing and
contrasting the material among sources, and then
adding your own voice through analysis and
evaluation.
 SYNTHESIZING OCCURS WHEN YOU
MERGE NEW INFORMATION WITH
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE TO FORM A NEW
IDEA, PERSPECTIVE, OR OPINION.
As you read, remember familiar information, create new
thinking, discover original ideas, and achieve insight to
new perspectives.
Our thinking grows as we read just like each ripple grows from
the previous ripple, increasing in size, but they all stem from
the original drop of the pebble
An unsynthesized paragraph retrieved from:
How to Synthesize Written Information - 4 Steps & Examples | Simply Ps
ychology
Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. He
looked at 17 females and 18 males and found that none of them
liked APA. According to Franz, the evidence suggested that all
students are reluctant to learn citations style. Perez (2010) also
studies undergraduate students. She looked at 42 females and 50
males and found that males were significantly more inclined to
use citation software (p < .05). Findings suggest that females
might graduate sooner. Goldstein (2012) looked at British
undergraduates. Among a sample of 50, all females, all
confident in their abilities to cite and were eager to write their
dissertations.
 Now a synthesized paragraph using the same sources and
information from the sources:

Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting

conclusions regarding relationships between advanced
scholarly study and citation efficacy. Although Franz (2008)
found that no participants enjoyed learning citation style,
Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that all
participants watched felt comfortable citing sources,
suggesting that variables among participant and control group
populations must be examined more closely. Although Perez
(2010) expanded on Franz's original study with a larger, more
diverse sample...
 Summary of synthesis strategies
■ In order to synthesize well, you need to know your sources well. Read them
several times, take notes, and look for ideas that stand out to you as
interesting, significant, or strange
■ Make unusual connections among sources instead of just dumping data into
your essay. Offer ideas from sources, and then analyze those ideas.
■ Ask questions about your sources:
- What is missing?
- What is different among them?
- What is the same among them?
- Why are connections among sources interesting?

- Offer your readers fresh insights into source material; be the teacher/scholar.
Summary of what you need to
demonstrate in the final exam.
■ 1. ABILITY TO WRITE IN FORMAL ENGLISH! (including rich
vocabulary).

■ 2. Good topic sentences that effectively establish the main idea of the
paragraph and what kind of paragraph is coming.

■ 3. Coherent paragraphs that have a logical flow of ideas.

■ 4. CORRECT APA CITATION! (No reference list will be required so do

not include one.)
ENGL203 Final Exam for Fall, 2023
■ Date: Tuesday, December 12
■ Time: 2:00 (14:00) until 5:00; you will likely be given 2 hours to complete the final
■ Location: EC-B13

■ Bring with you:

- Bring 2 pens (and white out if you use it)
- Bring any personal supplies you need: Kleenex, water etc.
- You CANNOT have your vocabulary list with you this time.

RELAX you are ready for this. The best way to prepare is to review all notes
you’ve taken throughout the semester; review feedback I’ve given you on
Turnitin. READ, READ, READ any article from the handbook. Reading is how
you become acquainted with sentence structure, word choice and word order.