Rhetorical Modes of DeliveryAKA Patterns of Development

In order to write about a subject:

We must order the material in a logical way for our audience to understand it.

This is the logical identity to writing

Why is this important?

• If you can recognize these patterns when conducting analysis of writing, you will improve your writing scores because it takes skill to recognize how others employ these modes in their own writing.

• In addition, it helps your own writing to recognize how others use these modes in paragraph development as well as in whole essay development. (Remember a mode can be used just to develop a main point or it can be use to develop a WHOLE essay.)

Generally speaking there are 9 modes of delivery or patterns of organization!

• Narration• Description• Process Analysis• Exemplification/Illustration• Compare/Contrast• Definition• Division/Classification• Causal Analysis• Argumentations/Persuasion

Narration

When we tell a story about a subject.

Road Map To Narration

What Narration does:Tells a story.Relates events in some climactic sequence.Humans tend to tell a good story.

When and How to use Narration• Use in essays, minutes of

business meetings, reports of scientific experiments, news releases, and case histories.

• Brief narratives are called anecdotes used to illustrate a point.

• Often follows a sequence of events.

Description

When we describe a subject or situation.

Description – What When and How

• It is a WORD-Picture.

• It tries to capture a scene, person, or thing.

• Used in letters, journal entries, reports, and memos. It’s used to describe places we have visited,

• People we have met, and adventures we have had.

• How – focus on a dominant impression or senses –describe in details.

Process Analysis

When we explain how something works or how something happened.

Process Analysis – The What, When, and How

• Gives instructions on how to do something or describes how something was done.

• Must be exact. Have you ever put something together with a step missing?

• Common in science and technology.

• Know that you are to give instructions that follow a sequence of events.

• Must have a clear purpose and thesis.

Exemplification/Illustration

When we give examples or use illustrations to make a point.

Illustration/Exemplification –What, When, and How

• Used to clarify what is being said.

• Help embody abstract ideas or sharpen ambiguous generations.

• Examples may be stacked on top of each other to illustrate a point.

• Used to support an assertion/point in arguments.

• Illustrations must be real and specific.

• They need to be clearly introduced and contextually linked to the point it is supporting/must be relevant

Definition

When we use information to define or explain a subject such as an object,

concept, or event.

Definition – The What, When, and How• Spelling out exactly

what a word or phrase means.

• Used in articles, essays, and entire books to define something.

• Sometimes abstract words need definitions.

• Begin by saying what the term means.

• Expand your definition with etymological analysis of the term.

• Clarify your definition by stating what the word is NOT or does NOT mean.

• Expand your definition with examples.

• To define a complex term properly, practice combination of techniques like examples, etymology, and dictionary definitions.

Comparison/Contrast

When we compare something to something else or we contrast something to something

else.Note: There can be fallacies in this form of

reasoning.

Compare/Contrast – The What, When, and How.

• Points out how things are similar or different.

• Comparisons can be in the form of extended analogies and are used to clarify abstract or complex ideas.

• Used in essays and college research papers.

• Must decide on the basis for comparing or contrasting known as (criteria).

• Use either alternating or block method of contrast.

Compare/Contrast Continued…

• Alternating method is when the WHOLE paragraph alternates from one side back to the other.

• Block method is when separate paragraphs are written for each side of the issue.

• Make sure the items to be compared/contrasted belong to the same class.

• Deal with both sides of the question.

• Use expressions indicating compare/contrast.

Compare/Contrast Outline

• Alternating OutlineP#1 I. Cost

A. Camry B. Jetta

P#2 II. Performance A. Camry B. Jetta

P#3 III. Looks A. Camry B. Jetta

• Block OutlineP#1 I. Camry

A. Cost B. Performance

C. LooksP#2 II. Jetta A. Cost

B. Performance C. Looks

How do you know writing is comparing or contrasting? Watch for these key words:• Expressions to

compare:• Also, bears

resemblance to both…, in like manner, likewise, similar, as well as, and in common with, like, neither…nor, too

• Expressions to contrast:

• Although this may be true, but, however, in opposition to, on the contrary, otherwise, unlike, yet, at the same time, for all that, in contrast to, nevertheless, on the one hand…on the other hand, still wheras.

Division and Classification

To break something down into its constituent parts.

Division/Classification: The What, the When, and the How.

• Break something down into its parts or into categories, or sub-topics.

• It helps to discover the nature of a subject by a study of its parts and their relationships to the larger whole.

• It follows natural human thinking – plant and animal kingdoms are classified.

• Great for complex subjects.

• Requires clear thinking.

• Must be comprehensive.

• Avoid overlapping ceterogies.

Causal Analysis

When we list or identify causes and argue the effects and outcomes.

NOTE: This can also be a fallacious argument.

Causal Analysis – The What, the When, and the How.Shows cause and effect relationships.It takes a situation and explains the causes and effects.Causal analysis is used when trying to explain why something happened or to predict the likely results if an event does or does NOT occur.

• Know the differences between necessary causes, sufficient causes, and contributory causes.

Causal Analysis Continued…

• A necessary cause is one that must be present for the effect to occur, but it alone cannot make the effect occur.

• A sufficient cause is one that can produced a given effect by itself.

• A contributory cause is one that might help produce an effect but cannot produce the effect by itself.

• NOTE: Use common sense in asserting a cause or it may be a false cause which is a fallacy in reasoning.

Argumentation and Persuasion

Presenting an argument through problem solution format that sets up an argument and defend, challenges, or

qualifies something.

Important notes on argument:

• Begin your argument at the point of contention (immediately focus on the issue)

• Draw your evidence from multiple sources.• Pace your argument with some obvious new

arguments.• Begin your argument with an assumption that is

either grounded in evidence or defensible.• Anticipate opposition.• Supplement your reasoning and evidence with

emotional appeal (stories).• Avoid logical fallacies.