Many people find argument analysis challenging because they don’t know what kinds of things they should annotate. While the best way to prepare and build a generally strong skill set in this area is simply to expose yourself to this task often and intensely, there are some shortcuts you can take. Here are my recommendations for what you should keep an eye out for if you are struggling to find persuasive techniques in a piece.
1. Big words you don’t understand…or just big words in general. If you don’t understand them, or they look intimidating to read, there’s a good chance they’re there for a reason. These fall into the categories of jargon or specialist/high-level/esoteric language, or a high-level semantic field (so that’s the device you name). How do you analyse that? The author uses them to make themselves look intelligent and educated, and to thus build ethos.
2. Statistics. A visual cue! Scan through your piece and just circle any numbers or percentage signs you see. Call these statistics or statistical evidence. They are used to make the author look logical (builds logos) and well researched (builds ethos), so you are led to believe they know a lot about the topic and are an authoritative source.
3. Punctuation. Another visual cue! Circle all the exclamation marks, quotation marks, question marks, dashes and any other pertinent or unusual punctuation. Punctuation is a deliberate choice, and authors put these visual cues in to lead your attention to what they think is most important. Quotation marks typically indicate quotation of an expert opinion (you can analyse this the same way as statistics, see point two). Exclamation marks follow an important statement, or emotional claim, while dashes generally precede or surround the same. Question marks typically indicate a rhetorical question, which invites the reader to think about how they want to problem to be resolved. Punctuation will provide you with a wealth of moments to analyse, and point you in the direction of the most important arguments.
4. Adjectives and adverbs: my favourite for thinking about how various people and ideas are positioned. If you’re selling apples, you’ll describe them as the most delicious, crunchy fruit you’ll ever taste – just perfectly sweet and sour. With vibrant reds and greens to brighten up your fruit bowl, and beloved by everyone young and old, who wouldn’t buy a bag?
But if you’re the kumquat stand next door, you might call apples dry, floury, boring fruits with no zest or particular flavour, and which oxidise fast to become slimy, rubbery and brown. They’ve had their day in the sun, and can provide nothing new or interesting to the family fruit salad.
Right? So, what’s the difference between these pieces? The adjectives and adverbs used to characterise an apple. I deliberately chose those adjectives to make you think of something! They were not random! The authors of your texts put them there too, and for the same reasons. I challenge you: go through an article and just circle all the adjectives and adverbs you find. I guarantee it will speed your search for both emotive language and the author’s contention and positioning of stakeholders.
That’s it guys! Good luck annotating, and let me know if this helped you with your argument analysis!
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