If one considers the article penned by Susan Jacoby titled, “A First Amendment Junkie” posits an exposition right at the very inception of the writing so as to make the readers get acquainted with the topic of discussion. The argument of this essay comes across to be very convincing as the author uses appeal to precedent to establish her point. The presentation of the evidences in the course of the article substantiates the argument in the best manner possible. It needs to be noted that the article shows a perfect mesh of the persuasive techniques so as to influence the readers. The author starts off the writing using logos and then moves on to use ethos to accentuate the believability of the entire piece in context. One of the major aspects of the piece is that it also takes into reckoning the counterargument and even provides a logical dismissal of the same in the course of the writing. The use of ethos can be found more than once in this writing, thereby establishing the utmost credibility of the author in context and make the argument stronger in nature. The author also introduces direct quotation to work as expert testimony supporting the argument presented in this writing. For the purpose of substantiating the claim further, case studies are used as the author declares that she has taken the opinion of five women to gauge their respective perspective about the matter in context. The narrative of this writing takes the first person mode at times, while it remains objective with the third person perspective for the rest of the writing. (Jacoby n.d.) The conclusion is penned in first person narrative so as to establish the omnipotence of personal opinion and influence the readers, already having established the author’s credibility as an expert in the contextual topic. Thus, the article works quite perfectly as an argumentative piece.
In comparison, one can take into context the article, “Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet” written by Susan Brownmiller. The writing finds an inception with the statement of thesis. The author then opts for the use of ethos right away to establish her credibility as an expert in the subject of discussion. The writing moves on to use logos in the course of the narrative for enhancing the appeal of the persuasion. Direct quotations are used in the writing as expert testimony to introduce further evidence in support of the thesis statement in context. It has to be noted that the author uses ethos more than once in the course of the narrative- something that works just like the article penned by Susan Jacoby as discussed above. Moreover, case studies are also used in the narrative for providing more logical reasoning to the writing. The author makes sure that ample logos and pathos is used in the writing for accentuating the effect of the argument on the specific topic in context. The author endeavors to find a connection with the readers by using the word “we” in the course of the writing, thereby enhancing the audience engagement into the argumentative writing. However, this appeal to the readers is meshed with logos as facts are stated for substantiation of the matter. The author also introduces the rebuttal to the argumentation so as to approach the topic of discussion holistically. But, she makes sure to dismiss this rebuttal with her explanation in the process of writing. Toward the conclusion of the writing, there is use of ethos so as to put her point across emphatically and influence the readers. (Brownmiller n.d.) Hence, it would be correct to opine that this article uses the techniques of persuasion and argumentation with utmost perfection leaving an impression on the minds of the readers of the piece. As such, both of these articles use the methods of argumentation in their own manner so as to establish their points in the course of the respective writings.
References
Brownmiller, Susan. (n.d.). Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet. PDF.
Jacoby, Susan. (n.d.). A First Amendment Junkie. PDF.
(n.d.). Rhetorics: Means of Argument. PDF.
