discussion 3-2
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Presentation_GenresforParticipatinginPublicDiscussions_Op-Ed_Module31.pptxGenres for Participating in Public Discussions / Module 3
Essential Rhetorical Moves in an Op-Ed
What is an Op-Ed?
An op-ed, short for opposite editorial, is an opinionated article submitted to a newspaper or magazine (print or digital) for publication. They are written by members of the community, not newspaper employees.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an op-ed as "an essay in a newspaper or magazine that gives the opinion of the writer and that is written by someone who is not employed by the newspaper or magazine.“
An editorial is a opinion article that states the position of a publication's editorial board, which usually consists of top editors and opinion writers.
Whereas an op-ed presents perspective from community members, entrepreneurs, scientists and experts, and/or politician, an editorial offers the position of the newspaper or magazine publication itself.
Common Rhetorical Moves Made in an Op-Ed
Think of a “rhetorical move” as a specific step or strategy used in crafting an argument, one that is appropriate or expected for a specific genre.
In terms of composing an essay for a course, one necessary rhetorical move is to provide an introduction for the body of your essay.
Within the introduction, you may make these rhetorical moves:
Share an anecdote related to the topic that will be addressed
Provide a definition for a key concept associated with the topic
Announce one’s thesis on the topic
Use metadiscourse to provide a roadmap for how the essay will be organized and developed
Twelve Essential Rhetorical Moves in an Op-Ed
Your objective is to inform & persuade your target audience, who is willing to take 5 minutes to read your 750-word position on an important social, political, cultural, or economic issue.
Identify the exigence
Exhibit knowledge
Use appropriate diction
Show concern for the community
Anticipate and address opponents
Keep sentences short & paragraphs tight
Limit cliché language
Leave the audience w/ something to ponder
Identify with the target audience
Integrate images or visuals
Use questions
Integrate figures of speech
Synopsis of the Rhetorical Situation of “In Defense of Our Teachers”
Author: Dave Grohl
What DG Does: Lead vocalist & guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters
Op-Ed Title: “In Defense of Our Teachers”
Published in: The Atlantic
Why This Medium: The Atlantic regularly welcomes opinions from celebrities, politicians, and experts
Pub. Date: 21 July 2020
Claim: Before teachers return to public school classrooms during the coronavirus pandemic, districts need to create plans to ensure that students, staff, & teachers return safely.
Image Credit: Alexandre Schneider, Getty Images
Dave Grohl Knows Music and How to Write an Op-Ed
Grohl Makes the Essential Rhetorical Moves in “In Defense of Our Teachers”
1. Identify the Exigence
Definition: Exigence is an event or circumstance that presents someone with an opportunity to make an argument or respond to an ongoing discussion.
Where it happens:
Par 2: at the very end of the paragraph, Grohl anticipates his audience’s likely question “Why are you composing an argument about public teachers returning to teach school when you make music for a living?”
Par 3: Grohl answers this concern by announcing that his mother is a retired teacher.
People who read op-eds expect the exigence to be shared almost immediately, and Grohl accomplishes this objective within the first 200 words.
2. Exhibit Knowledge about the Topic
Personal anecdote:
Par. 4,
“As a single mother of two, she tirelessly devoted her life to the service of others, both at home and at work. From rising before dawn to ensure that my sister and I were bathed, dressed, and fed in time to catch the bus to grading papers well into the night, long after her dinner had gone cold, she rarely had a moment to herself. All this while working multiple jobs to supplement her meager $35,000 annual salary. Bloomingdale’s, Servpro, SAT prep, GED prep—she even once coached soccer for a $400 stipend” (Grohl par. 4).
Expert opinion:
Par. 6,
Grohl presents his mother as an expert/professional in teaching (more than 35 years) and relates her own perspective on reopening school. He summarizes her several concerns about reopening schools: maintaining distance on buses, in classrooms, in hallways, etc.
3. Make Diction Choices That Meet a Non-Expert Audience’s Expectations
Make diction choices that are appropriate for non-experts who will be happy to learn something about the topic.
Avoids jargon: language that would be used only by professional educators—like scaffolding and standards-based teaching and performance assessment—is absent
Uses familiar words/concepts: instead, Grohl uses terms that many parents would recognize:
SAT & GED Prep
reopening schools
remote learning
AP English / English 10
4. Show Concern for the Larger Community
Demonstrate a concern not with one’s own interests but rather the well-being of a larger community.
Where this happens:
Par. 6, Grohl shows a concern for not only for children but also for school teachers, administrators, and staff.
Specifically, he acknowledges that many school workers are substantially older than students and need additional protections to safeguard their health.
Par. 7, Grohl does not articulate any selfish motivations for wanting his own children to return to school as he warns his children not to ask for his help “unless [they] want to get an F!”
5. Anticipate & Address Opposing Views
Op-ed writers jump into conversations in which others have offered their own views,
Consequently, op-ed writers must recognize that others will disagree and must be prepared to address such views.
How? (1) Concede that an opponent’s perspective offers some reasonable ideas or solutions or (2) repudiate an opponent’s perspective as one that is flawed and explain why (briefly, remember ~750 words)
Where this happens:
Opponents’ Views:
Par. 6: safety of children is all-important
Par. 7: remote teaching is challenging for parents
Par. 8: teachers can develop their own plans for ensuring safety in classrooms
Grohl’s View:
Par. 6: safety of teachers is equally import.
Par. 7: teachers can teach students effectively through remote learning
Par. 8: districts must create plans for returning everyone safely to classrooms
6. Keep Sentences Short & Paragraphs Tight
Former New York Times’ op-ed contributor Bret Stephens contends that op-ed writers should strive to “keep sentences short and paragraphs tight.”
Where Grohl falls short:
Paragraph 4 is 317 words. That is too many words for a paragraph in an op-ed.
Grohl must separate Paragraph 4 into two paragraphs or his readers may get tired or confused.
The best place to do this would be between the sentence that ends with “could not afford. Unsurprisingly, …”
Here is a sentence that challenges Stephens’ advice:
“She was one of those teachers who became a mentor to many, and her students remembered her long after they had graduated, often bumping into her at the grocery store and erupting into a full recitation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, like a flash mob in the produce aisle” (Grohl par. 4).
For academic audiences, this sentence is perfect.
Non-expert readers, though, may have difficulty understanding how these 4 distinct ideas connect.
Paragraphs aim for 125 – 130 word maximum / Sentences 30 word maximum
7. Limit Cliché Language
Limit any cliché language like “thinking outside the box,” “playing without a full deck,” and “at the end of the day.”
Full list of clichés: https://www.be-a-better-writer.com/cliches.html
Probably the most cliché language in Grohl’s op-ed occurs in the very first sentence when he writes, “I hate to break it to you…”
Though the phrase “I hate to break it to you…” is common in American English, it still functions like metadiscourse.
Grohl uses this language to draw attention to an idea that might surprise readers.
In this instance, the phrase “I hate to break it to you” is not cliché but simply a direct way for Grohl introduce an idea.
8. Leave the Audience w/ Something to Ponder
Two steps here:
First, reframe/restate your thesis near the end of the op-ed
More important, leave the audience with something to ponder about the topic.
Where this happens:
Par 9, Grohl reframes his thesis, “May we show these tireless altruists a little altruism is return.”
This restates Grohl’s central idea that public teachers have dedicated their lives to public service, so maybe the American public can show similar service to teachers during the pandemic.
Par. 8 & 9, something to ponder: Grohl poses two questions “Without [teachers], where would we be?” He combines this with the short question “Wouldn’t you?”
Together, these two questions encourage the audience not only to consider the impact of teachers on people’s lives but also to contemplate their own values.
9. Identify w/ the Audience and Their Concerns & Values
Dave Grohl is kind of a big deal:
Lead vocalist/guitarist for Foo Fighters & drummer w/ Nirvana
12 total Grammy Awards (rock categories)
Actor
Director
Net worth is $$$$$$$ (look it up!)
Dave Grohl is like everyone else:
Par. 2: relates that he dropped out of high school during Grade 11 and still has anxiety dreams about it.
Par. 4, shares that he was raised single parent who worked multiple jobs to pay bills.
Par. 7, indicates he is a parent of 3 children.
Par. 7, emphasizes that he is not a successful homeschool teacher.
10. Integrate Relevant Images or Visuals
This is the image that appears in Grohl’s article. Seems relevant, right?
Not very much information is provided in the caption, and readers don’t know if Grohl selected this image.
Usually, editors have some influence over these 2 parts of op-eds:
Images
Titles/Headlines
11. Use Questions to Guide the Audience or Produce Emotional Responses
Hypophora: posing a question and then responding immediately to that question to lead the audience to a specific point/idea.
Example:
“So, with me being a high-school dropout, you would imagine that the current debate surrounding the reopening of schools wouldn’t register so much as a blip on my rock-and-roll radar, right? Wrong” (par. 2).
Impact:
Grohl poses a question and then immediately answers it, justifying a legitimate concern or interest in the issue of reopening schools.
Rhetorical Question: asking a question that will produce an emotional response instead of an extended period of contemplation in audience.
Example:
Every teacher has a “plan.” Don’t they deserve one too? (par. 8)
Impact:
Grohl expects his audience to agree with his statement, and in that context, feel that teachers are being treated unfairly or unjustly by school boards or administrators who do not create plans for returning students and teachers (and other school workers) safely to classrooms.
12. Integrate Figures of Speech
Allusion: brief reference to a literary, cultural, or historic person or event.
Par. 7,
Two allusions here
a 1970s TV series called Welcome Back, Kotter
a 1980s Hollywood film called Dead Poets Society
Grohl anticipates that his audience will recognize these two references and use their knowledge to assess his homeschool teaching challenges.
Analogy: a comparison of two things in order to clarify or explicate some idea.
Par. 8,
Grohl compares someone who has never played drums teaching him how to play drums to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos telling teachers how to teach.
Grohl uses this analogy to support the idea that school administrators need a plan for ensuring the safety of school faculty before demanding that they return to teach public school in the fall semester.
Simile: a comparison between two unlike things made by using “like” or “as” and designed to create new meaning.
Par. 7,
Grohl uses a simile to draw a comparison between the Trump Administration and an orchestra missing its conductor.
After reading this simile, Grohl’s audience may develop a mental image of potentially qualified people doing whatever they want since no one is providing leadership.
Twelve Essential Rhetorical Moves in an Op-Ed
Scorecard: How Many of these essential rhetorical moves does Grohl make?
Identify the exigence
Exhibit knowledge
Use appropriate diction
Show concern for the community
Anticipate and address opponents
Keep sentences short & paragraphs tight
Limit cliché language
Leave the audience w/ something to ponder
Identify with the target audience
Integrate images or visuals
Use questions
Integrate figures of speech
Takeaways for Module 3:
Argument 1—Op-ed
Audience—a general, public community, one that is local, regional, or national in scope with at least a mild interest in topics relevant to your major/discipline.
Genre—an op-ed to be published in a mass medium accessible to this audience. For instance, in San Diego, these publications would include but are not limited to
San Diego Union Tribune / Voice of San Diego / La Presa San Diego / The Daily Aztec
Purpose—to inform the rhetorical audience of a significant, important issue in your major/field/discipline and to either (1) convince this audience to adopt a specific perspective on that issue (2) or to propose and explicate a specific solution capable of addressing this concern.
Length—a text of this nature really should not exceed 750 words in length.
Format—MLA standards for document design do not need to be followed; instead, your op-ed may be single-spaced and can exhibit emphasis strategies that may appeal to the rhetorical audience.
Additional expectations—make an overwhelming majority of the 12 Essential Rhetorical Moves for Op-eds in the op-ed while crafting a coherent argument that accomplishes one of the two purposes listed above.
