METHODS OF PARAGRAPH B. Sleeved undershirts were first sold commercially by Sears and Hanes in the late 1930s.

C. During W W II, T-shirts were standard military issue and were used as outerwear in the
AND COMPOSITION DEVELOPMENT
tropics.
Prepared by ELMER P. BRABANTE, LLB
II. After W W II, civilians began using T-shirts as outerwear.
A. Veterans liked them because they were comfortable and absorbent.
Paragraph is a group of sentences related together by a common purpose of
B. They were popularized in movies like A Streetcar Named Desire and Rebel Without a
developing one thought. Paragraphs when stringed together create a composition Cause.
or essay. C. Parents liked them for children because T-shirts were easy to care for.
III. T-shirts soon became embellished with pictures and messages.
QUALITIES OF A GOOD PARAGRAPH AND ESSAY A. Children’s T-shirts had pictures of cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse.
B. Adult T-shirt designs were usually related to sports team logos.
1. COHERENCE. A paragraph is coherent when sentences and thought flow logically C. T-shirts soon became used for “political” statements.
and smoothly. This is achieved by arranging the details in logical order, by using 1. The first “political” T-shirt was made in 1948 and read “Dew-It with Dewey.”
transitional connectives to link the thought of one sentence with the next one, by 2. Peace symbols were popular during the 1960s.
repeating in later sentences some relevant terms used in the preceding sentences, 3. Ideological slogans such as “A Woman’s Place Is in the House (and in the Senate)”
or by placing the sentences into parallel construction to point up their relationship. appeared during the 1970s.
2. UNITY. A paragraph has unity when all its parts (sentences) are linked together to D. During the 1980s, T-shirts became waking billboards, especially for sports
form a single main thought. This is achieved by following a deductive or inductive development.
structure. IV. Today you have a choice of unique designs for T-shirts.
3. EMPHASIS. A paragraph has emphasis when the main idea stands out above the A. T-shirt print shops will customize a message for you.
minor or supporting ideas. Emphasis is achieved by position, by proposition, by B. Craft fairs often offer air-brushed T-shirts.
repetition, and by logical/climactic order. C. Your local copy shop will put your picture on a T-shirt.
D. You can buy your dressy T-shirts with rhinestone and pearl decorations.
METHODS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT E. You can even spend over $800 for a Gianni Versace abstract print of mercerized
cotton that feels like silk.
I. NARRATION – The method of telling a story or events. B. Space / Spatial Arrangement
A. Time / Chronological Arrangement 1 Geographic: country to country, city to city, town to town, etc.
2 Directional: north to south to east to west; left to right; spiral, top to bottom, side
1 Normal Chronology: A to Z
to side, etc.
2 Reverse Chronology: Z to A
3 In Medias Res: L to Z Space arrangement in exposition involves description. How could you construct a
4 Flashback: A-D-L-R-U house on an incline plane? Why would you consider having a tennis court on the north side
5 Stream of Consciousness: G—T—X—C—N instead of on the east or west. An engineer surveying a piece of land would have to give the
landmarks—a creek running in a broken arc along the northwest section; perhaps, two rows of
Some patterns of narration are used in exposition. How did the Little Red Hen finally
coconut trees on the east, a cart trail on the south.
bake the bread? How did Bataan ultimately fall? In answering these questions, one would
trace step by step the sequence of events from the beginning to the end. The chronological There is no limit to the employment of space arrangement as a narrative. The
order is used. In the case of the Little Red Hen, the narrator starts with the finding of the rice housewife setting her furniture, the stevedore unloading cargo, the fisherman constructing a
grains when the Little Red Hen asks, ―Who will help me plant the rice?‖ The planting followed, corral, the general planning his battle—all of them inevitably use the method.
then the harvesting, pounding, and baking—all done by the Little Red Hen—because the cat, Outline Example: Visiting Yellowstone
the goose, and the pig would not help. I. Your first stop should be at the South Entrance Visitor’s Center.
Outline Example: History of the T-shirt A. Talk with a park ranger to help plan your trip.
I. The T-shirt originated as an undergarment at the beginning of the twentieth century. B. Attend a lecture or film to orient yourself to the park.
A. The first undershirts with sleeves were designed for sailors so sensitive people would be C. Pick up materials and maps to make your tour more meaningful.
spared the sight of hairy underarms. II. Drive northwest through the Geyser Valley to Old Faithful.
1
 A. Hike the boardwalks in the Upper-Geyser Basin. necessary and proper because too much and incorrect descriptions might kill the
B. Join the crowds waiting for Old Faithful to erupt on schedule. reader‘s interest. Select only those details and reactions which contribute to the
C. Have lunch at Old Faithful Inn. unifying impression in the passage, and the general purpose of the narration in
III. Continue north to Mammoth Hot Springs. which the description occurs.
A. Plan to spend the night at the lodge or in one of the cabins. The sun was in our eyes, for it was dipping into the bright sea. The sky was
B. Attend the evening lectures or films on the history of the park. wide and deep and very blue above us; but along the saw-tooth rim of the
IV. Drive southwest to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Katayaghan hills to the southwest flamed huge masses clouds. Before us the
A. Take the view from Inspiration Point. field swam in a golden haze through floated big purple and red bubbles when I
B. Hike down the trail for a better view of the Yellowstone. looked at the sinking sun. Labang’s white coat which I had washed and brushed
that morning with coconut husk glistened like beaten cotton under the lamplight
and his horns appeared tipped with fire. he faced the sun and from his mouth
II. DESCRIPTION – The method of writing by perceiving the subject pictorially, and
came a call so loud and vibrant that the earth seemed to tremble underfoot. and
generally by appealing to the senses.
far away in the middle of the fields a cow lowed softly in answer. (How My
A. Objective Description – factual, concrete, truthful Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife)
Ex: The first-year high school student stands five feet and nine inches. 4 Avoidance of Catalogue – Omit details and observations which are obvious and
This type of description is commonly used in news articles and scientific trite, and avoid subjective reactions.
research. Example: Every time I meet Arcadio, I am reminded of an octopus. He
B. Subjective Description – interpretive, imaginative, creative, literary has long arms and legs which move like tentacles. He holds his books loosely.
Ex: The millennial scholar is tall and sexy. His fingers are long and thin, and so is his body. His eyes are round and his
This type of description is used in feature articles, stories, novels, and other head is small. It is out of proportion to his long limbs. His hair is black. His
literary writing. forehead is narrow, but not too narrow, and his nose is short. His eyebrows are
The most common devices used are Figures of Speech such as simile, straight; his cheeks are flat. His mouth is thin. You don’t notice his ears
metaphor, irony, hyperbole, personification, oxymoron… because they are small like the rest of his face.
Things to Remember in Describing: 5 Consistency in Point of View (POV)
Physical POV (Perspective) is an actual spot from which the described
1 Familiarity – a familiar object is easier to write about.
object or scene is observed. This is done by using an imaginary lens — include
2 Concreteness, clarity, and vividness – Provide clear-cut details, not over-all hazy
only objects that are within the frame and exclude those that are not. Begin a
impression, about the object. Use concrete, clear, and vivid adjectives and verbs
new paragraph when another angle or object is meant to be presented.
that appeal to the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and feeling.
Mental POV (Attitude) determines the mood or tone of the description.
Never had the Maypole been so gayly decked as at sunset on midsummer
This is achieved by defining the character of the writer in relation to the character
eve. This venerated emblem was a pine-tree, which had preserved the slender
in the story. A beggar looks at a small farmer as a comparatively well-off person;
grace of youth, while it equaled the loftiest height of the old wood monarchs.
an haciendero would look at the same farmer in a different way.
From its top streamed a silken banner, colored like a rainbow. Sown nearly to
the ground the pole was dressed with birchen boughs, and others of the liveliest
III. EXPOSITION
green, and some with silvery leaves, fastened by ribbons that fluttered in
fantastic knots of twenty different colors, but no sad ones. Garden flowers and
Exposition is the form of discourse whose primary purpose is to explain or interpret
blossoms of the wilderness, laughed gladly forth amid the verdure, so fresh and
facts and ideas. How do you make a bamboo fan or a shrimp trap? In showing the process,
dewy that they must have grown by magic on that happy pinetree. Where this
you use exposition. When Jesus explained the parable of the sower and of the talents, he
green and flowery splendor terminated, the shaft of the Maypole was stained
employed the expository method. In defining a peninsula or an isosceles triangle or
with the seven brilliant hues of the banner at the top. On the lowest green bough
democracy, in presenting an abstract idea by means of familiar objects or by means of
hung an abundant wreath of roses, some that had been gathered in the sunniest
examples, in comparing or contrasting Taal Lake and Lake Lanao, in giving the causes and
spots of the forest, and others, of still richer blush, which the Colonists had
effects of erosion, in the analysis of a poem or soap, in telling the three reasons why Juan
reared from English seed. (The Maypole of Mary Mount)
prefers Grace to either Jejomar or Mar—in all these, exposition is used.
3 Appropriateness – Control the use of figures of speech; choose only what is
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 Exposition is used in description, narration, argumentation, and persuasion, so that
it may be said that the process of explaining is the most important of the five forms of
discourse.
There are several methods of exposition:
Process Classification Analogy
Definition Comparison & Contrast
Example Cause and effect
PROCESS
This expository method is used to explain how to make or do something. It may be
simple or complex. The simple process is an elementary explanation, such as telling a child
how to peel a hard-boiled egg, showing a stranger the way to the post-office, how to appear
intelligent in class. The complex process involves a complicated method: how to dance the
Apalachicola, how to build a tunnel across the San Juanico Strait, how to cause rain in
summer. Often, technical terms are used, but the method of proceeding from unfamiliar to
familiar is taken as well.
General and Specific Considerations
1. Be simple and clear. At the beginning define the terms that are likely to be misleading or
misunderstood. Hold technical terms to a minimum.
2. Do not take too much for granted; consider the audience or reader. Tacking may be a
simple matter to a sailor, but to a landsman unfamiliar with sailboats it may not mean
anything.
3. Use diagrams or illustrations whenever possible.
4. In a simple process the method used is explaining is chronological. If the process
requires the use of materials or pieces of equipment, these should be listed before the
steps are given. Thus, for instance, in the making of avocado ice cream the process calls
for a listing of the ingredients at the start.
5. In the complex process proceed from the particular to the general, from the familiar to the
unfamiliar. In explaining the sulphur content of an egg in his essay ―Animal Chemistry‖
Oliver Wendell Holmes writes: “If you use a silver spoon in eating an egg, it becomes
discolored, as you may have observed, which is one of the familiar effects of sulphur. It is
this which gives a neglected egg its peculiar aggressive atmospheric effect.”
6. In a complicated process which involves discussion of details, dividing the subject into
convenient units makes for greater clarity.
Five Steps of Reading Textbooks
I. First, skim through the chapter to get the “big picture.”
A. Identify from large-print section headings the major ideas that will be covered.
B. Find and read any summary statements.
C. Find and read any boxed materials.
D. Begin a key-word skeleton outline of major topics that will be covered.
II. Second, read the chapter a section at a time.
A. Make notes to yourself in the margins.
1. Write questions about material you do not understand.
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2. Write a brief summary of ideas you do understand.
3. Make numbered lists of any materials presented in series.
B. Look up the definitions of unfamiliar words in the book’s glossary or a dictionary.
C. Go back and highlight the section you have just read.
1. Highlight only the major ideas.
2. Highlight no more than ten percent of the text.
III. Third, reread the chapter.
A. Fill in the skeleton outline with more detail.
B. Try to answer the questions you wrote in the margin.
C. Write out questions to ask your instructor on anything that is still not clear.
IV. Fourth, recite what you have read.
A. Use your skeleton outline to make an oral presentation to yourself on the chapter.
B. Talk about what you have read with someone else.
1. Ask your roommate, a classmate, or friend to listen.
2. See if you can explain the material so that your listener understands it.
V. Finally, review the material within twenty-four hours.
A. Review your skeleton outline.
B. Reread the highlighted material.
C. See if you can answer any more of your questions now that you have the time to digest
the material.
ANALYSIS BY CLASSIFICATION
This method of analysis calls for a division and sometimes sub-division of elements that
make up an idea or an object. The divisions must be mutually exclusive; that is, each division
is independent of the others, although each contributes to the general theme.
In analysis by partition, one begins with an idea, an object or an individual, and separates
it into its various elements. In classification, one begins with a group and divides it into
appropriate smaller independent parts.
How to Detect Propaganda
Clyde Miller
If citizens are to have a clear understanding of present-day conditions and what to do
about them, they must be able to recognize propaganda, to analyze it, and to appraise it.
But what is propaganda?
As generally understood, propaganda is expression of opinion or action by individuals or
groups deliberately designed to influence opinions or actions of other individuals or groups
with reference to predetermined ends. Thus propaganda differs from scientific analysis. The
propagandist is trying to “put something across,” good or bad, whereas the scientist is trying to
discover truth or fact. Often the propagandist does not want careful scrutiny and criticism; he
wants to bring about a specific action. Because the action may be socially beneficial or
socially harmful to millions of people, it is necessary to focus upon the propagandist and his
activities the searchlight of scientific scrutiny. Socially desirable propaganda will not suffer
from such examination, but the opposite type will be detected and revealed for what it is.
We are fooled by propaganda chiefly because we don’t recognize it when we see it. It may
be fun to be fooled but, as the cigarette ads used to say, it is more fun to know. We can more
easily recognize propaganda when we see it if we are familiar with the seven common
propaganda devices. These are:
1. The Name calling device
2. The Glittering generalities device
3. The transfer device
4. The testimonial device
5. The plain folks device
6. The card stacking device
7. The band wagon device
Why are we fooled by these devices? Because they appeal to our emotions rather than to
our reasons. They make us believe and do something we would not believe or do if we
thought about it calmly, dispassionately. In examining these devices note that they work most
effectively at those times when we are too lazy to think for ourselves; also, they tie them into
emotions which sway us to be “for” or “against” nations, races, religions, ideals, economic and
political policies and practices, and so on through automobiles, cigarettes, radios, toothpastes,
presidents, and wars. Without our emotions stirred, it may be fun to be fooled by these
propaganda devices, but it is more fun and infinitely more to our own interests to know how
they work.
Name Calling
“Name calling” is a device to make us form a judgment without examining the evidence on
which it should be based. Here the propagandist appeals to our hate and fear. He does this by
giving “bad names” to those individuals, groups, nations, races, policies, beliefs, and ideals
which he would have us condemn and reject. For centuries the name “heretic” was bad.
Thousands were oppressed, tortured, or put to death as heretics. Anybody who dissented
from popular or group belief or practice was in danger of being called heretic. In the light of
today’s knowledge, some heresies were bad and some were good. Many of the pioneers of
modern science were called heretics; witness the cases of Copernicus, Galileo, Bruno.
Today’s bad names include: Fascist, demagogue, dictator, Red, financial oligarchy,
Communist, muckraker, alien, outside agitator, economic royalist, Utopian, rabble-rouser,
troublemaker, Tory, Constitution wrecker….
Glittering Generalities
“Glittering Generalities” is a device by which the propagandist identifies his program with
virtue by use of “virtue words.” Here he appeals to our emotions of love, generosity, and
brotherhood. He uses words like truth, freedom, honor, liberty, social justice, public service,
the right to work, loyalty, progress, democracy, the American way, Constitution defender.
These words suggest shining ideals. All persons of good will believe in these ideals. Hence,
the propagandist, by identifying his individual group, nation, race, policy, practice, or belief
with such ideals, seeks to win us to his cause. As Name Calling is a device to make us form a
judgment to reject and condemn, without examining the evidence, Glittering Generalities is a
device to make us accept and approve, without examining the evidence.
In the Name Calling and Glittering Generalities devices, words are used to stir up our
emotions and to befog our thinking. In one device “bad words” are used to make us mad; in
the other “good words” are used to make us glad.
4
The propagandist is most effective in the use of these devices when his words make us
create devils to fight or gods to adore. By his use of the “bad words,” we personify as a “devil”
some nation, race, group, individual, policy, practice, or ideal’ we are made fighting mad to
destroy it. By use of “good words,” we personify as a godlike idol some nation, race, group,
etc. words which are “bad” to some are “good” to others, or may be made so. Thus, to some
the New Deal is a “prophesy of social salvation” while to others it is “an omen of social
disaster.”
From consideration of names, “bad” and “good,” we pass to institutions and symbols, also
“bad” and “good.” We see these in the next device.
Transfer
“Transfer” is a device by which the propagandist carries over the authority, sanction, and
prestige of something we respect and revere to something he would have us accept. For
example, most of us respect and revere our church and our nation. If the propagandist
succeeds in getting church or nation to approve a campaign in behalf of some program, he
thereby transfers its authority, sanction, and prestige to that program. Thus we may accept
something which otherwise we might reject.
In the Transfer device, symbols are constantly used. The cross represents the Christian
Church. The flag represents the nation. Cartoons like Uncle Sam represent a consensus of
public opinion. These symbols stir emotions. At their very sight, with the speed of light, is
aroused the whole complex of feelings we have with respect to church or nation. A cartoonist
by having Uncle Sam disapprove a budget for unemployment relief would have us feel that the
American people approve it. Thus, the Transfer device is used both for and against causes
and ideas.
Testimonial
The “Testimonial” is a device to make us accept anything from a patent medicine or a
cigarette to a program of national policy. In this device the propagandist makes use of
testimonials. “When I feel tired, I smoke a Camel and get the grandest’lift.’” “We believe the
John L. Lewis plan of labor organization is splendid; CIO should be supported.” This device
works in reverse also; counter-testimonials may be employed. Seldom are these used against
commercial products like patent medicines and cigarettes, but they are constantly employed in
social, economic, and political issues. “We believe that the John L. Lewis plan of labor
organization is bad; CIO should not be supported.”
Plain Folks
“Plain folks” is a device used by politicians, labor leaders, business men, and even by
ministers and educators to win our confidence by appearing to be people like ourselves—“just
plain folks among the neighbors.” In election years especially do candidates show their
devotion to little children and the common, homey things of life. They have front porch
campaigns. For the newspaper men they raid the kitchen cupboard, finding there some of the
good wife’s apple pie. They go to country picnics; they attend service at the old frame church;
they pitch hay and go fishing; they show their belief in home and mother. In short, they would
win our votes by showing that they’re just as common as the rest of us—“just plain folk,”—
and, therefore, wise and good. Business men often are “plain folks” with the factory hands.
Even distillers use the device. “It’s our family’s whiskey, neighbor; and neighbor, it’s your
price.”
The Band Wagon
The “Band Wagon” is a device to make us follow the crowd, to accept the propagandist’s
program en masse. Here his theme is: “Everybody’s doing it.” His techniques range from
those of medicine show to dramatic spectacle. He hires a hall, fills a great stadium, marches a
million men in parade. He employs symbols, colors, music, movement, all the dramatic arts.
He appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to “follow the crowd.” Because he wants us
to “follow the crowd” en masses, he directs his appeal to groups held together by common ties
of nationality, religion, race, environment, sex, vocation. Thus propagandists’ campaign for or
against a program will appeal to us as Catholics, Protestants, or Jews; as members of the
Nordic race or as Negroes; as farmers or as school teachers; as housewives or as miners. All
the artifices of flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices, and biases,
convictions and ideals common to the group; thus emotion is made to push and pull the group
to the Band Wagon. In newspaper articles and in the spoken word this device is also found.
“Don’t throw your vote away. Vote for our candidate. He’s sure to win.” Nearly every candidate
wins in every election—before the wins are in.
Propaganda and Emotion
Observe that in all these devices our emotion is the stuff with which propagandists work.
Without it they are helpless; with it, harnessing it to their purposes, they can make us zealots
in behalf of the program they espouse. As we said at the beginning, propaganda as generally
understood is expression of opinion or action, by individuals or groups with reference to
predetermined ends. Without the appeal to our emotion—to our fears and to our courage, to
our selfishness and unselfishness, to our loves and to our hates—propagandists would
influence few opinions and few actions.
To say this is not to condemn emotion, an essential part of life, or to assert that all
predetermined ends of propagandists are “bad.” What we mean is that the intelligent citizen
does not want propagandists to utilize his emotions, even to the attainment of “good” ends,
without knowing what is going on. He does not want to be “used” in the attainment of ends he
may later consider “bad.” He does not want to be gullible. He does not want to be fooled. He
does not want to be duped, even in a “good” cause. He wants to know the facts and among
these is included the fact of the utilization of his emotions.
Another example of Analysis by Classification:
Six Simple Steps to Success
Michael Korda
Step One: Cultivate Energy
The first rule of success is to have energy. It is important to know how to concentrate it,
how to husband it, how to focus it. But first you have to have it—and a surprising number of
people don’t.
Energy is an active, positive quality, a desire to get things done and done correctly, to
more from one point to another, to rise to a specific goal, to advance to a new position, to
accomplish a given job. Some people are born with it; they put their hearts and souls into
everything they do, and they invariably succeed. Others work hard enough when they want to
or have to, but it’s uphill all the way.
5
Perhaps the best way to develop energy is this: Split up your day into the smallest possible
segments of time. Treat each segment as independent and worthwhile in itself. Once you’ve
broken your work down into components, you can launch yourself into one thing, get it done,
then go on to the next task. This will give you a change of pace and a renewed sense of
accomplishment.
For years I began workdays in a state of anxiety and rage. The desk was already a sea of
messages and mail when I arrived. Phones were ringing, and people were lined up to see me.
By 11 a.m., I was frazzled and overwrought, resentful that I had worked two hours without
having completed one single task.
Finally, I decided it was important to begin the day by accomplishing something, however
trivial it might be. I decided to spend the first hour answering mail. I would take no telephone
calls, see no one. I treated the mail as a separate block of work, important but finite. When I
read it, answered it, taken the necessary action where action was called for and got rid of it all,
I had a cup of coffee—my “reward” for a task completed—and took a walk around the office.
It wasn’t long before I began to look forward to my first hour; it gave me sense of
achievement and purpose. I could apply my energy to a limited task, instead of letting it
dissipate early in the day by not being focused on anything.
Step Two: Control Laziness
Too many of us fail because we delay tackling the difficult jobs that would win us
recognition. We are held back by simple laziness, which produces a kind of permanent inertial
if allowed to faster. The trick is to use it, to transform a negative quality into a positive
reinforcement.
Say you have a big project, one that will take several hours. Tell yourself that when it’s
done you can be lazy again, that the only thing preventing you from enjoying your laziness is
the project. Then attack it as if it were the enemy, get it out of the way, and give yourself a
spell of earned laziness.
Once you have developed a capacity for turning yourself on and utilizing your full energy
briefly, you can go on to use it for longer periods. The trick is to put yourself in touch with it in
the first place. Once it’s been trapped, you soon discover it is an inexhaustible resource.
And remember: When you set out to do something, complete it. Energy thrives on
achievement and declines as things drag on. If you start your morning indecisively, or with a
failure, you are likely to continue the day on the same note, with a consequent ebb in energy.
Step Three: Be Natural
Many people spend their days locked in mortal combat with their natural habits and behavior
patterns. Nothing could be more counter-productive. If you’re not a morning person, don’t
overload yourself with major tasks early in the day. But if you like to go to bed early and rise
early, put your hardest tasks first.
If you thrive in routine, devise one you can live with and enjoy. But be sure it is variable
enough to give you an occasional change of pace. Naturally, you will have to make
compromises from time to time. But keep in mind that the more energy you spend fighting
your inclinations, the less you will have to put to work for you.
Step Four: Boycott Boredom
Boredom saps one’s energy like nothing else. If you’re falling into patterns of boredom that
reduce your energy, try the following:
 Bet yourself that you can get done what you have to get done before the end of the day,
and reward yourself when you do.
 Give yourself one major goal a day. Then achieve it, whatever else you have to drop.
 Make one day a week a “catch up” day, so on other days you can afford to put most
small, irritating things aside.
 Give yourself a time limit for each task. Most people concentrate best with a deadline in
front of them.
 Don’t regard each day as an extension of the preceding one, so that what doesn’t get
done can be put off until tomorrow. Successful people plan their lives for successful
days, of specific accomplishment, and this urgency leads naturally to an intensified
power of concentration. So learn to think of the days as a vital, independent unit of time,
and judge your performance by what you have done today—not yesterday, not tomorrow.
Step Five: Motivate Memory
If you want to succeed, you cannot to afford to forget things. Yet it is a waste of memory
ability to remember what you could just as easily write down. So become a list maker. Many
successful people are compulsive about written lists.
Another trick to help you remember things is to care about them. If successful people have
phenomenal memories, it’s because they are totally wrapped up in what they’re doing. It’s no
problem for them to remember facts, figures and names related to their primary interests. But
since it’s not essential to remember everything, your first task must be to find out what is
important to you, and decide on your priorities.
Step Six: Dream Dreams
We are told that it is a mistake to dwell on the past. But, in fact, successful people are
usually those who have thought about their mistakes and learned from them. When something
goes wrong, face up to the consequences, do what you can to put things right, then think
about how it happened—and how it might be prevented in the future.
Many successful people also acknowledge that they daydream frequently, and these
daydreams inspire them toward a given goal. So allow yourself time for this purpose: Cultivate
your daydreams, enjoy them, make them constructive by linking them to your goal. The more
you can dream of doing, the more you can do.
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
Women in Advertisements
I. The products women were used to advertise changed.
A. In the late 1960s, 75 percent of females shown were in ads for products used in the
kitchen or bath.
B. By the late 1990s only 45 percent of females shown were in ads for products used in the
kitchen and bath.
C. By the late 1990s females were appearing in more ads for alcohol, phone services,
automobiles, and other high-ticket products.
II. Women in advertisements began to appear in different roles.
A. The percentage of women shown in domestic life (wife, mother) roles changed.
1. In the late 1960s two-thirds of women in ads were shown in domestic (wife, mother)
6
roles.
2. By the late 1990s slightly less than half of the women in ads were shown in
domestic roles.
B. The occupational roles of women in advertisements changed.
1. In the late 1960s only 9 percent of the females in ads had an identifiable occupation.
2. By the late 1990s 18 percent of the females in ads had an identifiable occupation.
3. In the late 1960s working females in ads were restricted to low-paying, traditionally
female occupations.
4. By the late 1990s the majority of females shown in occupation roles were depicted
in nontraditional jobs.
III. The apparent ages of women in ads have changed.
A. In the late 1960s almost 80 percent of the women in ads appeared to be under thirty
years of age.
B. By the late 1990s only about half of the women in ads appeared to be under thirty
years of age.
IV. The overall attitude toward women in ads appears to have changed.
A. In the late 1960s most women were portrayed in demeaning ways, as dumb and
dependent sex objects.
B. By the late 1990s more women were portrayed as intelligent, achieving, and
independent individuals.
CAUSE-AND-EFFECT
Warming Our World and Chilling Our Future
I. The greenhouse effect is the artificial warming of the earth caused by human activities.
A. It is characterized by a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
B. Carbon pollutants are producing a hole in the ozone layer.
C. If this problem is not corrected, we may see disastrous results.
1. There could be dramatic climate changes.
2. There could be serious health problems.
II. One cause of the greenhouse effect is the loss of woodlands that convert carbon dioxide
into oxygen.
A. One football-field-size area of forest is lost every second to cutting or burning.
B. Burning forests add more carbon dioxide because smoke is produced.
III. Industrial emissions also contribute to the growth of the greenhouse effect.
A. Industrial contaminants account for more than 20 percent of air pollution.
B. Carbon dioxide is released in large quantities when fossil fuels are burned.
C. Chloroflourocarbons come from refrigeration and air conditioners.
D. Nitrogen oxides are spewed out of vehicle exhausts and smoke-stacks.
IV. Increased energy consumption magnifies the greenhouse effect.
A. Both population and prosperity fuel the problem.
1. More people means more energy consumption.
2. Improved living standards add to the problem.
B. Energy consumption is the single largest cause of the greenhouse effect.
1. Fossil fuel use has more than doubled since 1950.
 2. Fossil fuels account for 90 percent of America‘s energy consumption.
3. Transportation-related energy use accounts for about half of all air pollution.
ANALOGY
Analogy shows relation of likeness between two things, consisting in the resemblance
not of the things themselves but of attributes, circumstances, or effects. The method is from
familiar to unfamiliar. The New Testament as many parables which are explained by analogy;
Chapter 13 of Matthew has a number of them, including those of the sower and of the tares:
Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered
of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the
good into vessels, but cast the bad way.
So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked
from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth.
The Principle of Radiation
Disturb the surface of a pond with a stick and a series of ripples starts from the stick and
travels, in a series of ever-expanding circles, over the surface of the pond. As the water
resists the motion of the stick, we have to work to keep the pond in a state of agitation. The
energy of this work is transformed, in part at least, into the energy of the ripples. We can see
that the ripples carry energy about with them, because they cause a floating cork or a toy boat
to rise up against the earth’s gravitational pull. Thus the ripples provide a mechanism for
distributing over the surface of the pond the energy that we put into the pond through the
medium of the moving stick.
Light and other forms of radiation are analogous to water-ripples or waves, in that they
distribute energy from a central source. The sun’s radiation distributes through space the vast
amount of energy which is generated inside the sun. We hardly know whether there is any
actual wave-motion in light or not, but we know that both light and all other types of radiation
are propagated in such a form that they have some of the properties of a succession of
waves.
IV. ARGUMENTATION
A. Argumentation is the process of proving claims with relevant, competent, sufficient,
and cogent supports or justification.
A claim is a proposition or conclusion that should be proved. Support pertains to
some data, expert opinion, and other types of evidence. The link between the claim
and the support (evidence) leads to a warrant or assumption, which pertains to an
underlying principle or belief about some aspect of the world and how it operates.
An effective argumentative composition is a product of sound reasoning skill.
Position papers, critical and analytic papers are examples of argumentative
compositions.
Claim: High school students should be restricted to no more than two hours of TV
viewing per day.
7
Support: An important new study and the testimony of educational specialists
reveal that students who watch more than two hours of TV a night have, on
average lower grades than those who watch less TV.
Warrant: Excessive TV viewing adversely affects academic performance.
B. Strategies for Argument
1. Use tactful, courteous language.
2. Point out common ground.
3. Acknowledge differing viewpoints.
4. When appropriate, grant the merits of differing viewpoints.
5. Rebut differing viewpoints.
6. Avoid committing fallacies in advancing arguments and in rebutting others‘
arguments.
Sample: Ban the Things. Ban Them All.
Guns. Everywhere guns.
Let me start this discussion by pointing out that I am not anti-gun. I’m pro-knife.
Consider the merits of the knife.
In the first place, you have to catch up with someone to stab him. A general
substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We’d turn into a
whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don’t ricochet. And people are seldom
killed while cleaning their knives.
A civil libertarian, I of course support the Second Amendment. And I believe it
means exactly what it says: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security
of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Fourteen-year old boys are not part of a well-regulated militia. Permitting
unregulated citizens to have funs is destroying the security of this free state.
I am intrigued by the arguments of those who claim to follow the judicial
doctrine of original intent. How do they know it was the dearest wish of Thomas
Jefferson’s heart that teenage drug dealers should cruise the cities of this nation
perforating their fellow citizens with assault rifles? Channeling?
There is more hooey spread about the Second Amendment. It says quite
clearly that guns are for those who form part of a well-regulated militia, i.e., the
armed forces including the National Guard. The reasons for keeping them away
from everyone else get clearer by the day.
The comparison most often used is that of the automobile, another lethal
object that is regularly used to wreak great carnage. Obviously, this society is full
of people who haven’t got enough common sense to use an automobile properly.
But we haven’t outlawed cars yet.
We do, however, license them and their owners, restrict their use to
presumably sane and sober adults and keep track of who sells them to whom. At a
minimum, we should do the same with guns.
In truth, there is no rational argument for guns in this society. This is no longer
a frontier nation in which people hunt their own food. It is a crowded,
overwhelmingly urban country in which letting people have access to guns is a
continuing disaster. Those who want guns—whether for target shooting, hunting or
 potting rattlesnakes (get a hoe)—should be subjected to the same restrictions clarification cook!
placed on gun owners in England, a nation in which liberty has survived nicely Begging the Proving a statement already taken Rapists are dangerous because
without an armed populace. Question for granted, often by repeating it in they are menaces.
The argument that “guns don’t kill people” is patent nonsense. Anyone who different words or by defining a Happiness alone is the state of
has ever worked in a cop shop knows how many family arguments end in murder word in terms of itself. The being happy.
because there was gun in the house. Did the gun kill someone? No. But if there predicate contains the subject.
had been no gun, no one would have died. At least not without a good footrace Circular Supporting a statement with itself; a He is a liar because he simply isn’t
first. Guns do kill. Unlike cars, that is all they do. Reasoning form of begging the question. telling the truth.
Michael Crichton makes an interesting argument about technology in his thriller Bifurcation / Oversimplify by assuming that an What are we going to do about
Jurassic Park. He points out that power without discipline is making this society into Black or White issue has only two sides, a global warming? Either we stop
wreckage. By the time someone who studies the martial arts becomes a master— statement must be true or false, a using all of the energy-consuming
literally able to kill with bare hands—that person has also undergone years of question demands a yes or no vehicles and products that cause it,
training and discipline. But any fool can pick up a gun and kill with it. answer, or a problem has only two or we just learn to live with it.
“A well-regulated militia” surely implies both long training and long discipline. possible solutions
That is the least, the very least, that should be required of those who are permitted Ad Using an unidentified authority to According to some of the most
to have guns, because a gun is literally the power to kill. For years, I used to enjoy Vericundiam shore up a weak argument or an knowing scientists in America,
taunting my gun-nut friends about their psychosexual hangups—always in a spirit authority whose expertise lies smoking two packs a day is as
of good cheer, you understand. But letting the noisy minority in the National Rifle outside the issue, such as a harmless as eating oatmeal
Association force us to allow this carnage to continue is just plain insane. television personality selling cookies.
I do think gun nuts have a power hangup. I don’t know what is missing in their insurance.
psyches that they need to feel they have the power to kill. But no sane society Ad Hominem Attacking an individual‘s opinion by Diaz may argue that we need to
would allow this to continue. attacking his or her character, thus save the whales, but he’s the type
Ban the damn tings. Ban them all. deflecting attention from the merits who gets emotional over nothing.
You want protection? Get a dog. (Molly Ivins) of a proposal
Ad Baculum Ignoring the issue at hand, instead Those who oppose the drug war
In writing argumentative essays, avoid committing fallacies—common mistakes in reasoning, uses intimidation, threat, or better shut their mouth or they shall
such as the following common inductive fallacies: violence be killed! I mean it.
Fallacy Explanation Example Ignoratio Maintaining that a claim has to be Despite years of effort, no one has
Non Sequitur Stating a claim that doesn‘t follow Jenn should marry Mateo. In Elinchi accepted because it hasn‘t been proved that ghosts exist; therefore,
disproved or that is has to be we should expect to see them at
(It doesn’t from your first premise or college he got all A’s.
rejected because it has not been any time.
follow) statement.
proved
Over- Offering easy solutions for If we want to end substance abuse,
False Analogy Treating an extended comparison People were born free as the birds;
simplificaiton complicated problems let’s send every drug user to prison
between familiar and unfamiliar it’s cruel to expect them to work.
for life.
items, based on similarities and Filipinos who do not love their
Post Hoc Ergo Assuming cause-and-effect After Jenny’s black cat crossed my
ignoring differences, as evidence native language smell like foul
Propter Hoc relationship where none exists even path, everything went wrong, and I
rather than as a useful way of fishes.
though one event preceded another failed my midterm.
explaining.
Division and Stating or implying that something Students enjoy studying. (All
Bandwagon Suggesting that everyone is joining Purchasing the new Swallowtail
Composition is true of an entire class of things, students? All subjects? All the
Argument the group and readers who don‘t admits you to the nation’s most elite
often using all, everyone, no one, time?)
may miss out on happiness, group of drivers.
always, or never.
success, or a reward
Hasty Presenting an example as proof Armenians are great chefs. My
Argumentum Using myth, supernatural beliefs, The same-sex marriage bill should
Generalization rather than as illustration or neighbor is Armenian, and can he
Ad Populum folk culture and opinions as bases be rejected obviously because we
8
 for the argument are a Catholic country. (3) Stanford‘s William M. Fair bank, on the Specifying Developer Specification
Strawman Taking a source out of context, or The Bible favors homosexual other hand, is devoted to the opposite end of Glossing Example 2 Contrast
misrepresenting an argument to relationship; just read the story of the temperature spectrum—the field of Attribute
look strong when in fact it is weak David and Jonathan. cryogenics, which deals with cold in the
Slippery Slope Objections to an issue are raised Support for assisting the suicide of neighborhood of absolute zero.
because unless dealt with, it will a terminally ill patient will lead to (4) Though seemingly opposite to each other, Conceding Modulator Attribute
lead to greater evil and disastrous the ultimate disposal of the the work of these two men is curiously Describing Relationship
consequences. marginally sick and elderly. intertwined.
(5) In Brown‘s specially, a crucial problem is Identifying Extender of Problem
PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH OR KINDS OF SENTENCES IN A PARAGRAPH the confinement of plasmas so hot that no #2
1 Topic Sentence – sentence that expresses the central idea. container yet devised can hold them.
2 Introducer – sentence that brings to the attention of the reader the topic of the (6) Oddly, studies of cold may provide the Speculating Extender of Possibility
paragraph, provide an opening background such as time and place setting in answer. #5
descriptive and narrative sentences. It may pose a question. (7) Fairbank is using powerful cryogenic Speculating Extender of
magnets which may be able to contain #6
3 Developer – sentence/s that expands and develops the key idea. It performs the
plasmas within their fields without direct
speech act appropriate to their contextual function. Some of these are describing
contact with them.
details or characteristics, providing examples, bringing in evidence, listing items, etc.
(8) ―If so,‖ says Fairbank, ―we will have Inferring Modulator Condition
4 Extenders – sentences that provide elaboration of ideas that are part of preceding reached the ultimate in the absurdity of Glossing to #7 Hypothetical
developer sentences. They contribute, not directly to the central idea, but rather science, a ‗bottle‘--269˚C cold, to contain a Terminator possibility
directly to the developer sentence, a detail of which may need clarification or process involving millions of degrees of
enlargement. heat.‖
5 Amplifiers – not commonly used, these sentences enlarge or provide more detailed
accounts to clarify the extenders.
6 Modulators – mark transitions or shifts in the discussion underway. They may also References:
bring in side comments on the writer‘s attitude toward what he is saying or toward the Behrens, Laurence and Leonard J. Rosen, Writing and Reading Across the
way in which he is communicating his idea. Curriculum, Pearson Longman, 2007.
7 Restater – rephrase the idea expressed in a preceding sentence for emphasis, or Dadufalsa, Concepcion, Reading Into Reading 1, Bookmark, 1992.
reformulate earlier sentences to make the meaning unmistakable. Langan, John, ed. College Writing Skills with Readings, McGraw-Hill
8 Terminator – conclude the ideas in the paragraph and bring it to a close. International, 2010.
Smith, Brenda and Leeann Morris, Bridging the Gap College Reading,
Pearson, 2014.
Example:
Tiempo, Edilberto K. and Edith L. Tiempo, College Writing and Reading, Rex
Paragraph Speech Contextual Propositional Book Store, 1980.
(cut into separate sentences) Act Function Content
(1) Nothing more clearly illustrates the vast Illustrating Topic Property
range that physics has claimed as its own sentence / characteristic
than the work of two men. introducer
(2) Sanborn Brown is concerned with plasma Specifying Developer Specification
physics, involving the so-called fourth state Glossing Example Attribute
of matter—a mass of super-excited,
electrically charged particles at extremely
high temperatures (the sun and stars are
composed of plasma).