C@VT exercise 2.h

I hope I'm putting this in the right spot...

1. The analysis written by Bryan West is in response to a political article written it the Collegiate Times. This article concerned the 2008 election, and how Hilary Clinton would not be a good choice for president. The analysis served to give a commentary about the contents of this news article as well as examine the author's use of different writing devices. The audience of this article is the undecided voters of the upcoming election, most likely college students. I know this because this essay is in a college textbook. On a more serious note, in West's introduction he mentions that in the upcoming election, many undecided voters will be swayed by articles, debates and many other factors. This essay is one of those devices.

2. The genre of this analysis is a commentary of the news article. I cannot say if i have ever written a commentary on something, but I would use it to talk about an event, or specific subject. I have read commentaries of books and events that happened in the news.

3. The author could have used a persuasive essay to get his point across that the news article is ineffective at persuading Clinton supporters. The advantage of this genre is he can build a better argument against the article. The disadvantage is that West cannot explain the writing devices the article uses as well in a persuasive essay as he can in an analysis.

4. Another genre he could have used is an editorial. This would make his analysis a response to the article instead of an commentary of the article. This would then make his audience be a larger audience of everyone that reads the newspaper. The persuasive appeals of the analysis would be altered. The analysis would no longer be its own essay, but be seen as a counterpoint, or in addition to the news article. He would need to shorten the article and stick to a few main points.

5. In the teaching profession, this style would be used to comment on a student's essay or project. A social worker uses this to argue about a person's ability to take care of his or her child. A scientist would use it to argue against a particular solution to a problem because it would fail.