PB2B

PB2B: Who Really Has Moves?

            Moves are the methods or tricks that an author uses to sway an audience and express their creative voice. These moves vary in their appearance but all serve the same purpose of improving an author’s rhetoric. Through careful analysis an authors’ “moves” used and their effectiveness become clear.

These “moves” being analyzed are conveniently listed in They Say, I Say which provides a move list. Like any move list, the listed moves can be combined to create a killer combo of creative rhetoric. These moves are pulled from Carroll’s “Backpack and Briefcases”. Carroll uses a variety of moves such as adding meta-commentary. Adding meta-commentary is the writer’s addition or breakdown of a quotation—a tack on of their opinion. Carroll uses the adding meta-commentary move to explain a quote, “In other words, most of our actions are persuasive in nature” (page 39). This addition of meta-commentary was used to make sure the meaning of the quote (which is admittedly vague) to ensure the meaning of the quote got through. Carroll continues to string the reader with her moves by surprising them with the introduction of quotations. The introduction quotations is used throughout the essay and used to segue the conversation into its new sub-points. This goal is evident with the introduction of the Kenneth Burke quote (page 39), the quote needing to be introduced was done so. “In fact, our saturation in media and its images is one of the reasons why learning to do rhetorical analysis is so important” (page 38). Carroll chooses this move to uphold the points she makes later in the piece, if the reader does not believe the paper is worth reading they are less likely to complete or even attempt to understand it.

With the establishment of importance being made, a counter argument must also be addressed. To address any counters Carroll uses the entertaining objections “move”; ““So you might be wondering... –why do you need to know how to do more formal analysis?” (page 49). Carroll used entertaining objections well to segue into her conclusion effectively. She was able to drive her final point home well by addressing any final concerns. Once the counter is addressed the ideas must flow smoothly. To make this happen, Carroll uses the commonly used transition such as “For Example” (page 43). These transitions are used to open an illustration that would help the reader understand the concept better. The transitions were highly effective as the reader can clearly know that an example is about to be given.

A move list is not stuck with the manufactured meaning, move lists can also be customized to an author’s personal taste. These custom moves can be assigned trademark titles that embody their meaning and purpose. These moves are discovered in Carroll’s’ “Backpack and Briefcases” and Boyd’s “Murder! Rhetorically”.

With a curious quip, Carroll shifts the reader’s view into an inquisitive state. Carroll uses “Question Quakes” (a mass of rhetorical questions forced into sequence) to drive her points into the readers minds (page 37) (page 49) (page 47). These question quakes effectively guide a reader’s mind to review points being made.

Carroll uses multiple lists to convey information to the reader. The lists are an effective method of providing the information in her argument and help it flow. The lists, found across the piece, are often numbered encouraging it to be coined as the “Carroll Count”. These lists organize the information (especially the large amount she covers) in an easily digestible manner. Carroll’s next move, the “Pay Attention Here”, Carroll uses strong key phrases such as “the key idea…” (page 44) “One final example…” (page 49) to open up her final point for an argument. Carroll chooses to do this to make it clear about what point she was trying to make in a section, she want to avoid ambiguity. This move is effective because the meaning of the paragraph is made clear, if at the cost of a surprise.

Boyd uses dramatic titles such as “getting in touch with your inner detective” and “Cultivating your inner coroner” (page 65) (page 68). This move, called the “Crime Caption”, separates the information creatively and makes the reading entertaining. Each dramatic title uses a mystery/crime theme such as coroner and detective references. These Crime titles are an effective way to separate the ideas and organize them, while still serving to entertain the reader. Boyd’s next move is the “Delayed Definition”. Boyd delays providing her definition of rhetoric until the end of the paper. The essay refers to rhetoric through the piece but only provides an author’s definition a t the end. This delayed definition was used by Boyd as a stylistic decision wishing to frame her paper in this manner. It worked because she built to the definition instead of breaking the definition down.