UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING (ELC501)

Written Article Analysis (WAA): What Makes Cyberbullying So Popular?

MC242/NMCP3A

LECTURER:

MADAM DIANE SIMA DOUGLAS TELAJAN

SUBMISSION DATE:

11th July 2020

Table of Contents

1.0 Identifies the issue...........................................................................................................................3

2.0 Identify the argument/author’s point of view............................................................................3
3.0 Recognize the types of supporting details................................................................................3
4.0 Evaluate the supports.....................................................................................................................4
4.1 Relevance and/or Consistency.................................................................................................4
4.2 Objectivity......................................................................................................................................4
4.3 Completeness...............................................................................................................................4
4.4 Validity and Credibility................................................................................................................4
5.0 Determine an author’s tone...........................................................................................................5
6.0 Determine an author’s purpose....................................................................................................5
7.0 Determine an author’s intended audience.................................................................................5

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1.0 Identifies the issue
In the article, “What Makes Cyberbullying So Popular?” the author, Romeo Vitelli Ph.D. deals
with the issue of whether the awareness and control mechanism of online harassment is
adequate or not to prevent cyberbullying cases from happening again.

2.0 Identify the argument/author’s point of view

The author argues about the legal recourse and no relief from the endless cyberbullying to
punish the cyberbullies as the internet usage allows them to distribute message anonymously
and it is uncontrollable. This is because the article is discussing about the unclear legal action
taken to the perpetrator which leads to the increasing numbers of cyberbullying cases being
reported every single day. Publics can’t tell if they are a victim or not when dealing with online
harassment due to lack of awareness on cyberbullying.

3.0 Recognize the types of supporting details

To support his point of view, the author made some references from research by experts like
Mariek Vanden Abeele and Rozane de Cock in the research findings: Cyberbullying by mobile
phone among adolescents: the role of gender and peer group status (2013). There is also
another research by Shaojing Sun of Shanghai's Fudan University and Xitao Fan of the
University of Macau in the research findings: Is there a gender difference in cyber-victimization?
A meta-analysis (2018).

Apart from using references from experts, he also supported his point of view by presenting of
the suicide case chronology of Rehtaeh Parsons.

The flaw in this article is we feel that the explanation given by the author is insufficient to
support his argument. For example, in the beginning the author is sharing the suicidal story of
Rehtaeh Parsons. Whereby, in the case investigation stated that there is insufficient evidence to
charge the perpetrator. But upon the death of Rehtaeh Parsons, her mother seeks for justice
and the cyberbullies has been charged accordingly due to distributing child pornography. This
shown that the legal action is there, but a bit delay due to inadequate control mechanism to
tackle the issue from beginning. Apart from that, author keep explaining on victimization, not the
control mechanism itself.

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4.0 Evaluate the supports

4.1 Relevance and/or Consistency

The support used by the author is generally consistent. This is because the author
made a consistent view on which the prevalent of harassment is still unclear. There is
also some debate about how we can identify cyberbullying and yet the actual penalties
still vary widely. Furthermore, even determining who is responsible in some cases can
be nearly impossible due to the use of virtual private networks and other methods to
mask the identity of the sender.

4.2 Objectivity
Some of the support used by the author lacked objectivity. This is because he did not
provide enough support in the form of facts or evidence to back his opinion about
cyberbullying punishment. Without a doubt, he did present a lot of studies on
cyberbullying supporting details, such as the research on gender specification (which
gender has high possibilities to be the victim). However, when it came to justifying his
arguments that either legislation is sufficient or not, he failed to provide solid support
from experts, research findings or statistics.

4.3 Completeness
The author’s arguments about the unclear legal action taken to the perpetrator is
incomplete. The reason it is so is because the author repeatedly mentioned studies
view on who is being victimized. The author presented a study published in the Journal
of Media Psychology which often provide conflicting findings who is being victimized and
victim sex differences. In doing so, we consider his arguments as incomplete.

4.4 Validity and Credibility

Some of the refutations presented in paragraphs IV, V, VI, VII and VIII are valid and
concrete, but it is focusing on victims only, not on the perpetrator. Therefore, the
credibility of the author is questionable as instead of sharing his opinion on the
uncertainty possibilities of victim’s gender differences, he should explain more on the
lack law legislation to control and stop cyberbullying. Therefore, they appear merely as
the author’s opinions.

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5.0 Determine an author’s tone
The author’s tone is cautionary and concern which inspire an atmosphere of raise awareness
and reminding. The choices of words such as ‘endless’, ‘relentless’, ‘vulnerable’, ‘learning’ and
‘need’ indicate that the author hope to create awareness among the readers.

6.0 Determine an author’s purpose

The author purpose for writing this article is to let readers know that cyberbullying is dangerous
and currently yet to have clear state of punishment to punish the doers because it is being
conducted anonymously online.

7.0 Determine an author’s intended audience

The article is intended for parents, victims, the authority and those involved in the need for real
solutions to stop cyberbullying.