Word Count: 1147

Genre Analysis on Researched Arguments

Suppose you’re writing an email to a doctor that you are interested in shadowing. How do

you begin? Maybe a greeting, an introduction that identifies you as a future medical student, then

a paragraph about your interest in the doctor’s specialty? In “Make Your ‘Move’: Writing in

Genres” posted on writingspaces.org, Brad Jacobson, an Assistant Professor of English at the

University of Texas introduces rhetorical moves analysis. Genres can be thought of as

“categories of writing” with shared purposes, contexts, and audiences (Jacobson 218). An email

to a doctor requesting the opportunity to shadow is a genre that many pre-med and medical

students know well. When we explore examples, and divide that text into essential rhetorical

moves to carry out a specific goal, we can write a more effective email (Jacobson 219). Another

genre, the researched argument, has even more complex moves that persuade the readers to

support the writer’s stance. Thus, four sample papers, “A Step Towards the End of Orca

Captivity”, “Time For Gay Class”, “A Universal Ignition Interlock: Safety changed forever?”,

and “Dangers of Gentrification: The Threats Faced By Minorities'' are used to help analyze the

different main actions in a researched argument.

Persuading readers to support the writer’s argument is the main purpose of writing a

researched argument, so to establish the importance of the topic, an essential move is to “hook

the reader’s interest.”For example, one of the papers begins with a story of a family of 4 and how

their lives were taken away due to a drunk driver who struck their car (X3). This move not only

helps to introduce the topic of the writer’s argument to build up the reader's interest but also sets

up a rising issue that the writer points out to argue for a solution. In this case, the issue would be

how drunk driving causes many accidents to occur and can cause economic problems. By
addressing the issue, the writer then introduces the context of a solution that they believe will

combat drunk driving accidents. Nonetheless, there are many variations in starting a research

argument with not only a story that is commonly written but with rhetorical questions and factual

statements. It is noted that each paper explains the background information and term of the topic

to apply in the argument. “Gentrification is the displacement of the original residents or

communities to outsiders, including the wealthy, businesses, etc.” (X4). Providing background

knowledge is essential as it allows for a better understanding of what the writer wants to discuss

and then supports a side based on the information. This overall allows for a well-structured

introduction as it creates tension to address a certain issue then leading to the main argument in

the first body paragraph.

Now that we’ve established a controversy and hooked the reader… One of the most

critical moves in a research argument is to deliver a thesis statement as it allows one to build a

well-structured argument that can be backed up with reasoning. Moreover, this move contributes

to the main action as it allows the readers to have a better understanding of the stance being

made and how its position can be defended throughout the essay. For example, “Institutions and

facilities that capture, harbor, train and breed orcas should terminate the capturing of killer

whales and release those already captive into protected, wildlife sanctuaries to mitigate the

consequences of captivity…” (X1). This writer argues that orca-capturing institutions should

stop capturing orcas due to negative implications that can lead to a low survival rate. Another

example is, “Queer pedagogy needs to be incorporated into public school curricula because it

enriches the educational landscape by reducing bullying and harassment for queer students…”

(X2). Both examples illustrate the writer’s stance on what they want to argue for and provide two

or three different reasons regarding why the reader should consider the writer’s point of view. In
this case, they both make assertions in the solutions that they believe would combat certain

issues such as that institutions should cease the capturing of orcas and public schools should

include queer pedagogy. Additionally, these thesis statements are usually found in the last few

sentences of the second body paragraph after the writer has explained the context of the

argument and the concept they want to convey.

After writing a thesis statement, providing textual evidence is essential to defend one’s

argument. By doing so, there are many different appeals- such as ethos, logos, pathos, and

kairos- that would help convince the readers. According to “Ignition Interlock,” “Alcohol

interlock in all new vehicles would prevent more than 59,000 alcohol-related motor vehicle crash

fatalities and more than 1.25 million non-fatal injuries”...could prevent up to 83% of crash

fatalities and “decrease the economic cost of fatal injuries by $260 billion and nonfatal injuries

by $83 billion” (Carter 1031)” (X3). Since the argument is in support of the usage of ignition

interlocks, the writer finds specific factual evidence that these interlocks have more benefits than

negative consequences. Using facts and statistics (appealing to logos) makes the argument more

persuasive as people won’t be able to deny facts. Additionally, the framing of the information

makes it convincing for readers as it gives the evidence and reasoning why ignition interlocks are

crucial in preventing motor vehicle crashes.” In a different example, “According to the article,

“Captive Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca) Survival,” written by former SeaWorld orca trainers, John

Jett and Jeffrey Ventre, it was reported that out of 154 captive orcas that had died before January

1, 2014, 63% of them have died before their sixth year of captivity while out of the 48 whales

that had died after January 2014, 17% of them had lived past their 30th year of captivity” (X1).

This evidence appeals to ethos as it recognizes reliable characters that have experience in terms

of their occupation and have dealt with orcas. Furthermore, it supports the writer’s argument
based on one of the reasoning that capturing orcas in institutions like Seaworld can cause a

decrease in their survival rate. Providing evidence helps to convince the readers that these

institutions are harmful to orcas and that there should be mitigations to reduce the issues.

Various moves come into play in a researched argument; particularly, some of the moves

mentioned are to hook the reader’s interest, deliver a thesis statement, and provide textual

evidence. This is important as “Rhetorical moves analysis, a type of genre analysis, offers a

useful, practical approach for students to understand how writers achieve their goals in a genre

through various writing strategies” (Jacobson 217). In other words, the rhetorical moves that

were discussed throughout the essay are some of the main actions of the genre to become a

researched argument. Such moves help to differentiate between other genres and even create

variations based on “differences in context, audience, and writers’ preferences” (Jacobson 224).
 Works Cited

Jacobson, Brad et al. “Make Your Move: Writing in Genres.” Writing Spaces, vol. 4, 2022, pp.

217-238. https://writingspaces.org/?page_id=790.

X1. “A Step Towards the End of Orca Captivity.”

X2. “Time For Gay Class.”

X3. “A Universal Ignition Interlock: Safety Changed Forever?”

X4. “Dangers of Gentrification: The Threats Faced By Minorities.”