ENGLISH REVIEWER

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY – a kind of writing that aims to make the reader agree with the
writer’s opinion about a cotnroversial or a debatable issue
 Argumentative – having or showing a tendency to disagree or argue
 Essay – a short piece of writing on a particular subject
INFORMATIVE WRITNG TECHNIQUES
Writing Technique?
- The style an author uses to convey his/her message in a manner that is effective and
meaningful to the audience
Informative Essay
- Explains a certain issue or topic
- Provides information and explanations in a straightforward manner
- The writer is like a reporter at a newspaper only there to state the facts, nit to offer any
sort of opinion
 Description – explains a topic in detail
 Comparison and contrast – describe similarities or differences between two subjects
 Problem and solution – present a problem and propose possible solutions
 Cause and effect – explain and analyze why something happened or how something
occurred
 Sequence – describe a sequence of events or a process in some sort of order
PERSUASIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES
 Persuasion – a technique that is used to present ideas in order to influence the audience
or to convince them to perform a certain action
 Persuasive text – any text which main purpose is to convince, motivate, move readers
towards a certain pint of view or opinion
Aristotle’s Modes for Persuasion
1. Pathos (appeal to emotion) – a persuasive strategy that plays on audience or reader’s
emotions to influence the acceptance of your argument
2. Logos (appeal to reason) – a way of persuading an audience with reason, using facts and
figures
3. Ethos (appeal to authority) – a persuasive strategy used to convince an audience based
on the author’s credibility or character
ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES
 Proposal argument (better solution) – a structure of argument that focuses on
presenting some kind of proposal as a solution to a problem
- This type of essay works well if you see a problem you want to fix or see change you
want to make
 Casual argument (real cause) – focuses specifically on how something has caused, or
has led to, some particular problem
- It answers a how or why questions
- It is an important argument type
  Definition argument (clarify the meaning of a controversial term/concept)
- A definition argument is one that asserts we cannot make clear assertions or posses a
clear understanding of an issue
 Narrative argument – one that uses story, usually presented in chronological order, to
make some kind of point, that point is persuasive or argumentative
WRITING INDEPENDENT CRITIQUE
- A critique is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically evaluates
a work or concept
To critique a piece of writing:
Describe: give the reader a sense of the writer’s overall purpose and intent
Analyze: examine how the structure and language of the text convey its meaning
Interpret: state the significance or importance of each part of the text
Asses: make a judgement of the work’s worth or value
Formatting a Critique
- Two structures for critiques, nonfiction and fiction/literature
MELC – compose an independent critique of a chosen selection
 Critique (critical analysis)
- A technique that aims to study, discuss, evaluate, and interpret literary works
WRITING A MOVIE REVIEW
- A movie review sums up the author’s personal impression and critical evaluation of a
film and its elements organized in paragraphs. Its main purpose is to inform, analyze,
convince, and entertain.
1. FILM INTRO – introduce the film by saying that you have just watched it
2. PLOT SUMMARY – summarize the plot of the movie
3. SETTING SPOTLIGHT – elaborate on how the setting contributed to the effectiveness of
the film
4. CHARACTER LIMELIGHT – talk about the actor and how they portrayed their
characters
5. LIKES AND DISLIKES – talk about the parts of the movie that you like and/or dislike
6. LESSON LEARNED – share lessons learned from the movie
7. RECOMMENDATIONS – identify the group of people who would like and enjoy seeing
the movie.

STRUCTURALIST OR FORMALIST APPROACH

- Unique form of human knowledge
- The true meaning of the text can be determined only by analyzing the literary elements.
PLOT – It is the sequence of events in a story or play.
1. Exposition – Beginning of the story.
2. Rising Action – Events in the story become complicated.
3. Climax – Turning point of the story.
 4. Falling Action – Resolution begins; events and compilations start to fall into place.
5. Resolution – Final outcome of events in the story.
SETTING – Time and location a story takes place.

CHARACTER:
Protagonist – Principal character of the story.
Antagonist – Enemy of main characters.
Round – Characters that can learn, grow, or deteriorate by the end of the story.
Flat – One-Dimensional character (won’t change)
Dynamic – Character who does grow through change and grown during a story.
Static – Character does not change.
POINT OF VIEW – The angle from which the story told.
1. First Person – story told by the protagonist. “ I or We “
2. Second Person – the narrator is speaking to YOU.
3. Third Person - the narrator is describing what’s see, but as a spectator.
Possible perspective of third person pov:
a. Limited – what is in front of him/ her. Unable to read any other characters mind.
b. Omniscient – All-knowing god.
c. Limited Omniscient – Can only see into one character’s mind.

MORALIST APPROACH
Moralist Criticism – judges the value of the literature based on its moral lessons.

MARXIST APPROACH
Marxism – cultural theory that embodies a set of social, economic, and political ideas.
It is about the gap between the rich and the poor.

FEMINIST APPROACH
Feminist Literary Criticism – Perspective of feminism to the literature we read.
 - To correct predominantly male-dominated critical perspective
- Focus on female representation in literature.

READER-RESPONSE APPROACH
Reader-response - purpose is to examine, explain, and defend your personal reaction to the
text.
- The meaning od the text is dependent upon the readers response.

THE LAST LEAF by O’ Henry

Author – O’ Henry as his pen name is William Sydney porter: he is noted for writing stories
with surprise ending.