ENG 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Robertson Davies, Topic Sentence, Thesis Statement

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: English
• Course: ENG 1100
• Professor: Elaine Bailey

Document Summary

Exposition establishes the premises that form the backbone of your argument, before you embark on explaining your specific position. Requires one or a number of these elements: description, narration (eg historical argument), illustration, explanation, classification (eg in robertson davies four types of superstition), definition. Argue, convince, persuade, answer why questions questions that may have several valid points of view. Think of yourself as a kind of lawyer arguing a position. Two great lawyers can argue opposite sides of a case and both seem legitimate which is why persuasive skills are so important. Elizabeth and swift are using persuasive modes, whereas davies and sanders are doing more exposition until the later stages of their essays. Swift is trying to persuade us of the opposite position of what his persona overtly states. Most essays should combine exposition and argumentation. Move to argumentation: deduce and logically infer (moving logically from illustrations to a highly probably truth); persuade and convince.