Fall 2005: ENC 1102: Argument & Persuasion: Invoking the Professional Voice
Introduction Examples
Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer. “ Britannia.” Book One -- The Island Race: History of the English-Speaking Peoples. (Edited for one volume by Henry Steele Commager). New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1995.
Page 1.
In the summer of the Roman year 699, now described as the year 55 before
the birth of Christ, the Proconsul of Gaul, Gaius Julius Caesar, turned
his gaze upon Britain. In the midst of his wars in Germany and in Gaul
he became conscious of this heavy Island which stirred his ambitions and
already obstructed his designs. To Caesar the Island presented itself
as an integral part of his task of subjugating the Northern Barbarians
to the rule and system of Rome. The land not covered by forest or marsh
was verdant and fertile. The climate, though far from genial, was equable
and healthy. The natives, though uncouth, had a certain value as slaves
for rougher work on the land, in mines, and even about the house. The
Romans, however, hated and feared the sea. By a supreme effort of survival
they had two hundred years before surpassed Carthage upon its own element
in the Mediterranean, but the idea of Roman legions landing in the remote,
unknown, fabulous Island of the vast ocean of the North would create a
novel thrill and topic in all ranks of Roman society.
Vassallo, Philip. "Executive summaries: where less really is more.
(Words on the Line)."
ETC.: A Review of General Semantics. 60:1 (Spring 2003). 83-91.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 International Society for General Semantics
The Executive Summary, that brief, introductory section of a lengthy report
or proposal, is often the only place decision makers go to determine whether
they will take measurable actions on an idea or scrap it, whether they
will allocate funds to a project or shred the document. Management demands
that the executive summary live up to its name. (Summary comes from the
Latin summatium, meaning epitome.) So the expectation is clear: tell me
as thoroughly as possible, without wasting a word, only the information
important to me so that I can decide on whatever you expect of me. "Millions
of dollars are at stake," a client for a major pharmaceutical company
recently told me. "All the logic and due diligence I put into the
proposal are useless unless I can move the CEO to act on the strength
of the executive summary alone."
Richards, David. "KUNG POW; Jackie Chan Is Asia's Biggest Star. Now He's Invading America:[FINAL Edition]." The Washington Post (Pre-1997 Fulltext).
Washington, D.C.: Feb 25, 1996.
Page G.01
Sylvester Stallone is a phony. Bruce Willis is just a wimp. And don't
even mention Jean-Claude Van Damme, that . . . that . . . Belgian waffle.
In the pantheon of movie action heroes, there is only one true god and
his name is Jackie Chan. At least that's what the folks at New Line Cinema,
the distributors of "Rumble in the Bronx," would like you to
believe. A cheerfully rambunctious film in which Chan plays a tourist
from Hong Kong who unwittingly lands in the mean streets of the South
Bronx (played by the city of Vancouver), "Rumble" opened this
weekend at 1,500 theaters across the country. If it does well, rest assured,
you'll see more of the 41-year-old Chinese actor soon. Miramax has two
of his earlier slam-bangers, "Drunken Master II" and "Crime
Story," already waiting in the wings.
Morrison, Toni. “Cinderella’s Stepsisters.” Argument
and Persuasion: Writing in the Disciplines. (Behrens and Rosen section).
Pages 731-732.
Let me begin by taking you back a little. Back before the days at college.
To nursery school, probably, to a once-upon-a-time when you first heard,
or read, or, I suspect, even saw “Cinderella.” Because it
is Cinderella that I want to talk about; because it is Cinderella who
causes me a feeling of urgency. What is unsettling about that fairy tale
is that it is essentially the story of a household – a world, if
you please – of women gathered together and held together in order
to abuse another woman. There is, of course, a rather vague absent father
and a nick-of-time prince with a foot fetish. But neither has much personality.
And there are the surrogate “mothers,” of course (god- and
step-), who contribute both to Cinderella’s grief and to her release
and happiness. But it is her stepsisters who interest me. How crippling
it must have been for those young girls to grow up with a mother, to watch
and imitate that mother, enslaving another girl.