Definition of Classification and Division

Classification and Division go hand in hand. When you read an article, classifications are all the main topics and can sometimes be found in big bold, centered headings. Divisions are the many points being made by the author about the classification. Think of classifications and divisions as a tree. The Classification would be the trunk of the tree and the divisions would be the branches. Classifications are used because it's a writer's way of organizing and introducing ideas as well as the opportunity to define anything that the reader may need to know before the writer goes in deph. Divisions then go into detail. Detail is important because we all have different perspectives and interpretations of how we understand things and so the more organized detail the author gives the more the reader will be on the same page.

For this blog I will choose three phrases from my chosen article, (Trying to Find a Cry of Desparation Amid the Facebook Drama) and define them.

First Sentence:For adolescents, Facebook and other social media have created an irresistible forum for online sharing and oversharing, so much so that endless mood-of-the-moment updates have inspired a snickering retort on T-shirts and posters: “Face your problems, don’t Facebook them.”

It is so easy for adolescents nowadays to write exactly what they are thinking and posting on social media, where only their friends and family will see it. It has become very comvenient for adolocents to write exactly what they are thinking on Facebook as if it's their very own diary and sent it off to their Facebook world to read. In fact, it has become so easy that they practically do it all the time, some people will even post an udate of their life every 5 minutes.

Phrase 2: And parents have their own conundrum: how to distinguish a teenager’s typically melodramatic mutterings — like the “worst day of my life” rants about their “frenemies,” academics or even cafeteria food — from a true emerging crisis.

Parents who read these posts feel confused as to what exactly they should do about these posts. Some of the posts are just "children" venting but when does a parent get involved? We all know kids can be dramatic at times but how do parents know when the message is truly more than just venting?

Phrase 3:“If they say something alarming on Facebook,” she added, “they know it’s public and they want someone to respond.”

One student who befriended an entire floor of her peers constantly noticed messages of concerns of others being homesic, or having relationship issues. She states that if they are posting something negative on FB for the world to see it's because these people are looking for some type of response whether it's just acknowledgment, advice or a helping hand. Once a message is out there, people should not pretend they didn't see it, especially if the person is someone close to them.

When we usually think of a definition, we think of a simple sentence that lets us know the meaning of the word but there is a lot more to a word than just 3 or 4 words that describe it. Take for example, "Starbucks", different people would tell you different things about Starbucks and in the end you would decide what that place or brand means to you. To some people, Starbucks is just an overprized coffee shop, for others Starbucks is a necessaty, for me, Starbucks is a nice little coffee shop where I can relax and sip some coffee while conversating with my friends or do my homework. However, I wrote a report on Starbucks and I can tell you that the Howard Schultz(Chief Executive), would define Starbucks as more than just a coffee shop. As you can see, defining something is much more than what you would find in Webster's dictionary, it's more about describing something based on your own experiences along with comparison and contrast. In this way writers share their perception of the world.

The article I have chosen is,"Trying to Find A Cry of Desperation Amid the FAcebook Drama". In this article the author identifies different ways in which FB might be more than just a social site. Face Book seems to be the place where most people will speak their mind and based on the research depression is increasing in adolecents and while most teenagers wont tell their parents what is going on in their lives they will post it on FB. Could Facebook be a tool to help others?

We run the risk of being brainwashed and not even know it. We are constantly recieving visual messages that are used to persuade us and we dont even question them, we just take in what the visual rhetoric may mean to us and accept the messages. For example, there are magazines everywhere constantly giving women ideas of what they should look or dress like. Magazines are often blamed for young girls having unrealistic ideas of what their bodies should look like but it's not just the yound who are affected, everyone is in search of what the media has defined as success for us. Success is now defined by the ownership of the "latest" and so many American's have gone into debt trying to meet that definition of success. When did we all become persuaded of this idea? Almost every second of every day we have been feeding our minds with the images that are everywhere constantly planting the seed in our head of what will make us happy. We don't question images the way we would question the newspaper or any information given in a text format. In a text format,rhetorical terms are used to persuade the audience one way or the other by comparing and contrasting the subject matter. Usually the writer uses facts, point of view, and argumentive statements in order to suade the reader in a particular direction.

Some of the tools used to persuade an audience are persuasive themes,master narratives,content and technical signatures, audience resonance and effects.
Persuasive themes is a subject chosen in order to influence the audience. For example, those commercials about children starving in 3rd world countries, they are asking for donations and when you watch innocent children in these conditions it is effective. They could have easily chosen a million other topics to persuade the audience to donate but it is the starving children that brings tears to our eyes.
Master Narratives are effective because they are stories that are specific to that culture or environment. For example, as I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, as a child my mother would persuade me to go to bed on time by telling me a story about a ghost that was out seeking her children. Other cultures might find this inappropriate parenting and in order to persuade one must know the audiences' background.
Content and technical signatures are about having structure and particular characteristics. Finally, audience resonance and effects has to do with being aware of how your communications tactics affects the audience and being able to measure the succesful outcome.
Given the right words and strong arguments anyone can be persuaded to believe just about anything.

Compare and Contrast

We analyze the world with a compare and contrast mindset. We are constantly comparing and finding contrast in what we see around us in order to learn and categorize the information to make sense of it all. When we compare we usualy think about the disadvantages or advantages of something and make discisions based on that information.

Writing a Compare and Contrast essay can be tricky. You have to slow down the process of thinking that normally takes place in a few seconds present the information in a way that best makes sense to the audience.