Analysis of Sample Abstracts

Read these abstracts and analyze them in terms of major rhetorical moves they have used. Rank them and provide reasons for the ranking. Post your ranking and reasons here as a comment. 

1.     As scholars and legislators debate the efficacy of capital punishment, research has played a significant role in supporting arguments on both sides of the issue. Studies on the death penalty in North Carolina, United States, have ranged from examining the effects of race and sex on capital case outcomes to polling the general public on their personal support for the death penalty. Experts have been asked about their professional opinions and murder victims’ family members have added their personal experiences to the mix. There is, however, one group whose opinion has not been examined: the criminal justice practitioner. Using survey data gathered from criminal justice agencies across North Carolina, United States, the current study examines support for capital punishment among criminal justice practitioners in the state. Results show that while the law enforcement officers surveyed are overwhelming in favor of the continued use of capital punishment, they concurrently agree that innocent people have both been previously executed and are currently on death row today.

2.     The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of PowerPoint as an information communication tool would enhance recall of information presented in a non-classroom field setting. We examined the effect of PowerPoint on the recall of information presented in religious sermons. Three test conditions were examined: (1) PowerPoint slides containing words only, (2) slides containing visual images only, and (3) slides containing both words and visual images, along with a control condition in which information was presented without the use of the PowerPoint slides. In addition, we tested the type of information recall: information about the slides, information about the slide content, and general recall of information from the sermon. While there were limited differences in recall based on the treatment conditions and the type of information being recalled, overall the use of the PowerPoint slides did not appear to have a significant effect on subjects’ ability to recall information. We conclude that greater effort must be made to understand the effects of PowerPoint presentations on human memory and cognition.

3.     Although much has been written about ancient rhetorical theories of example, few scholars have examined the subtypes of example contained in these ancient rhetorical theories. As a corrective to this scholarly blind spot, this article explores the lesser-known conceptual history of “comparison,” which Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian all theorize as a subtype of example. Taken together, their rhetorical theories suggest that arguments by comparison are hypothetical, contentious, indirect, interrogative, and frequently deceptive. Moreover, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian all theorize comparison by calling attention to the persuasive artistry of Socrates, notably his use of arguments by comparison to provoke interlocutors without challenging them directly. Understanding and explaining these rhetorical theories of comparison is the primary task of this article.