Description
What does identification have to do with writing?
Because this module is called “Writing to Identify,” you may be wondering “what on earth is identification, and why do I need it to evaluate textual arguments?” The cool thing about identification is that you already know how to do it; it is as common to you as breathing.
Let’s define identification simply as the act of assigning properties to people, groups, institutions, things, practices, really, anything. For example, if you come home and someone asks you how your day was, what they are asking for is a descriptive property that summarizes your experience. You might say “good.” You might say “horrible.” You might even say “surprising, actually.” Regardless of your response, you are assigning properties (good, horrible, surprising) to a thing (your day) to help your audience (the original question asker) understand more about you (purpose).
It turns out that you can leverage your knowledge of identification to study arguments in powerful ways. For example, you may have noticed that Open AI recently made national headlines in the US for releasing a new technology called Chat GPT. If you haven’t heard the news, don’t sweat it. You will have an opportunity to get up to speed really quickly. The important thing to know is that Chat GPT has the ability to produce large chunks of written text with a simple prompt. For example, you could tell it to write a biology paper and it would produce a fairly intelligible essay that could pass as communicating knowledge about the subject.
In any case, one of the fascinating things about this new technology is that everyone (and I mean everyone) has a hot take about how Chat GPT will change the future of education. Some people argue that students will use it to cheat their way through school, suggesting that it is a dangerous tool. Other people argue that it can be a valuable thought partner that can help students get started when the writing process becomes too overwhelming. Still others argue that Chat GPT is not as smart as it seems to be and thus does not constitute a threat to education at all.
The highlighted terms above (dangerous tool, thought partner, and threat) are the properties that writers have assigned to Chat GPT to persuade audiences to think, act, or feel a specific way towards it. As you can no doubt tell, each of these properties suggest how audiences should respond to Chat GPT if they find the writer’s argument persuasive. A dangerous tool should be questioned, guarded against, or even eliminated. A thought partner should be welcomed, learned from, and promoted. A non-threatening technology should not be worried over or even taken seriously. You get the idea.
In this module we are going to use identification as a tactic for learning more about what arguments are asking audiences to think, act, and feel about a particular issue. To help focus your writing, you are going to identify and analyze an argument about the role that artificial intelligence will play in education. You will identify who the writer is addressing as an audience, what situation shapes the argument they are presenting, and what they hope to accomplish by assigning specific properties to AI technology. Be sure to learn these lessons well because we will pick them up and build on them in the next module.
Writing Project: Writing to Identify
This project invites you to identify the specific features of a textual argument that motivate people to think, act, or feel a specific way in response to AI writing technologies. To complete this project, you will need to:
Read a recent article about how artificial intelligence technologies are shaping education.
Identify the writer’s main argument by focusing on the specific properties that they assign to the artificial intelligence technology.
Identify the sources of evidence that the writer uses to persuade their audience of the main argument.
Determine how the use of specific sources of evidence appeal to specific types of audiences in specific types of situations.
Evaluate what the writer wants the audience to think, feel, or do in response to the article.
Determine what happens next if someone is persuaded by the writer’s argument.
WHAT AM I DOING?
You will write a rhetorical analysis using the infographic attached here that explains how writers (see example below) create textual arguments to motivate an audience to think, feel, or act differently in response to AI technologies. The goal of this assignment is to learn to identify the core components of a textual argument so that you can read and write with greater focus, coherence, and insight.
HOW DO I DO IT?
Read this article from The New York Times: “The Brilliance and Weirdness of ChatG
Complete all of the questions in the the nfographic below. (Also available in text format here).
Submit your responses to the questions in the infographic on the “Writing to Identify” submission page later in this module.
Writing to Identify Infographic
Here are some examples of Writing Project #2 from previous semesters:
I attached all the materials below
Unformatted Attachment Preview
MODULE 4 – Writing to Identify
“Rhetorical Analysis of a Textual
Argument”
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. As you do so, please provide as
much detail, support, and citations for your claims as you are able.
02
Specific properties
What are the specific properties that the
main argument assigns to AI technologies
that suggest it is the main argument? Please
10
Thoughts, feelings
03
identify specific parts of the cited passage to
or actions
Evidence
support your claim.
What thoughts, feelings, or actions might
What evidence does the writer reference to
occur if the audience finds the argument
support their main argument? Please cite and
persuasive? Please cite and analyze the
analyze specific passages from the article to
specific properties in the argument that
support your claim.
support your conclusions.
Thoughts, feelings
09
04
or actions
Audience
How did the writer produce those thoughts,
feelings, or actions in their audience with their
What type of audience would be persuaded
01
choice of words, the types of claims they
make, the conclusions they draw, or the
futures they imagine? Please cite and analyze
by the main argument? Please explain how
you drew your conclusion(s) by citing and
analyzing specific passages from the textual
MAIN
ARGUMENT
MAINARGUMlENT
specific passages from the textual argument
to support your claims.
argument.
What~ is
r the
t~”Jmain
YJtJ l”‘iargument
urn,2;nt
1j1Jrthe
1trf8 linked
IIn f:8;L; article?
[“t[ l
of
05
08
Thoughts, feelings
or actions
Why persuasive
What thoughts, feelings, or actions is the
Why would the audience you identified find
writer trying to produce in their audience
the main argument persuasive? Please
(based on what you’ve identified about the
identify the reasons why a person or group of
audience in previous steps)? Please cite and
people would find the argument persuasive
analyze specific passages from the textual
by citing and analyzing passages from the
argument to support your claims.
textual argument.
How do you know
07
How do you know the writer is responding to
or attempting to shape a situation with their
argument? Please cite and analyze the
specific properties that the writer assigns to
Chat GPT in the article (e.g. “Chat GPT is
dangerous”).
Situation
06
What situation is the writer responding to or
attempting to shape with their argument?
Specifically, what situation are they trying to
change and how do they know if they have
been successful? Please cite and analyze
specific passages from the textual argument
to support your claims.
Professor Eric Brown
English 101 Online
Module 4: Writing to Identify
“Rhetorical Analysis of a Textual Argument”
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. As you do so, please provide
as much detail, support, and citations for your claims as possible.
1. What is the main argument of the linked article?
This article focuses on the improvements and changes that the new ChatGPT tool can be used for
many different cases. The author gives supporting ideas for his belief that the tool could
significantly impact our world, but it depends on the upcoming stages of the technology. What
will come is critical to our understanding of the technology; as he states, “The potential societal
implications of ChatGPT are too big to fit into one column.” The writer focuses on optimism and
what the future implications of the technology could be in a mostly positive way.
2. What properties does the main argument assign to AI technologies suggest it is the main
argument? Please identify specific parts of the cited passage to support your claim.
When the author mentions AI and its future impact on our world, he focuses on technology in an
optimistic but analytical way. The author notes the history of the technology and explains how it
became such a popular tool with an explanation of its comprehensible user interface. “While the
existence of a highly capable linguistic superbrain might be old news to A.I. researchers, it’s the
first time such a powerful tool has been made available to the general public through a free,
easy-to-use web interface.” The author also uses significant evidence of his own experience with
the technology to give a more profound understanding to the reader of what the technology is.
The text uses positive diction such as “cutting-edge” and “superbrain.” when describing the A.I.,
further giving this technology a glorifying perception. The author assigns positive outlooks to the
technology but tries to outline all parts of the technology.
3. What evidence does the writer reference to support their main argument? Please cite and
analyze specific passages from the article to support your claim.
The author uses evidence from various sources to support his ideas throughout the text. They
support the idea that the A.I. is something new and impactful, “Personally, I’m still trying to
wrap my head around the fact that ChatGPT — a chatbot that some people think could make
Google obsolete, and that is already being compared to the iPhone in terms of its potential
impact on society — isn’t even OpenAI’s best A.I. model.” This new chatbot is exponentially
more sophisticated than previous versions, and the implications of this tool is up to our creativity.
The author uses these claims to strengthen their point that this tool has an array of uses.
However, while the author uses a lot of positives of ChatGPT, he also talks about the negatives
of this product. “The way it generates responses […] makes it prone to giving wrong answers,
even on seemingly simple math problems.” This technology can provide excellent assistance for
many problems, but it is not the end-all-be-all solution to all our questions. The author wants to
stress the positives and negatives of the technology so we know the risks associated with using it.
4. What type of audience would be persuaded by the main argument? Please explain how
you drew your conclusion(s) by citing and analyzing specific passages from the textual
argument.
The targeted audience for this article is people who know what ChatGPT or A.I. is but lack the
depth of understanding of how this technology can impact us and how it actually works. I
determined this by the information that he prefaced the article with. The author describes the
technology, its origin, and what it can do. “It can write jokes (some of which are actually funny),
[write] working computer code and college-level essays. It can also guess at medical diagnoses,
create text-based Harry Potter games and explain scientific concepts at multiple difficulty
levels.” This introduction to ChatGPT gives the reader a clear understanding of the topic before
discussing the technology’s pros, cons, and future implications. Another persuaded audience
would be people that want to learn how to use ChatGPT in the future. The author provides
various open-ended questions for the reader, such as, “Maybe this is the beginning of the end of
all white-collar knowledge work and a precursor to mass unemployment.” He opens the topic up
to different knowledge levels by providing the reader with these scenarios.
5. Why would the audience you identified find the main argument persuasive? Please
identify the reasons why a person or group of people would find the argument persuasive
by citing and analyzing passages from the textual argument.
The intended audience would find this argument persuasive because of the use of rhetorical
strategies to show the author’s perspective, as well as analytic and concise evidence to prove the
point. The author compares and contrasts other A.I. products to show the new technology’s
benefits and how different professions can use it. “Most A.I. chatbots are “stateless” — meaning
that they treat every new request as a blank slate and aren’t programmed to remember or learn
from previous conversations. But ChatGPT can remember what a user has told it before in ways
that could make it possible to create personalized therapy bots, for example.” The author chose
to use these quotes to show the superiority of ChatGPT to further prove to the audience that this
technology will impact the future.
6. What situation is the writer responding to or attempting to shape with their argument?
Specifically, what situation are they trying to change, and how do they know if they have
been successful? Please cite and analyze specific passages from the textual argument to
support your claims.
The writer is responding to both criticism and praise of ChatGPT. By highlighting both the pros
and cons of the technology, the author can provide a more unbiased view of what the A.I. truly is
and leads the reader to think more critically about its implications. The author wants the readers
to not just know about the technology but also understand it on a deeper level and why this is an
important step in human evolution. The author believes that many people just see ChatGPT as a
fun tool to answer “open-ended analytical questions that frequently appear on school
assignments” or to “explain A.I. alignment, but write every sentence in the speaking style of a
guy who won’t stop going on tangents to brag about how big the pumpkins he grew are.” While
the technology should be enjoyed, the author wants to bring to light the future that this
technology could have. The author helps readers think further about this technology with ideas
where this technology could be “the end of all white-collar knowledge work and a precursor to
mass unemployment.” He outlines specific cases where this technology could change a whole
industry and persuades the audience to dig deeper into ChatGPT. While he will not know if his
goal succeeds, if people start to think critically about this technology, it will show positive results
from his effort.
7. How do you know the writer is responding to or attempting to shape a situation with their
argument? Please cite and analyze the specific properties that the writer assigns to Chat
GPT in the article (e.g., “Chat GPT is dangerous”).
The author is responding to the need to explain this technology. He shows the technology’s pros
and cons but specifically states how “ChatGPT feels different. Smarter. Weirder. More flexible.”
The author prefaces by showing the reader his admiration for the technology. He explains how
it’s not like other A.I. tools and that this one is much more effective and clear when developing
answers to prompts. The author also continues to shape their argument with sources from other
people and stories of the technology. This builds credibility for the reader by showing that other
people believe similarly to the author. Another way the author shaped the argument is by using
guiding questions for the reader to think through, mainly focused on the future implications of
the technology instead of, for example, the limitations of ChatGPT. This is proven in the text
when the author provides the statement, “Personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the
fact that ChatGPT — a chatbot that some people think could make Google obsolete, and that is
already being compared to the iPhone in terms of its potential impact on society — isn’t even
OpenAI’s best A.I. model.” The author’s opinion dramatically shapes the tone of this text to
support ChatGPT, leading the reader to follow suit in their thinking.
8. What thoughts, feelings, or actions is the writer trying to produce in their audience (based
on what you’ve identified about the audience in previous steps)? Please cite and analyze
specific passages from the textual argument to support your claims.
The author aims to produce feelings of awe and encourage the audience to research this
technology further. The author drives the audience to learn more and figure out what this
technology can do other than the examples that he gives. He promotes the continuation of these
ideas by showing a wide variety of abilities of the technology, indirectly motivating the reader to
try their own “zany, edge-case stunts.” Getting the reader to think further about the technology
will help continue the conversation around A.I. The author also tries to get the audience to think
positively of this technology by sharing his admiration of the chatbot. He injects the ideas, and
while not entirely biased, they still promote ChatGPT above other technologies. “ChatGPT is,
quite simply, the best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public.”
Promoting this bias does affect the tone of the article and changes the perspective of the writing,
even if the author intended to write analytically and unbiased.
9. How did the writer produce those thoughts, feelings, or actions in their audience with
their choice of words, the types of claims they make, the conclusions they draw, or the
futures they imagine? Please cite and analyze specific passages from the textual argument
to support your claims.
The writer produced these thoughts on the reader by using diction to promote the idea that this
technology will impact our future significantly. The author claims that the technology will
change the structure of many institutions, such as education and “white-collar knowledge work.”
What the author describes would greatly impact millions of people, so it carries a strong
emotional connection, for many resided in fear. This could help the reader grasp how ChatGPT
could affect them in the future. The author’s choice of words also impacts the tone of the text. He
describes the technology as “a powerful tool,” which leads the reader to believe that it is
something to help us in a positive way. Through subtle use of diction, the author can shape the
perspective of the reader and persuade them to his view that ChatGPT will be impactful to our
future.
10. What thoughts, feelings, or actions might occur if the audience finds the argument
persuasive? Please cite and analyze the arguments’ specific properties that support your
conclusions.
If the audience finds this article persuasive, they will do further research into the impact and
future implications of ChatGPT. The author provides a call to action by stating the obvious as a
way to get readers to think critically about the text, “The potential societal implications of
ChatGPT are too big to fit into one column.” This statement will incline readers to find what
other societal implications ChatGPT could have. The audience will also feel hopeful about the
positive effects of this technology through the author’s positive portrayal of the technology. In
many cases, this works, as proven by comments in the article. One user states, “If anything, it
might eliminate entry-level or gatekeeping positions by having it sort where a caller goes.
Triaging patients. I think, if anything, as any tool does, it will supplement what we do. Not
replaced.” The readers feel hesitant that this technology will overtake us, but they do have hope
that it will help us.
Module 4: Writing to Identify
“Rhetorical Analysis of a Textual Argument”
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. As you do so, please provide as
much detail, support, and citations for your claims as you are able.
I. What is the main argument of the linked article?
In terms of this article, was not necessarily written in an argumentative manner but rather
one of skepticism in regard to the new A.I. ChatGPT. The article was explaining the features of
the program as well as the benefits and drawbacks. According to the author, this AI could end
up being simply beneficial to everyday internet users, or eventually spiral into mass
unemployment.
II. What are the specific properties that the main argument assigns to AI technologies that
suggest it is the main argument? Please identify specific parts of the cited passage to support
your claim.
When referring to the AI’s ability to replace human work, the author remarks “It also
appears to be ominously good at answering the types of open-ended analytical questions that
frequently appear on school assignments.”
The author does an excellent job of allowing the audience to know that the AI is very proficient
at answering the questions it is asked of it, however, can be taken advantage of in terms of
homework assignments and essays. This furthers my argument that the author is doing their
best to stay relatively neutral on the matter but is skeptical of the outcomes of the growth and
introduction of AI like this into society.
III. What evidence does the writer reference to support their main argument? Please cite and
analyze specific passages from the article to support your claim.
“Maybe this is, as some commenters have posited, the beginning of
the end of all white-collar knowledge work, and a precursor to mass
unemployment. Maybe it’s just a nifty tool that will be mostly used by
students, Twitter jokesters, and customer service departments until it’s
usurped by something bigger and better.” I think this is the best passage in the article to support
my claim, as the author shares both the potential outcomes of introducing AI into everyday life
and accepting it into modern society.
IV. What type of audience would be persuaded by the main argument? Please explain how you
drew your conclusion(s) by citing and analyzing specific passages from the textual argument.
When reading this article, I was almost excited over the fact there was an artificial
intelligence that was better than most other chatbots so far, and I was impressed by the work
and coding that had gone into it. I do believe that it is helpful and immediately went to my little
sister to show her in case she ever needed help with her homework. However, after showing her
I did reach the point in the article where the author emphasized that AI could be taken
advantage of by students to write answers and essays. This reminded me that AI can be easily
taken advantage of as well as promote plagiarism. While I genuinely believe that
V. Why would the audience you identified find the main argument persuasive? Please identify
the reasons why a person or group of people would find the argument persuasive by citing and
analyzing passages from the textual argument.
I think that the audience would certainly take caution in incorporating AI elements into
everyday life after the author used “mass employment” for white-collar jobs in the conclusion.
Now the readers that are in these white-collar jobs that would potentially be replaced by AI later
down the line are suddenly no longer a fan of AI or the Chatbot. This is certainly incredibly
persuasive for some demographics as it puts whole lifestyles and careers at risk.
VI. What situation is the writer responding to or attempting to shape with their argument?
Specifically, what situation are they trying to change and how do they know if they have been
successful? Please cite and analyze specific passages from the textual argument to support
your claims.
– What is ChatGPT and how does it work?
– How is ChatGPT useful to me?
– What are the consequences of incorporating ChatGPT and similar AIs into society?
– I think this article was aimed to simply answer these questions in a brutally honest
manner. The author was not going to exaggerate the benefits of AI nor exclude the
potential drawbacks of AI implementation either. I do believe they were successful in
instilling skepticism over AI, because reading the article myself I became skeptical, and I
think most students would that are looking to eventually have a white collar job.
VII. How do you know the writer is responding to or attempting to shape a situation with their
argument? Please cite and analyze the specific properties that the writer assigns to Chat GPT in
the article (e.g. “Chat GPT is dangerous”).
“Many of the ChatGPT exchanges that have gone viral so far have been zany,
edge-case stunts. For example, ChatGPT appears to be good at helping programmers spot and
fix errors in their code.” Once again, here we see the author creating a positive light on AI,
which brings me again to say that I believe this is a fair report on the ChatGPT with brutal
honesty regarding the potential consequences of widespread usage.
VIII. What thoughts, feelings, or actions is the writer trying to produce in their audience (based
on what you’ve identified about the audience in previous steps)? Please cite and analyze
specific passages from the textual argument to support your claims.
I think that the author’s genuine intent for this article was simply to caution and inform readers.
There are a lot of things to know about AI before blindly choosing to use it on everyday tasks, to
consider how using these programs will change the way you go about things.
IX. How did the writer produce those thoughts, feelings, or actions in their audience with their
choice of words, the types of claims they make, the conclusions they draw, or the futures they
imagine? Please cite and analyze specific passages from the textual argument to support your
claims.
“We are not ready” This was the final sentence of the article which I certainly believe is very
indicative of the author’s opinion on the matter. While he spent a grand amount of time sharing
the great benefits and abilities of the program, he holds the firm belief that modern society is not
ready for the kind of changes that hyper-intelligent chatbots and programs will bring.
X. What thoughts, feelings, or actions might occur if the audience finds the argument
persuasive? Please cite and analyze the specific properties in the argument that support your
conclusions.
I think the most persuasive part of this passage once again was the threat of losing white-collar
jobs to artificial intelligence. White collar jobs are often what the average student aims for and
what most adults even continue to work towards throughout life, as it is considered a
sophisticated and respectable career path. It certainly would shake the average reader.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
