It is evident that during recent years technology has advanced enormously, it is more convenient for people to access, buy and carry books around with themselves in their portable electronic devices. In response to this technological change could make this a bit briefer: e.g. 'With the rise of technology and e-book usage, Mrs Elliot...' or 'In response to the rise of ..., Mrs Elliot... Mrs Elliot a retired teacher and librarian presents a speech “Reading the future” at a forum on reading and literacy-related activities. Using an encouraging yet concerned tone Mrs Elliot asserts that even though e-books are more beneficial it is also crucial to ensure that traditional books “are not entirely swept away”. She accompanies her speech with a visual of a book shop in attempt to convince her audience of teachers, librarians and senior students convince them of what? Either add something 'new' in this sentence or skip it altogether. But no stress, this is a perfectly box-ticking intro, well done.
Mrs Elliot begins her speech in an encouraging tone by considering herself as an “early adaptor” regarding new technology such as “e-reading device” attempting to connect with her audience mostly consisting of high school students so how would presenting herself as an early adaptor help connect with the audience? How will this phrase make them think about her? And why does she want them to think this way?. She further lists the advantages of for e-books by comparing it with "great big textbooks". The students are positioned to be thankful for devices such as e-books as Elliot's describes them as a “terrible burden” could you think about how 'terrible burden' makes them feel? It sounds hard, gruelling, awful, something that causes them suffering, something unfair even - what emotions will this arouse? Just expand a bit more on the impact - however, this analysis is already quite good!. Elliot encourages the “book lovers” that e-books are very beneficial as you are able to “change the brightness settings and the font size” targeting her audience who might have difficulty reading smaller texts hence they favour the purchase of e-books. She speaks of her concerns towards the future generation and how the technology can ruin a child’s “imaginations” and computer generated animations can substitute the natural instinct of human beings to develop from their imagination, positioning her listeners to think of e-books as a threat to children’s development hence our future. I highlighted the two red statements to show how they contradict each other. The author doesn’t contradict herself and say ‘ebooks are awesome y’all should get them wait no actually they’re terrible and destroying our livesssss!!’… instead, she’s saying that while e-books have many excellent benefits, there are also some problems we need to beware of. And by showing both sides she makes herself look credible because she’s not being extreme and saying EBOOKS ARE EVIL AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD… which like no one will believe.
So just remember not to pick out a phrase and analyse it at random, without thinking how it fits into the overall piece. Ask yourself: if she’s arguing FOR traditional books, then why why why does she argue for the positives of e-books? Before writing analysis on it, think about WHY she does things and how they contribute to her argument.
You might also want to think about grouping your paragraphs so that similar things go together, rather than having a basically random unconnected ‘quote – analysis – next quote – analysis – next quote – analysis’ flow.
Shifting her tone to a concerned one Elliot maintains that she was “shocked to discover that some e books disappear” approximately after six months from the date of purchase. By stating that the way to keep those books permanently you would have to pay “every-year” she appeals to the reader’s hip- pocket nerve as some people prefer to sell their textbooks at the end of the year so can you explain the effect of this? I know it feels super-obvious, but imagine I’m a 5-year-old who can’t think for themselves and needs you to explain every step of the way and guide me in baby steps. So if we have to pay every year, why do we care? Because we see ourselves getting poorer because of it, it’s expensive and we won’t be able to buy as much other stuff. Accompanying her speech she focuses her audience’s attention to a cartoon of a book store, where the shopkeeper is seen selling a textbook with a speech bubble that says “You should have that for a good six months before it vanishes” although her audience might find it humorous it brings them back to the negative effects of e-books in comparison to traditional books that are more efficient as they are not likely to “vanish” but can be kept on our book shelves for as long as we like. She alarms her audience by amplifying their imagination by stating that if “global cyber disaster struck, the loss would be unthinkable" building on the sense of insecurity of people who “love books” that loss of books might lead to “loss of knowledge, history, even culture” positioning them to take action towards saving the bound books. again, here’s where you can expand; HOW and WHY does the loss of knowledge, history and culture make us want to save bound books? Why do we care if they’re lost? How does the thought that they’ll be lost make us feel?
Furthermore, Elliot portrays how traditional books can help us connect with other people. She states that e-books arrive via internet and “just sit on their virtual shelf when they’re finished” appositionally “lending and sharing” of books can encourage others to interact with “people who love books”. It positions the readers to feel more sympathetic as it evokes the feelings of loneliness GREAT! You’re looking at how people will feel! that follows with the use of such technology. She focuses on the importance of traditional books to help the world stay away from loneliness a negative association that is embedded with the use of e-books could be better to do the positive – she talks more about the ‘lending and sharing’, think about how that makes you feel. Think about how the idea of building relationships and passing on love gives you this warm fuzzy feeling inside. Elliot concludes her speech by maintain that she “wouldn’t want to stop” as it excites the students to learn in entertaining and “new ways” so how does this impact her audience? How does it make them feel? but also leaving her audience with sense of responsibility to save traditional books because they too have many positives associated with them.
Mrs Elliot uses encouraging and a concerned tone to describe the negative and positive effects associated with e-books comparing it with the traditional books. It is with the use of appeals, humour in addition with her use of visual she successfully persuades don’t evaluate whether it’s successful or not; instead, try, ‘Through her _____ approach, she encourages the readers to accept e-books but realise that…’ her audience that e-books are a change that should be accepted but it shouldn’t interrupt the usage of traditional books and textbooks that’s actually a really nice ending, keep it up!!.
So I haven't given detailed feedback - partly because this is quite high-quality. It could be structured differently, could mention some 'deeper' things (haven't read the article for ages so I can't remember), and could expand more on the specific effect on the readers; however, overall there are absolutely no glaring errors, you always go back to effect, and it's just a good solid effort that will net you a good solid mark. Keep fine-tuning and trying to pick up on less obvious effects (and thinking about how language like 'magic' or 'terrible burden' or 'dreams' or 'horrific' or 'utterly ridiculous' can arouse certain specific emotions and make us feel a certain way about things/people involved). Oh yeah, and remember to see the whole thing in perspective - ask yourself overall what the author is trying to say and get us to think/feel in each section, why they're trying to achieve that, and how it all works together.
Other than that... you've got it, girl!
...or boy
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