Structuring a Language Analysis

[Shenz0r]

What my teacher has told me to do is methodically work your way down the piece and PEE (persuasive technique, explanation and effect) as you go along - so you start off analysing the introduction, cruise into the middle and finish off at the conclusion.

It seems like the easiest format to me - but can you also organise it into an essay format, with like 3-4 body paragraphs that each deal with a specific technique? It's harder (and more sloppy) in my opinion, but is it better?

[totaled]

In my opinion, language analysis can have many many forms of structure. many different tutors and teachers will force you to do it their particular way, and for that reason i wouldn't be too worried about structure as long as its not all over the place. find one that works best for you, that you find easy to expand and develop ideas for, as most teachers/examiners don't mark you based upon your structure given that they understand the many different forms / structures which can be used for language analysis

[BoredSatan]

I grouped by argument..

then looked at how the writer used language to persuade each argument.

[pi]

I don't work down, I (like Bored Saint), grouped by argument. If you're lucky, this sometimes means going through the article chronologically, but ideally you want to group similar arguments into the same paragraph.

[Hamdog17]

I grouped techniques which were intended to have a similar effect (eg. Statistics and appeals to humanity and social justice were used throughout the editorial in order make the actions committed by coalition forces in Iraq seem of dubious benefit and even appear reprehensible.) I might have had 3 or so of these types of paragraphs in a single text analysis. This worked pretty well for me but in the end of the day write whatever you feel most comfortable with and whatever you feel is more cohesive and has a better flow of ideas.