The Importance of Introductions

A group of friends are hanging out together talking, when someone mentions how badly they want to go to Las Vegas. Several friends chime in, agreeing that they would love to go to Las Vegas as well. Soon, it is discovered that no one in the group has been there, but everyone wants to go.  “Road trip!” someone yells, and then it begins – the planning stage. Everyone starts talking all at once, as they decide how they are going to travel, how long they can stay, how much it will cost, and when they will leave, etc. After a lot of planning, preparation, and sorting out the details, the day finally arrives. The group of friends is heading out on their adventure at last. 

After everyone in the group is loaded into the car, the driver heads in the direction of the freeway and asks, “Who brought the map?” Silence ensues while everyone in the car looks around at each other wondering who dropped the ball. “Well, who knows how to get there?” the driver asks. Again, silence is the prevalent sound.  How are they going to get there? A similar question can be asked when writing a paper or an article, “How am I going to get there? I have all of the information, how do I present it to an audience?” This is why an introduction is so very important. It is essentially a road map to help the audience understand where they are going, why they want to come along, and how they are going to get there. 

The very beginning of an introduction needs to grab the reader’s attention. It needs to be something that will give the audience the incentive to keep reading. The phrase “Road trip!” grabbed the attention of the group of friends and got them interested in the details of how to get there.  The rest of the introduction is the road map, showing the audience where they are going to be traveling throughout the paper. For example, background information is given to the reader so that they understand “why they are going”, just as the group of friends discovered that no one had been to Las Vegas, and everyone wanted to go. The author then gives a basic outline for what information is going to be discussed, and in what order. This answers the “how are we going to get there, how long can we stay, and how much will it cost” questions. And finally, the author gives a basic idea about the final destination, or the conclusion. Here the author gives the audience a “taste” of what the destination is, like a travel brochure, just an idea of what is in store. In order to gain the full experience, the audience will have to jump in, buckle up, and hang on for the ride!

Extended Definition of Classification and Division

How do you write an essay, a book, or an article? Do you divide it into sections and group the information by category, or do you just ramble, hoping that it all makes sense to the reader in the end? This is what classification and division is all about. Taking the information that you will write about and grouping it into categories that relate to each other, and then dividing those classifications into smaller groups as necessary. This process helps the reader to make sense of the information and connect with the author.

An example of this process is found in the article “Teaching Songs to Young Children: What Do Music-Teacher Educators Say?” by Diane Parsellin. She begins by introducing different factors that “can affect the vocal accuracy of young children”, and the different studies that have been done on those subjects. All of this information is contained in one area – the introduction. 

Parsellin then points out one area that has not been researched long-term – singing with or for children when teaching them. This is her main focus, and leads into the body of her paper, which is divided into sections, or classifications.

1-                   Different studies of teaching methods that lacked the singing with or for information.

2-                   Smaller studies that addressed her focus yet differed in their conclusions.

3-                   The method she used to determine the preference of educators on the subject.

4-                   The results found from the study. (Which was further subdivided, breaking down the results.)

She then pulls everything together in her conclusion, which is contained at the end of her paper.

The information presented in the article was clearly grouped into different categories by their specific characteristics.

A-   The introduction - what she was going to discuss and why.

B-   The body of the paper – examples, the process of discovery, and the results.

C-    The conclusion – the summary of her findings and what the implications were.

This is the process of classification and division. In order for Parsellin’s readers to follow her paper and gain understanding, she classified and divided the information into groups that had similar characteristics. This process keeps specific information together to help the reader to have a greater understanding of what is happening or being addressed. 

Definition Patterns

Definition Patterns
Have you ever needed to define something and not sure how to go about doing it? Did you know that there is more than one way to define things? This is called definition patterns. Three examples of definition patterns are: description, process, and compare and contrast. Description is visual, verbal, or written description, which help to show the nature of what is being described. Process is describing how something is done, step by step, to give comprehension.  And finally, compare and contrast examines what is being defined, and lists similarities and differences with other things, to give greater understanding. Below is an example of each definition pattern, using a phrase or word taken from an article by Diane Persellin entitled- "Teaching Songs to Young Children: What Do Music-Teacher Educators Say?"

Aural world - (Definition)When someone refers to the aural world, they would be referring to all sounds that penetrate the ear and connect with the brain. If this term is being related to music, then it would have to do with pitch, tone, the arrangement of notes, and sometimes the words connected with these notes to make a song. 
So, when a student of music is trained to recognize what notes are being played or sung, how to harmonize with those notes, and the dynamics (loud, soft, fast and slow) of music, this knowledge all becomes part of the student's aural world. They can then recognize those same pitches, etc. in everything around them and be able to have a greater understanding of those "noises". Their aural world would now include the expanded knowledge of not just what music sounds like, but what all of the parts of music are, and how it is put together.
Vocal Modeling - (Process) How do you teach a child to sing a song? Sing it to them! This is called vocal modeling. What is the best way to go about it? Get their attention by speaking to them or looking them in the eye. Then start at the beginning of the song and sing it all the way through. At the end of the song, you can just start singing it again and again until they join in a little bit at a time. Continue this process until they have the entire song down. This may take some time depending on the song, but if the song is pleasing or fun, the desire to learn it will be strong and the time spent learning it will be considered beneficial.
Vibrato - (Compare and Contrast) Vibrato is a musical term used to describe a vocal quality that some singers use while singing. Vibrato could be compared to singing one note while driving in a car very quickly over train tracks, or a washboard road, and having the vibrations bump the pitch up and down slightly. This quality is controlled by the singer and can be used for just the long held-out notes, or used in both the longer notes and the shorter quick notes. Vibrato gives the music a fuller richer sound.
The contrast to vibrato is referred to as straight singing. This is where the pitch is held even, steady, and controlled. Like riding in a Porsche across a freshly paved freeway. Flat and smooth. Like flying across the sky in a jet on a warm clear day. No turbulence, no vibrations, no vibrato.

The Importance of Definitions

What is vocal modeling? How about vibrato? These are domain specific terms used for music, and teaching students how to sing. In order for a general audience to understand what an author is speaking about, it is important that domain specific terms are clearly defined. There are two types of definitions: 1- Formal definitions, which give a clinical, short, dictionary type of definition, and 2- Extended definitons, which are longer definitions, giving the essential nature of what it is by using the rhetorical tools of compare and contrast, description (visual, verbal, or written), process (step-by-step), and behaviorism examples.

 “Teaching Songs to Young Children: What Do Music-Teacher Educators Say?” by Diane Persellin is an article with domain specific vocabulary that is clearly defined for the audience. Two examples in the text include: 1-“the wholesong method, in which a song is repeated in its entirety several times until children are able to sing it on their own”, and 2- “the phrase-by-phrase method, in which the teacher divides a song into short phrases that the students echo”. These examples are formal definitions giving the reader a quick, clear-cut understanding of exactly what the methods are.

How to bake bread is an example of an extended definition. An author can give step-by-step guidelines on each ingredient required, how to prepare them to make dough, what type of dish to bake the dough in, what temperature to bake it at, and for how long. This definition increases the audience’s understanding and is called the process. This rhetorical tool provides the audience with a much larger amount of information than a formal definition and a clear understanding of exactly how to bake bread.

Knowing how and when to use each type of definition is important to the writing process. There are specific times that require a quick formal definition, for example, when trying to help the audience to understand an essay. Then, there are times that an extended definition is required, namely, when someone is trying to understand a concept as a whole.

Rhetorical Terms

The gentle breeze plays across the tops of tropical palm trees moving the fronds gently back and forth against the backdrop of the brilliant azure blue sky accented by picturesque patches of fluffy white clouds. A loosely woven rope hammock tied between two majestic palm trees beckons beach-goers to recline on it's soft decorative blue and white striped pillows and enjoy the sights and sounds of the sparkling crystal-blue ocean just steps away.

You have just been caught in a travel gaze. This is one rhetorical tool that may be used by a travel company to capture a specific audience and entice them to purchase a vacation. The tourism industry knows how to utilize this specific tool to attract and entice their desired clientele. This specific tool helps them to achieve their desired result. Specific projects require specific tools. A political gaze used in a travel brochure would not bring the desired result just as using a toothpick to serve spaghetti would have unfavorable consequences. Each tool has specified uses and will bring about varying results as they are applied properly. Five definitions of rhetorical terms follow below to help establish how to apply each tool and bring about the desired results of a project or paper.

1. Travel gaze: An image viewed or described that portrays a travel destination. This can be one that has already been visited and brings to mind pleasant memories that the viewer would want to repeat, or portrays places that the audience desires to visit. 

2. Political gaze: An image used to bring about emotions that entice voters/decision makers to respond in the direction of the politician, party, or agenda etc.

3. Persuasive Theme: A theme or topic used to set a mood or create meaning. Always universal, these themes will resonate to any group of people regardless of culture, race, or religion. An example of a persuasive theme is xenophobia: an extreme dislike of people from other countries.  This is going on in the Middle East right now.  People here are taught and encouraged to hate westerners-everything they portray and stand for.

4. Master Narrative: Influential stories that stand the test of time and help to shape a specific group of people classified by country or culture etc. An example would be the story of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree and his honesty about the event.

5. Compare and Contrast: A tool used to help draw attention to details and make decisions between items. Comparing helps to bring an understanding of all similarities of two objects or images while contrast brings to light the differences.

Compare and Contrast in Visual Rhetoric

Moving further into visual rhetoric, we can now focus on the rhetorical tools of Compare and Contrast which allow us to look at the similarities and differences of specific images. These tools help the author to expand on the details for the audience allowing them to connect with the author and gain a greater understanding of what is being described. Providing enough details will enable the reader to recognize the image when they see it and are key to making the difference between a good paper and a great one.

When comparing two similar images, it is important to look at the most obvious similarities and then move on to other characteristics which may not be as obvious like color or shading. The same principle is applied when contrasting images. Sometimes the images are so similar that the only way to help the audience to see the differences are to draw attention to the  small details. The reverse is also true for comparison.  Some images may be so different from one another that the only similarities may be minute patches of the same color in both images.

Another benefit of  compare and contrast is the opportunity it presents to the author to describe images in detail, helping to create a mental image. A great way to accomplish this is to incorporate analogies.  Analogies help clarify to the reader a specific color, shape, or texture etc. This can then be applied to the mental picture being created for the audience.  For example, if the author is contrasting the different shades of yellow in a work of art, he can use words which describe the colors like: lemon yellow, banana yellow, or pear yellow in order to help the audience understand the exact color. Without the analogies, the audience may have an entirely different idea of what the artwork actually looks like.