E104 Sample Assignment

E104 Language & Politics: Guidelines for Essays

Assignment: Write a paper of roughly 3 double-spaced, typed pages in which you focus on a single political discourse feature, discussing the effects of this feature and referring to examples in one or more texts.

Political Discourse Features we have covered or will cover include: Circumlocution; Innuendo; Passive/Active Voice (under ‘Spin’);

Intertextuality; Evidentiality; Pronoun Usage; Evasion;

Repetition, Contrastive Pairs, Repetitions/Parallelisms (‘power of threes’, parallel sentence structure, alliteration/rhyme, semantic repetition) (under ‘rhetorical features’);

Name-Calling/Negative Other Representation; Stroking, Glittering Generalities, ‘Plain Folks’ talk; ‘Double-speak’ (euphemisms, jargon, etc.); and other forms of Propaganda;

Metaphor/Simile; Analogy … (plus puns, terms of reference…);

Politically Correct Speech, Free Speech & Censorship, Labeling.

Language Issues (language death/multilingualism/lang. planning)

[Note: try to focus on specific features as opposed to broader categories like “indirectness”, “spin”, or “rhetoric”.]

Tips & Guidelines for Writing Assignments

General Formatting: Essay format, 3-5 double-spaced, typed pages.

Guidelines for the structure of the paper:

1. Introduction with a specific Thesis Statement.

2. General Paragraph on the discourse feature(s) being analyzed or topic being discussed (what is it? how is it recognized? how is it used? what meaning does it carry?, etc.).

3. For options 1 & 3, you might briefly describe your data/sources (& reasons for selection?).

4. Body of paper – at least three paragraphs (depending on the specific instructions for each option) discussing distinct examples, organized by specific Topic Statements. Exemplification and explication. (Up to you whether to discuss examples separately or weave them together through comparison & contrast, etc.)

5. Conclusion – brief summary of what you have discussed.

6. References. (Provide a list of references or works cited at the end of your paper AND cite references in the body of your paper. E.g., if you have a sentence like George Orwell has described politics as “a mass of lies…”, you might cite this as (Orwell, 1946, cited in Beard (2000, p. 5)) OR (…, cited in Obeng, 2001 [referring to Professor Obeng’s notes on the web]).

For course texts & notes:

Beard, Adrian. (2000). The Language of Politics. London: Routledge.

Obeng, Samuel. (2006). Language & Politics Lecture Notes. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from Indiana University Oncourse website: https://original-oncourse.iu.edu/fal2006/

[note, the "Lecture Notes" citation can serve as a rough model for any internet sources you might need to reference]

1. Unless provided as part of the assignment option, attach copies of all texts from which you draw your examples.

Tips on Writing Essays (from IU Writing Tutorial Services and U Wisc Writer’s Handbook):

1. Thesis Statement: – generally comes near the end of the introductory paragraph

   1. makes an argumentative assertion about a topic/states conclusions

   2. makes a promise to the reader about scope, purpose, direction of your paper

   3. focused and specific enough to be “proven”

   4. identifies the relationship between your data/evidence and your argument

E.g., “X has made a significant impact on Y, due to Z” (includes a proposition and a hypothetical reason”) … (NOT “In this paper, I will discuss X”). (If your paper is mainly descriptive, you might have a simpler Purpose Statement like “The aim of this paper is to …”, but try for a deeper Thesis Statement.)

1. Topic Sentences/Paragraphs:

   1. Each paragraph should support or develop a single idea—expressed in a Topic Sentence.

   2. The Topic Sentence “supports the thesis statement”, “unifies [or gives order to] the content of a paragraph”, and “advises the reader of the subject to be discussed”

   3. Transition phrases: use transitions (e.g. , “for example”, “on the contrary”, “in addition”, “therefore”, “as demonstrated in the preceding paragraph”, etc.) to link paragraphs together.

- To the extent it supports your statements, try to refer to specific terms and concepts discussed in lecture, notes, etc. For example: “By ignoring the question and resorting to circumlocution, as illustrated in this example, McClellan is flaunting both the maxim of relevance and of quantity (Grice, cited in Obeng, 2005)” as opposed to “Here McClellan is just going on and on about some other topic instead of answering the question.” (see example below)

Grading Criteria (out of a 10 point scale):

Content (the information that the question requires you to provide) = 5 points

Organization (structure: intro, body, exemplification & explication, conclusion, correct references) = 1.5 points

Expression (use of academic language) = 1.5 points

Mechanical Accuracy (spelling, tenses, concord, etc.) = 2 points

You are encouraged to submit drafts of your work and/or to visit the IU Writing Tutorial Services (Ballantine 206, Mon-Thurs, 10am-8pm,

Fri 10am-5pm; Mon.-Thurs.; Main Library 3rd floor 11am-2pm, 2:30pm-5:30pm; Brisco, Forest, Teter, Sun.-Thurs., 7pm-11pm).

Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/home.html

The following text is used to draw examples of Thesis Statement, Topic Statement, presenting examples, citing references etc. in a writing assignment on the use of innuendo in political discourse

“Cautions for new White House staff”

Bush warned his new staff Monday morning to watch how they conduct themselves as long as they are employed by his administration, using their morning swearing-in ceremony to tell them they had received the “honor of a lifetime.”

Moments after White House staff members were sworn in by Vice President Dick Cheney, Bush urged them to maintain a commitment to high standards as his representatives.

“We must remember the high standards that come with high office,” Bush said, with his wife Laura, Cheney, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card seated behind him. “This begins with careful adherence to the rules. I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries that define legal and ethical conduct.”

He urged the staff members to consult White House Counsel Al Gonzalez on ethical matters. And he called on them to confront colleagues if they see questionable behavior. “No one should hesitate to confront me as well,” Bush said. […]

Bush said he wanted, at the end of his term, for the American people to know his administration had kept its promises.

“Let us begin the work we were hired to do and leave this a better place than we found it,” he said, before moving into the crowd to shake hands with staffers and their family members. […]

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/22/bush.wrap/index.html

Date: January 23, 2001

Thesis statement would hypothesize on the purpose of innuendo in general (assuming we would include examples other than Bush’s text).

Since political speakers need to avoid face-threatening situations to appeal to a wider public, they often resort to innuendo as a strategy of indirect speech or "communicational immunity" to make a point without being fully accountable for its implications (Obeng, 2006).

The methods paragraph would briefly describe the sources selected, reasons for selecting these texts etc.

To illustrate this point, I will look at examples of innuendo used by George Bush at various stages in his 2000 Presidential Campaign. First, … Second, … Finally, I will look at innuendo employed in a statement by President Bush to the White House staff on his first day of office (“Cautions”, 2001).

In a sample paragraph of the body, we would refer to an example in Bush’s text.

My final example comes from comments by Bush to the White House staff on the first working day after inauguration. Bush announces, “I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries that define legal and ethical conduct” (“Cautions” 2001). Bush is not simply listing workplace policies, but rather alluding to the Clinton-Lewisky scandal. That is, Bush is indirectly implying …

To the extent it supports your statements, try to refer to specific terms and concepts discussed in lecture, notes, etc. For example:

… By ignoring the question and resorting to circumlocution, as illustrated in this example, McClellan is flaunting both the maxim of relevance and of quantity (Grice, cited in Obeng, 2005)”

as opposed to

… Here McClellan is just going on and on about some other topic instead of answering the question.

Works cited (www samples):

“Cautions for the New White House Staff.” CNN All Politics. January 23, 2001. Retrieved January 25, 2001 from the World Wide Web: <http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/23/bush.wrap/index.html>

Obeng, Samuel. (2006.) Language & Politics Lecture Notes. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from Indiana University Oncourse website: https://original-oncourse.iu.edu/fal2006/

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Last updated: October 08, 2007