Catharine Kim

DE PIERO Z K
Writ 2
April 15, 2015

Pros and Cons List

A textual genre found across multiple sources is a Pros and Cons list. A Pros and
Cons list is pretty self-explanatory; it is a list that states the good and the bad of an issue
debated upon. In this article we will be analyzing Pros and Cons list genre on minimum
wage from 3 different sources: BalancedPolitics, WhenIWork, and Reddit to show that
there can be different approaches to one textual genre.
BalancedPolitics.org is a website that shows the clear pros and cons on a political
subject. It is very unbiased and just plain informative. It states that its purpose is to be a
website dedicated to balanced, non-partisan discussion of important societal issues. The
format of this pros and cons list is very simple. It states the issue at hand in bold: Should
the Minimum Wage be Abolished and proceeds to give us the pros and cons of the
matter so that the audience could make an informed standing. It has an overview that
allows us to show the context of the list to the audience. Then gives us a in a nutshell
bullet-pointed quick list. If this quick list doesnt satisfy the audience, one can see that
after the in a nutshell chart, the author has written up a detailed paragraph about each
bullet-pointed statement in the pros and cons list. It seems that the sole purpose of this
pros and cons list is to inform the audience, the audience being anybody who is interested
in the matter and is looking for information on it. This pros and cons list has no pictures

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:31 PM

Comment [1]: Catharine: I like how you
cut to the chase in this Intro and didnt
include much fluff. Im also glad you told me
what sources youll be looking at. However,
Im not quite sure what youre arguing here.
Remember: your reader is most likely going
to be expecting a thesis statement at the end
of your Intro (or occasionally 2nd
paragraph) that clearly detail what
point/argument/stance theyre taking and
what evidence theyre basing that on. Right
now, I dont know where youre taking me.
Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:31 PM
Comment [2]: Nice textual tie-in to a
rhetorical factor

or any aesthetic appeal. It is all written in black and white. It is a very scholarly,
informative article with neither personal anecdotes nor opinions.
WhenIWork.com is a website that helps employees schedule and communicate. A
page on this site: The Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage serves to inform the
audience of the issue on raising the minimum wage. The author starts with the title and

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:32 PM

Comment [3]: Based on?

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:33 PM

Comment [4]: Dashes would work well
here

lists several pros and cons of the case. The audience of this article would be the public,
but mainly the people that use this site, employees. The tone of this writing is scholarly
but more relatable. This pros and cons list uses pictures and colors and is not too long and
detailed. The purpose of this article is however, not only to inform, but also to persuade!
This text has a conclusion in which the author uses the pros and cons list he just
portrayed to show that these Studies from both sides of the debate make it relatively
clear that increasing minimum wage will not make a significant impact on the poverty
level. By using a factual page of pros and cons on the subject, the author concludes that
raising the minimum wage would not be the solution to the poverty level. This pros and
cons list has a comments page in which other users of this website express their concerns
and critiques of this text. What good is this article? If you say, that raising minimum
wage will not solve the problem. What will? one user said. To which another replied,
Govt cant fix poverty. If it could, it would have. The war on poverty has not had any
effect in the 40+ years that it has been going on. Many other users add onto this pros and
cons list the author has originally written up, leaving the subject up for discussion.
Reddit.com is a website made up of everybody on the Internet. It is more of a
discussion page where one user would put up a question and other users would comment
their opinions on the matter. In this case, one user put up the question What would be

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:34 PM

Comment [5]: Catharine, you seem like
youre just going through a quick
description of each site. Thats not really
what this assignment is: Im asking you to
develop an argument/a position/a stance,
then support that with textual evidence.

Im also asking you to include an aspect
about studying/learning genre, and that
hasnt surfaced yet
Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:35 PM
Comment [6]: Good observation

the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage? He/she would write a small overview
on the subject and leave it open for other users to list their ideas of pros and cons. The
returning comments would sometimes lead to very heated debates. An example would be
when one user says: That's not entirely true. A business can't just choose to raise the
prices on things. They'll lose customers. Most like their profits will take a hit before an
increase in price is considered to which other users reply to with their own beliefs. This
pros and cons list has a lot of opinions and self-made theories that are very questionable.
Nonetheless, it is still a pros and cons list.
These pros and cons lists from different sources show similarities and differences.

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:36 PM

Comment [7]: Interesting stuff. This is
something that you could use to consider
more of an argumentpros/concs lists
degree of opinions and theory-making (or
something)

All pros and cons list from the three source list have a specific subject that they analyze.
They are usually all written in second order thinking. Then they have several bulletpointed or numbered statements showing what the beneficial or harmful effects that
statement would have, in this case, raising minimum wage. All three pros and cons list
share the same purpose, to weigh the benefit or harms and inform the audience of it.
However, there are also differences in these varying sources as well. In
BalancedPolitics.org, there is only one author and no comments section. This list does not
allow for any input or opinions to be made. In WhenIWork.com the author has a set pros
and cons list but there is a comments section for other users to put in their opinions.
WhenIWork.com also has a set audience it is aiming for. In Reddit, the subject is up for
discussion to all the users. The tone used in BalancePolitics is also much more scholarly
and unbiased. The tone used in Reddit is much more opinionated and defensive.
This genre study showed that there are certain conventions that make up a specific
genre. Although these three sources approach a pros and cons list in different ways, one

Zack De Piero 4/17/2015 5:37 PM

Comment [8]: Nice tie-in. J

can see this text is a specific textual genre on its own. Genre is important because
different genres have a different purpose and audience. Recognizing genres help the
author go in a set direction, while it helps the audience ease into the subject. In navigating
genres, Dirk references to Devitt, genres have the power to help or hurt human
interaction, to ease communication or to deceive, to enable someone to speak or to
discourage someone from saying something different. Differing genres will have
differing purposes, audiences, tones and styles and understanding genre can help both the
author and audience stay relevant.