You’re choosing topics this week for your recommendation paper. Why write a recommendation paper? We’ve spent the first half of the paper discussing rhetoric and exploring how writers craft arguments for specific audiences. Writing Project Three gives you the opportunity to write your own argument for a specific audience. When you’re suggesting that people make a specific choice, you’re taking a stance, a stance that should be supported with reasons. Another reason for this paper is that this is writing that you may have (or want) to do outside of school. While you will probably never have to write a rhetorical analysis once you pass this class, you may want to offer suggestions or recommendations to someone. You may even have to make a recommendation (for a policy, vendor, or product) in your future careers. Being able to evaluate choices and make a strong recommendation is a useful skill.
Below, I’m posting two different videos that are recommendations. One is longer than the other; however, they both have different purposes. Watch the videos and you’ll see some thing in common to many YouTube videos made by “content creators” running their own sites: encouragement to like and subscribe and encouragement to watch other videos and/or visit other pages. This is a reality for their format; it’s how they generate ad revenue and how they ensure that their videos will appear in searches. However, they also discuss the attractions of Paris in different ways and provide their audience with different information about Paris.
Notice that each has a different purpose signaled by their tital: “Top 10 Things to Do in Paris” versus “Visit Paris-What to Know Before You Visit Paris, France.” The first video is a selection of sites to see and the second video aims to give advice to would-be visiters of Paris.
This video’s title might be considered a “click-bait” kind of title in that lists tend to attract interest. They cheat a bit, too, by making all museums as one item in their top ten. But it’s hard to narrow Paris down to ten individual things to do/see, especially in an eight-minute video. Who might be interested in this video? People going to Paris? Maybe. If they don’t know much about the city, this video would give them some ideas. It may be more geared towards people who are interested in Paris. The creators are saying “Here are some attractions, and here is some video of these attractions,” which people may want to see. We don’t see the video’s narrator as much because the video is focused on showing us the beauty and the history of various parts of Paris. This makes the video entertaining and informative, even if it’s lacking some practical advice.
This video is longer and more focused on the practical issues of a trip to Paris: where to stay, how to travel within the city, and where to go. I would think this video might be attractive to someone planning their first trip to Paris, someone looking for tips about HOW to visit Paris. We spend much of the video watching the narrator speak as he gives us his tips about for a Paris vacation because the creator is more focused on the advice he’s giving to his viewers than on showing us views of the city. Again, this video has a different purpose: it’s goal is to provide viewers with basic, practical information for visiting Paris. Thus, we see captions that reiterate points made by the narrator. The creator was probably more comfortable creating a longer video because of his purpose: he needed more time to convey the information.
Why am I showing you these videos? Take the strengths you see in each of these videos and apply them to your own paper. Start by deciding who your audience is and what they need to know. What details will impress your target audience? What are the important details that your argument must cover? Obviously, you’re not making a video, but how you convey details and which details you make prominent are still important choices for you to make in this paper. What will be the first supporting point of your recommendation? The first reason that someone should make the purchase/choice? Are you thinking about what reasons will be important to your audience? Are you thinking about who you’re making the recommendations for? You should be. Consider these points as you finalize your topic choice and begin the process of drafting your argument.
