Friday, February 5, 2010

RA Intro and 1st Paragraph - Emily R

In 2004, Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in developing democracy and peace. Born in Kenya, Africa, she had the rare opportunity to receive an education, and upon selection, became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. While giving her acceptance speech, Maathai addresses the pressing issue of the environment, and the experiences she had being part of the Green Belt Movement. She refers to a time when she was part of a program that planted over 30 million trees. She states that this program helped not only the environment, but also the individuals involved in it. Through addressing this topic through her acceptance speech, Maathai ensured that millions of people, including prominent individuals who have the ability to make a change, heard her plea. Wangari Maathai’s “Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech” exemplified a persuasive argument through its use of ethos, emotional appeal, literary devices, and frequent calls to action.


Throughout her speech, Wangari Maathai ensures the reader knows of her credibility on the topics addressed. First, the fact that the speech is a Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, automatically assures the reader of Maathai’s ethos. The Nobel Peace Prize is a prestigious award, and thus the awardees opinions and viewpoints are highly regarded. At the beginning of her speech, Maathai takes several measures to raise her credibility. She reminds everyone that she is the first African woman to receive such a prestigious award, and then refers to other individuals who have been African Peace laureates. The list includes, “Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the late Chief Albert Luthuli, the late Anwar el Sadat and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan” (152). This list contains many prestigious individuals automatically increasing Maathai’s ethos.

3 comments:

  1. I feel that your intro paragraph was very well writtten and introduced the Author and why she received this award. I really enjoyed it! The only thing i would do is to give more examples of what she said in her speech. What she said to make people want to change. Otherwise AWESOME JOB!!! i can tell your paper is going to be great!

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  2. as well, good intro and thesis. sets up your paper well and the reader will know what you will talk about. good job.

    the use of ethos is awkward to read. I am sure it is correctly used, but as a reader was a little weird.

    nothing to really worry about though, if you like it keep it.

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  3. Good intro and clear thesis. Maybe a suggestion, don't put the nobel peace prize fact until the second paragraph. It seems a bit off to restate that fact. Other than that, it is solid, as long as the rest of the paper is similar, you should be good.

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