Chapter 8

Chapter 8 elaborates upon the element of design within an argumentative paper and other mediums of communication, outlining the three levels of decorum typically recognized in academia:

-Grand (or) high style: E.g. an academic paper

-Middle Style: E.g. a newspaper article

-Plain (or) low style: E.g. a weblog

and the author goes on to detail out the relevance of these styles as they pertain to their respective academic functions.

Contextually, images are noted to be functional in the appendix, the title page, and the body of the literary work, however, all of which serve different functions. The most adamantly noted comment was that, regardless of location, images need to be a) signposted via a textual reference to the image and then given a caption to explain the details and relevance of the image.

Following the discussion of the use of imagery, the chapter then goes on to the specifics of format. It begins with the abstract, but explains that (once again) multiple styles of paper develop the abstract differently. Scientific papers are noted to typically compose their abstract once the paper is written, as a synopsis of the work. Alternatively, argumentative papers will typically compose the abstract whenever is convenient for the writer, as it will (more often than not) simply present the grounds for the argument. Additional considerations on abstracts include- use of personal pronouns, the level of decorum, and tone.

The point following the abstract and bio makes a return to the visual elements of design and lists the typical attentive tendencies of a general audience ( and breaks the visual attention spans down by percent right next to the graphical representation of a written work).

The chapter then leaves the realm of design and move on to other forms of argument and persuasion, including opinion advertisements, parodies, photo essays (which simply invert the priorities of verbal emphasis vs visual), websites, etc. At this point in the chapter, the chapter ceases discussing the formal, generalized concepts behind design and begin laying out the formats of the different argumentative mediums which, while these mediums may serve many uses, don't necessarily cover much applicable information other than the specific construction of the above-mentioned mediums.