How the Concept of Audience Affected My Writing - Essay Example

Answers to two Essay Based Questions By Answers to Two Essay Based Questions This paper seeks to answer two questions based on two essays that I wrote in this semester/term. The first question is on how the concept of audience affected my writing. In answering this question, I will explain how I dealt with the issue of audience as I wrote the two essays. The second question is on the epistemology of the two essays that I wrote. In answering this question, I will explain the source of information for my two essays. In explaining my answers to this question, I will explain what I had to do to develop the knowledge and understanding that I demonstrate in this essay. Before I answer the two questions, I will first explain, briefly, the two essays that I wrote in this semester. The brief explanation of the two essays will help to clarify my answers to the two questions. The first essay that I wrote was on the phenomenon of capital punishment in the American Constitution. In this essay I have exposed the argument for and against capital punishment. I have also showed how capital punishment is indeed a community problem. The concept of the capital punishment as a form of punishment for felony is based, firstly, on the idea that capital punishment can act as a deterrent for future crimes. What this means is that capital punishment can scare the potential criminals, thus deterring future commission of crime. Also, it is argued that killing the criminals means that the criminals will not be able to commit crime again; killing criminals breaks down the cycle of crime. For this reason, the proponents of capital punishment contend that capital punishment deters crime. But whether or not capital punishment, actually, deters crime is a debatable issue. The second premise on which the concept of capital punishment is based is the idea that capital punishment is the befitting form of punishment for serious crimes. The proponents of this view contend that capital punishment is the severest form of punishment, and this therefore means that it should be meted out against the people who have committed the severest crimes. The fourth argument in support of the capital punishment is the idea that capital punishment restores the moral imbalance that results from commission of felonious crimes. According to the advocates of this view, killing the criminals who have committed felonious crimes is doing justice both to the criminals and the victims of murder. Having looked at the arguments in support of the capital punishment let me know expose the arguments against capital punishment that I elaborated in my essay this semester. The first argument against capital punishment is that capital punishment is counter-productive. This is because, it is argued, killing the criminal deprives the society of a productive member of the society. The proponents of this view contend that capital punishment deprives families of productive members, possibly, the main breadwinners of the family, and this is an injustice to the members of the family. For this reason, the proponents of this view contend that life imprisonment is better than capital punishment. The second argument against capital punishment is on religious grounds. Many religions of the world hold that life is sacred, and that it is God only who has the right to give and to take back life. For this reason, the advocates of this view hold that it is morally unacceptable to kill criminals. The third argument against capital punishment that I explained in my essay is that capital punishment does not deter crime. The advocates of this view contend that there is no scientific proof that capital punishment deters crime in any way. For this reason, the proponents of this view argue that capital punishment is morally unjustifiable. Having looked at a brief summary of the essay that I wrote let me now turn to the brief description of the essay that I wrote in this semester. In the second essay, I persuasively explained in details why I hold the view that abortion among teenage girls is immoral, and should not be allowed. In this essay my audience were the high school students, both boys and girls. This paper therefore was an address to the high school students and for that reason; I wrote my essay in the manner suited for my audience, high school students. In this essay, I gave both arguments for and against abortion among teenage school girl, and then made an objective judgement of the arguments and I concluded that abortion among school girls is immoral and unacceptable in our societies. The following are the main arguments for and against abortion among teenage school girls. The main claim advanced by the proponents of abortion among teenage school girls is that, abortion for the school girls is in the best interest of the school girls since it will allow the teenager to continue with studies without the responsibilities of being a parent. According to this argument therefore, the teenage girls should be allowed to abort so that they may be able to pursue their goals in life uninhibited. The second argument that I gave on why abortion is considered morally right and acceptable by some scholars is that, since the teenager has not stabilized economically, i.e. the teenager girls do not have the material resources to cater for the child, the teenagers should be allowed to abort since they are not ready financially to care for the child. The third argument adduced in support of abortion among school girls is that it is perfectly within the basic rights of the teenage girls to decide whether or not to carry the pregnancy to term. According to this argument therefore, disallowing the pregnant teenage girls from aborting is against the basic rights of the girls. After enumerating the arguments in support of abortion among teenage girls, I enumerated arguments against abortion among teenage girls. The first argument against abortion among teenage girls that I explained is that on the moral ground, abortion is intrinsically evil and should not be permitted under any circumstance, unless when the life of the mother is in danger; to save the life of the mother. The second argument that I gave in opposing abortion among teenage girls is that, while of course having a child as a teenager can distract one from studies, it is not true that one cannot continue with studies after having a child. In this argument I demonstrated that it is indeed possible for one to continue with studies even after having a child as a teenager. The third argument that I gave in opposing the idea that abortion among teenage girls is morally acceptable, is that abortion among teenage girls leads to intense psychological and emotional problems, whereby the teenagers who abort feel guilty for their immoral actions. In this argument, I argued that the emotional and the psychological problems that abortion brings about can distract the teenagers from their studies more than bearing a child and bringing him/her up. Having objectively presented arguments for and against abortion among teenage girls, I finally made a judgement based on the arguments that I had explored. In the judgement, I concluded and argued that the arguments given in support of abortion among teenage girls are shallow, superficial, and false. For this reason, I concluded that abortion among teenage girls is immoral and should not be allowed in our societies. Having given the tenets of the two essays that I wrote in this semester let me now answer the two questions that are based on these two essays. The first question that I will answer is on how I dealt with the issue of audience as I wrote these essays. In the first essay, my audience were all the members of the society. For this reason, I wrote the essay in a general way because it is intended for all the members of the society. This therefore means that the message that I intended to pass across in this essay is suited for all members of the society. For this reason, I us used language that fit for all members of the society because I am addressing all the members of the society. In the second essay, I addressed the high-school students, especially the teenage high-school girls. For this reason, I used the language that would appeal and that is fit to the young college students. In this essay, I also used the persuasive language that would appeal to the teenage high-school students. As I wrote the essay therefore, I had my audience in my mind and I wrote the essay in a manner that best addresses them. Having answered the first question, let me now turn to the second question that goes as follows, when you wrote the paper, what was the source of that information or understanding? In the first essay, I relied heavily on the work of Odera Oruka in his book called, Punishment and Terrorism in Africa. In this book, professor Oruka takes a humanitarian approach to the concept of punishment and argues compellingly that criminals should be rehabilitated rather than punished. Professor Oruka is particularly against capital punishment and he gives various reasons against capital punishment. In his argument against capital punishment, Oruka explores both the arguments for and against capital punishment. The arguments for and against capital punishment that I have used in the first essay therefore are borrowed heavily from Oruka’s ideas. Besides borrowing heavily from professor Oruka in the first essay, the first essay also contains ideas that are originally mine. These ideas are the ideas that I have gathered through life experiences on the consequences of capital punishment. Also, some of the ideas in the first essay are a result of my reflections on the consequences of capital punishment. Also, I have borrowed from the catechism of the Catholic Church in explaining how capital punishment is inconsistent with the religious idea that life is sacred. The Catechism of the Catholic Church holds that God as the creator of human beings is the only one who has can take away human life. On the epistemology of the second essay, I have relied heavily on the website, Detrimental Effects of Teenage Abortion. In this website, the negative consequences of teenage abortion are clearly elaborated. The negative effects of teenage abortion that I have used in my second essay are therefore largely derived from this website. The other source of information in my second essay is personal experiences and reflections on the consequences of teenage abortion. For instance, I have personally seen a teenage high school girl who became pregnant, bore the child and stayed at home for one and half years taking care of the child, and then went back to school and continued with her studies. The lady continued with studies till she attained a PHD in the University. I have therefore used this personal experience in arguing that child bearing among teenagers can distract them for a while from studies, but the teenagers can resume their studies after some time. In summary, in both essay one and essay two I have used external sources of information like books and website, together with the knowledge that I have gained through personal experiences and reflections on the topics that I have written about. I am therefore able account for the epistemology, or the sources of information that I have used in these two essays. References Detrimental Effects of Adolescent Abortion. Web. Oruka , O. H. (1985). Punishment and Terrorism in Africa. second edit. Nairobi: KBL, 1985. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Web. Read More