3 March 2014
Gladwell, Malcolm. “
TheTipping Point.” 2000. Back to the Lake. Ed. Thomas Cooley.2nd ed.
New York: Norton, 2012. 675-81. Print.
New Yorker feature
article in journalistic style.
Malcolm Gladwell
develops a great theory of how epidemics, other than diseases, in every-day
life stem but he even admits others have other explanations for the events
taken place.
The 3 characteristics of
a social epidemic
-I disagree with this
theory because where is the science behind this
“the idea that epidemics
can rise and fall in one dramatic moment ̶ is the most
important, because it is the principle that makes sense of the first two”
- I would like to argue
how this does not apply to all occurrences ( athletes, music)
In the article Gladwell
talks about how human behavior plays a role in social
epidemics
-he doesn’t explain what
can cause us to react in that certain manner
His story depicting the
crime rate in New York
-poorly explained, uses
angle of vision
"Within five years,
murders had dropped..."
-what happened in those five
years.
Gladwell states that
others have different reasoning behind the crime epidemic in New York
-makes me question the theory’s logic
He ends with two
questions
-made me question if his theory
made any logical sense
This looks like a good, solid start. Here are a few things for you to consider as you revise your final draft:
ReplyDeleteYou've got the right idea for your thesis, but I want you to structure it slightly different for this particular paper. For this paper your thesis should answer the following questions: Is Gladwell's article effective, successful, persuasive (or not) for his target audience? In other words, does he succeed in persuading his target audience? How does he succeed (or not)? Why does he succeed (or not)? Does Gladwell use logos, pathos and ethos in his article? Does this contribute to his success? Where do we see examples of his use (or lack of) logos, pathos and ethos in the article?
If you can answer these questions in your thesis, you will have a stronger, more organized thesis that will forecast where the rest of your paper is going to take your readers.
Let me know if you have questions or concerns about this. I am happy to discuss it with you more.