Analysis of My Paper A

Argument:

WATCO- What are the consequences of scheduling tough non-conference competition in College Football on a non-BCS team’s chances of winning a National Championship?

Claim- Scheduling tough non-conference competition must happen in order to give your non-BCS team a chance of winning a National Championship.

Reason- Because by beating top teams in head-to-head matchups you show that you’re the best team in the nation by giving your team credibility which eliminates controversy.

Assumption- By showing you’re the best team in the nation through giving your team credibility which eliminates controversy, you also give your team a chance of winning a National Championship.


Audience: BYU fans who are worried that the difficult schedule next football season may pose to great a risk of having a successful year because of several reasons.


Goal: To persuade BYU football fans that BYU should be trying to schedule powerhouse teams every year for their non-conference schedule if they truly want to see BYU bring in another National Championship.


How?:

Logos- In the paper, two teams are used as logical examples to strengthen the claim of the paper. The first is the University of Utah who went undefeated last year but still didn’t get a crack at the title game arguably because their non-conference schedule just wasn’t tough enough. The second team mentioned is the Norte Dame Fightin Irish. Notre Dame’s program is used to show that scheduling tough teams consistently will garner your program respect over time which will lead to good dividends in the future.

Pathos- Other than a few play-on-words and a call to action in the conclusion of the paper, not much emotion is used to persuade readers. The paper takes on a very informative approach, more persuasion could be seen through using emotions to invigorate the audience into agreeing with the claim.

Relevance- Is the issue presented in the paper truly an issue for BYU fans? Do most fans worry that BYU is being overambitious this next season with the scheduling? A claim can be made that there are a few fans who are worry-warts and low risk-takers, but not the majority. The paper is very informative, but the issue has problems which makes it hard to persuade an audience that doesen’t need persuading.


Effective: The paper does a very good job of explaining the College Football scene and the BCS, but it struggles in terms of arguing an issue that is relevant to its audience. Changes can be made to make it a better paper.