Andrew Kim

6/3/15
Writing 2
De Piero
A Move is a Terrible Thing to Waste
In all aspects of society, people utilize moves or skills that become synonymous to them.
Typically most people associate a move to sports star like Allen Iverson and his crossover or The
Rock and his signature Peoples Elbow. Unbeknownst to many people, even writers have specific
moves that defines their writing as well as individualizes it. In his article, How to read Like a
Writer, Mike Bunn mentions the importance of reading like a writer because they utilize moves.
Bunn states that understanding moves is realizing the choices the author made and the
techniques that he/she used are influencing ones response and view on the paper (Bunn 72).
Writers have specific moves that distinguish their writing, emphasize their beliefs, and produce a
certain response from their readers. In three different texts about homosexuality, the authors
utilize their respective moves to portray their views on homosexuality whether it is about the
biological, religious, or mainstream view of it. The most persuasive text was the biological
research paper, while the least persuasive was the mainstream article because the research paper
used efficient moves like sources, tone, abbreviation, quotes, etc. to strengthen their arguments
and views.
In Understanding the Causes of Same-Sex Marriage, Eleanor Whiteway, a researcher in
Cambridge, and Denis R. Alexander, an Emeritus Director of the Faraday Institute for Science
and Religion at St Edmund's College, collaborated on an academic text that correlates
homosexuality with genetics. The text is a type of research paper. The authors intended fellow
educated peers to learn about their findings and connection. In this paper, the authors are trying
to convey the complexity of homosexuality and how multiple factors attribute to it. Even though
the paper acknowledges all the sociological factors, the authors stress the close correlation of

homosexuality with genetics. Because this paper is a research paper, the style of this paper is
formal and informative. The authors desire to convey their research to their respective peer, both
biologists and sociologists.
In Homosexuality: Not a Sin-Not a Sickness, Russ Tate wrote a research academic
text on religions view of homosexuality. Tate, in his paper, discusses the divisive split between
Christians on the topic of homosexuality. Like any typical research paper, the paper by Tate
follows the general convention of a research paper in order to garner respect and the appropriate
attention the author desires. The paper has multiple sources and citations as well as an
introduction or abstract that gives a general summary of the research paper. The paper also has
charts, data, and surveys that strengthen the views of the author because it gives the authors
argument evidence and reasoning for his argument. Although Tate wrote a research paper, this
particular paper has a distinct audience. The paper is targeted for the religious scholars, but
because of the controversial nature of this topic it is read by the public whether they are
Christians, homosexuals, or average citizens. And because this is an academic text, the author
uses an informative and formal tone to match the convention of a research paper.
In the Los Angeles Times (LA Times), Gregory Rodriguez, a columnist, writes an article
called Gay-The New Straight that talks about the growing support of homosexuality. This
article is a mainstream media article that is not necessarily meant to educate society, but instead
gives analysis and information on any topic that happens to be about homosexuality. This article
has a serious tone because the article is from a respected news source, but at the same time lacks
the intensity of an academic text. The article is intended for the general public, as it does not
utilize specific jargon that only the educated would know. Also because La Times is a consumer

product, this article needs an appealing title-which attracts consumers-and short paragraphswhich makes the text look more appealing and readable.
All three texts have similar and dissimilar rhetorical features and conventions because of
the flexibility of genre itself. Even though the mainstream media article is a different genre than
an academic research paper, they share similarities because genre does not have set walls. Instead
genre is permeable clay that can be meshed allowing freedom in identifying a genre. In her
article about genre, Navigating Genres, Dirk describes the nature of genre as, no rules apply
to all genres, and that genre require more effort than simply following the rules (Dirk 258).
Altogether, the three texts share conventions like having a title, which reveals to the reader the
topic that will be discussed, and having similar tone. Although some varied in the severity of the
tone, the three texts were created in order to inform others and make them more aware of the
topic at hand and as a result had an informative tone and style. None of the paper felt personal.
They never used first-person perspective like I which would create closeness between the
readers. By using first-person, the writer breaks the formal barrier associated in a paper. This
style was appropriate to the situation because in paper and texts like a research paper and in a
news article, the authors are not trying to create a bond, but instead show their findings.
However, the three texts have differences between one another because every text is
unique to others. The two academic research papers differ between one another even though they
are of the same genre. As stated, genre is a not a set law or boundary that must be followed. As a
result, the texts have differences that make them unique. One thing the two papers and even the
La Times article differed in was the structure of the text itself. For the work on the religious
aspect on homosexuality, Tate structured the paper into multiple paragraphs that explained one
issue, key term, or idea separately. For the paper on the biological aspect of homosexuality, the

paper was longer and more in depth. It was separated not by mini-paragraphs with one idea, but
instead chunks of paragraphs that explained one topic, which was followed by another topic and
with graphs and charts. And for the news article on the changing view of homosexuality, the
paper was structured into multiple tiny paragraphs that gave the impression to the reader that the
paper was short and succinct. The papers also differed in utilization of data as well as citation.
For the academic papers, the citations were present and noticeable throughout the paper because
the papers needed the credible backing. But for the news article, the necessity for the credible
backing is far less and so the need for multiple citations and sources is limited and less prevalent.
This is possible because the purpose of the newspaper differs from the research paper. While a
research paper is meant to convince the academic reader of its findings so it needs sources and
citations to make the paper credible, while a newspaper has less room for content and less of a
need to convince. Instead a newspaper is used to give or inform the public and so the need to
persuade is less and as a result the need for evidence falls to.
For Understanding the Causes of Same-Sex Marriage an article on the connection
between genetics and homosexuality, Eleanor Whiteway and Denis R. Alexander utilize moves
that strengthen and improves their paper. One move that the two authors used was abbreviation.
Although to the general public, abbreviation may not seem as a powerful or important move;
however abbreviations have strength because it makes the paper less bulky. Whiteway and
Alexander utilize this move when they shorten phrases to, same-sex attraction (SSA) or
opposite sex (OSA) to attraction. Instead of reading a long phrase, readers can correlate that
abbreviation to the phrase that, if left alone, would originally make the paper bulky and
convoluted. This is an useful move because it allows the reader to focus not on the terms, but the
content of the paper. The two authors also use the move of bringing other specialists and sources

to add credence to their papers. They mention experts like the neo-Freudian psychoanalyst
Sandor Rado who, theorized that there was no innate psychological capacity for same-sex
attraction, and that homosexuality, resulted from abnormal parent-son relationships.
Whiteway and Alexander also mention the first biological survey on homosexuality by Dean
Hamer and his revelation of the idea of the gay-gene and how one gene may be the cause of
homosexuality. This move is significant because it adds credence to the work and allows the
authors to show where the analysis comes from. By including other experts, the authors show the
step-by-step or precursor as to where the ideas behind the paper comes from. Based on these
moves, the authors want the readers to not be sidetracked by long words but focus on the paper
instead. By including the multiple sources, experiments, and experts, the authors convey to the
reader the severity and reality of the topic at hand. They want to illuminate the multi-dimensional
facet of homosexuality. The authors included experiments and reports that state that
homosexuality may be a result of biology, social interactions, and/or psychology. They included
all these different views to show that one idea or view does not define homosexuality.
In Homosexuality: Not a Sin-Not a Sickness, Tate utilizes moves like quotes and
sources in order to make his paper credible and to garner specific responses. Tate uses quotes in
his paper in an extravagant amount to subconsciously force attention on his. Tate quoted words
like, inclusion, gay affirming, progressive and other phrases like, anti-gay and selfaffirming. By quoting these words, it makes the readers spends a different type of attention on
them and think on why the author quoted them. Tate also uses sources from other research and
graphs to make his paper credible and his analysis understandable. Tate, in each of his
paragraphs, mentions sources from multiple credible sources, but less than the biological paper.
Tate mention sources from Kinsey, Kallman, and Bailey and Pillard who all conducted research

and surveys on homosexuality. By adding these sources, Tate can make his reader respect his
analysis because it traces the steps Tate used in his analysis.
For Gay-The New Straight, Rodriguez uses unique moves like data and a sarcastic tone
that distinguish his writing and improve it. One move Rodriguez uses is rhetorical questions.
Throughout his article, Rodriguez uses questions to include the opposing argument. However
immediately afterwards, Rodriguez fights that counter-argument to prove his main point. For
example, Rodriguez gave to the reader the results of a survey released by the Williams Institute
at UCLA Law School done by Gary Gates, a demographer. The results that Gate argues state that
there is a growing acceptance of homosexuality among the American public. Immediately
Rodriguez plays devils advocate and states sarcastically, Acceptance? Really? Here Rodriguez
implement two moves that combine to illicit a similar response. He uses a sarcastic tone and
question, as stated, to make the reader pay attention to this sequence of events. He wants the
reader to understand the other side of the argument as well as to bash the argument. Also by
using a sarcastic tone, the reader realizes not to take the questions seriously and instead realize
that the original argument-that homosexuality has become more accepted-is accurate. And by
including the opposing argument, Rodriguez acknowledges the worth of both sides of the
argument, which makes the paper appear slightly neutral. All these moves made the article
efficient, but whether it made it more efficient than the academic text is debatable.
Both types of genre have different strengths and weaknesses. For a non-academic piece
like the LA Times article, the text is available to a greater audience. So because the piece is more
accessible, one can spread an idea or topic faster than an academic research paper. Also a nonacademic piece does not have to be approved by a group of peers-like a research paper has to beand so the process of getting the paper out is smoother and easier. And vice versa, an academic

research paper is stronger than a non-academic piece because a research paper is more respected.
A research paper compared to an article has more reverence. With that respect, the paper is
trusted more and held in a higher sense. Compared to an article, one would take the words and
ideas expressed in a research paper with more gravity and believe it. Most people will hold the
research paper as a more persuasive piece, but unfortunately many people do not read research
paper. As a result, the mainstream source article than the research paper will influence the
general public. However for the scholars, the paper is definitely more persuasive and held in a
higher regard.
In the end, the most persuasive paper was the biological research paper because of its
inclusion of multiple graphs, surveys, and data as well as the inclusion of specialists and experts.
Whiteway and Alexanders paper felt the most persuasive because this paper used the most data
and experts. By including all this data and specialists, the writers analysis and ideas expressed in
the paper are more credible and emphasized because there is data to back up the analysis.
Because of this reasoning, the next persuasive paper was the other research paper by Tate, which
had a good amount of sources, and the least persuasive was the article in La Times, which had
the least use of sources. However just because the paper was the least persuasive it does not
mean that the paper was not persuasive.
Both genres of the academic and non-academic papers are persuasive depending on the
audience. For the article, it is persuasive in gathering more reader while the research papers have
a specific audience. In the end, the non-academic and academic have pros and cons that make
each other useful.

Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like a Writer." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 2 (2011): 72.

Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 1 (2010): 258.

Rodriguez, Gregory. "Gay-the New Straight." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web.
06 May 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/news/la-oe-rodriguez5nov05-column.html>.

Tate, Russ. "'Homosexuality: Not a Sin-Not a Sickness'" N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F
%2Fweb.b.ebscohost.com%2Fehost%2Fpdfviewer%2Fpdfviewer%3Fsid%3D66e7016a-26ec4f76-81f0-2acf87d99c57%2540sessionmgr115%26vid%3D1%26hid%3D101>.

Whiteway, Eleanor, and Denis R. Alexander. "Understanding the Causes of Same-Sex Marriage."
N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fweb.b.ebscohost.com%2Fehost%2Fpdfviewer%2Fpdfviewer
%3Fsid%3Df516f9f7-1c00-4336-87ac-9c61e8e59df0%2540sessionmgr112%26vid
%3D1%26hid%3D101>.