Argumentative texts are used to organize and present conclusions to persuade the audience on a specific point of view. Two argumentative texts are “NCAA Academic Performance Metrics,” a scientific research paper written by Larry LaForge and Janie Hodge, and “The NCAA,” an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, both discussing issues of the NCAA. The thesis of “NCAA Academic Performance Metrics” is the positives of FGR, APR, and GSR in concurrence with sound institutional policies and the appropriate uses and misuses of each metric, whereas “The NCAA” thesis is an argument for the monetary compensation of collegiate athletes. “NCAA Academic Performance Metrics” uses the warrants of scientific research, visual statistics, and policy implications …show more content…
Oliver uses this technique to logically show why athletes should have monetary compensation. An example Oliver uses is showing a basketball player, after playing at a highly profitable tournament dubbed “March Madness,” saying he goes to bed hungry but is still expected to play at a high level to support his team. Oliver uses this example to show how poverty is affecting collegiate athletes with malnourishment. Oliver also supports his warrant of revenue with an example. Majority of universities claim they do not make enough revenue to support compensating collegiate athletes, but Oliver uses examples of stadium sizes, showing how universities have the funding to create the largest stadiums in the world even at a non-professional level, to show how universities create expenses to remain close to non-profit in their athletic departments. Oliver’s usage of examples to back his warrants makes them easy to understand but hard to argue against, as he also uses them to push an emotional appeal on the audience by including starvation and greedy universities, which is effective toward persuading his television audience. LaForge and Hodge use a similar technique in backing their warrant, but instead of conceptual evidence they use empirical evidence to back their warrants which is gathered through scientific research. LaForge and Hodge gather evidence from different parameters showing …show more content…
Oliver’s use of case studies allows him to show a specific occurrence to further drive his point to the audience. An example of this is when Oliver presents the finding of “paper classes,” worthless classes used by administers to allow athletes to maintain eligible GPA, from a nationally recognized university. The case study in question were Swahili and African-American studies, classes designated only to be taken by their athletes. The athletes in question showed no knowledge of anything learned in these classes when asked by reporters. Oliver uses paper classes as an illustration to exemplify his warrant of worthless educations. Case studies can also be used to show incriminating evidence by using examples that are extraordinary. Oliver does this by showing Alabama’s facilities, coaching salaries, and stadium costs. By doing so, Oliver further convinces the audience that major universities have the funding to give monetary compensation to collegiate athletes but choose to create unnecessary expenses to offset profits. Oliver’s use of case studies allow him to use extraordinary examples to push his agenda by showing only one end of the spectrum, instead of focusing on universities that cannot afford what Alabama