{"id":{"repo_id":"unsw","oai_identifier":"oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/70942"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unsw/oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/70942","repository":{"repo_id":"unsw","name":"University of New South Wales","base_url":"https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/oai/provider"},"display":{"title":"Genre, evaluation, and persuasion in journalistic opinion writing: a study of Pakistani English-language editorials on the killing of Osama Bin Laden","abstract":"This thesis explores how Pakistan’s English-language newspaper editorials used rhetorical and evaluative resources to position readers in favour of arguments advanced in response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US military forces. The decision to select the editorials was made due to a range of structures, from elliptical to multi-generic, that these editorials employed to code their rhetoric in Pakistan’s highly confrontational socio-political context in which faith-based ideology and power hierarchy dynamics can have serious implications for people/ journalists making claims that might be considered controversial. Such structures have not been noted in genre (or media genre) scholarship on persuasive texts. Moreover, none of the existing schools of scholarship (i.e., the New Rhetoric, ESP, and the Sydney School) can prima facie account for those structures in generic terms. The editorials in the present dataset have several points of divergence and similarity, which leads to various questions such as if they form a genre or subgenre on their own, and if it can be proposed as belonging to an existing argument genre based on some fundamental features that they might be sharing with such a genre. The foremost claim that is made about the editorials is that despite their structural differences, they all have the same rhetorical motivation, which is, that they all advance their respective claims and argue for them. Any generic or evaluative principle or variable that these editorials employ is geared towards supporting their claims. Of all the argument genres found in scholarship (Challenge, Discussion, and Exposition), these editorials seem closer to the Exposition since they are anchored in central expository motivation, which is arguing for a view/ claim. However, unlike an Exposition, these editorials have various elemental genres and Exposition-like structures embedded in them. Text types with such an overall structure have not been referenced in the Sydney School literature on the Exposition. Drawing on White’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics-inspired work on the structure of news reporting, a new schematic structure is proposed to account for the editorials within the expository paradigm of the Sydney School of Genre. Thus, a new sub-class named Heuristic Exposition is proposed, which has an “orbital” structure (comprised of a “News Hook” supported by various persuasive-evaluative “Satellites”). The proposed sub-class can be an addition to the other two expository sub-classes, which are Analytical and Hortatory Expositions. The case made is that the orbital structure helps the editorials achieve their communicative goals where the conventional structure might have fallen short, if not entirely failed. In addition to the generic examination of the editorials, another contribution this study seeks to make is that to understand the rhetoric of the editorials, their evaluative positions will have to be foregrounded. Thus, an Appraisal-based study is offered to foreground various assumptions that the editorials make as regards their putative readers who may be aligned, neutral, or opposed to their positions. The major conclusion of this study is that it makes some original contributions to the Sydney School scholarship on argument genres, and the proposed orbital schematic structure should be able to account for a high number of opinion text types beyond the present dataset.","abstract_html":"This thesis explores how Pakistan’s English-language newspaper editorials used rhetorical and evaluative resources to position readers in favour of arguments advanced in response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US military forces. The decision to select the editorials was made due to a range of structures, from elliptical to multi-generic, that these editorials employed to code their rhetoric in Pakistan’s highly confrontational socio-political context in which faith-based ideology and power hierarchy dynamics can have serious implications for people/ journalists making claims that might be considered controversial. Such structures have not been noted in genre (or media genre) scholarship on persuasive texts. Moreover, none of the existing schools of scholarship (i.e., the New Rhetoric, ESP, and the Sydney School) can prima facie account for those structures in generic terms. The editorials in the present dataset have several points of divergence and similarity, which leads to various questions such as if they form a genre or subgenre on their own, and if it can be proposed as belonging to an existing argument genre based on some fundamental features that they might be sharing with such a genre. The foremost claim that is made about the editorials is that despite their structural differences, they all have the same rhetorical motivation, which is, that they all advance their respective claims and argue for them. Any generic or evaluative principle or variable that these editorials employ is geared towards supporting their claims. Of all the argument genres found in scholarship (Challenge, Discussion, and Exposition), these editorials seem closer to the Exposition since they are anchored in central expository motivation, which is arguing for a view/ claim. However, unlike an Exposition, these editorials have various elemental genres and Exposition-like structures embedded in them. Text types with such an overall structure have not been referenced in the Sydney School literature on the Exposition. Drawing on White’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics-inspired work on the structure of news reporting, a new schematic structure is proposed to account for the editorials within the expository paradigm of the Sydney School of Genre. Thus, a new sub-class named Heuristic Exposition is proposed, which has an “orbital” structure (comprised of a “News Hook” supported by various persuasive-evaluative “Satellites”). The proposed sub-class can be an addition to the other two expository sub-classes, which are Analytical and Hortatory Expositions. The case made is that the orbital structure helps the editorials achieve their communicative goals where the conventional structure might have fallen short, if not entirely failed. In addition to the generic examination of the editorials, another contribution this study seeks to make is that to understand the rhetoric of the editorials, their evaluative positions will have to be foregrounded. Thus, an Appraisal-based study is offered to foreground various assumptions that the editorials make as regards their putative readers who may be aligned, neutral, or opposed to their positions. The major conclusion of this study is that it makes some original contributions to the Sydney School scholarship on argument genres, and the proposed orbital schematic structure should be able to account for a high number of opinion text types beyond the present dataset.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zaidi, Syed"],"institution":"UNSW, Sydney","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:32:27Z","subjects":["Argumentation","Appraisal","Genre","Media Discourse Analysis"],"languages":["EN"],"rights":["open access","CC BY-NC-ND 3.0","free_to_read"],"rights_urls":["https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22598"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22598","href":"https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22598","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/70942","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zaidi, Syed"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["UNSW, Sydney"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["doctoral thesis","http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Argumentation","Appraisal","Genre","Media Discourse Analysis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["EN"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["open access","https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","CC BY-NC-ND 3.0","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/","free_to_read"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/70942","https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4e47a665-141e-4e84-9971-e0fa2d2186a2/download","https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22598"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This thesis explores how Pakistan’s English-language newspaper editorials used rhetorical and evaluative resources to position readers in favour of arguments advanced in response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US military forces. 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The foremost claim that is made about the editorials is that despite their structural differences, they all have the same rhetorical motivation, which is, that they all advance their respective claims and argue for them. Any generic or evaluative principle or variable that these editorials employ is geared towards supporting their claims. Of all the argument genres found in scholarship (Challenge, Discussion, and Exposition), these editorials seem closer to the Exposition since they are anchored in central expository motivation, which is arguing for a view/ claim. However, unlike an Exposition, these editorials have various elemental genres and Exposition-like structures embedded in them. Text types with such an overall structure have not been referenced in the Sydney School literature on the Exposition. Drawing on White’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics-inspired work on the structure of news reporting, a new schematic structure is proposed to account for the editorials within the expository paradigm of the Sydney School of Genre. Thus, a new sub-class named Heuristic Exposition is proposed, which has an “orbital” structure (comprised of a “News Hook” supported by various persuasive-evaluative “Satellites”). The proposed sub-class can be an addition to the other two expository sub-classes, which are Analytical and Hortatory Expositions. The case made is that the orbital structure helps the editorials achieve their communicative goals where the conventional structure might have fallen short, if not entirely failed. In addition to the generic examination of the editorials, another contribution this study seeks to make is that to understand the rhetoric of the editorials, their evaluative positions will have to be foregrounded. Thus, an Appraisal-based study is offered to foreground various assumptions that the editorials make as regards their putative readers who may be aligned, neutral, or opposed to their positions. 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The foremost claim that is made about the editorials is that despite their structural differences, they all have the same rhetorical motivation, which is, that they all advance their respective claims and argue for them. Any generic or evaluative principle or variable that these editorials employ is geared towards supporting their claims. Of all the argument genres found in scholarship (Challenge, Discussion, and Exposition), these editorials seem closer to the Exposition since they are anchored in central expository motivation, which is arguing for a view/ claim. However, unlike an Exposition, these editorials have various elemental genres and Exposition-like structures embedded in them. Text types with such an overall structure have not been referenced in the Sydney School literature on the Exposition. Drawing on White’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics-inspired work on the structure of news reporting, a new schematic structure is proposed to account for the editorials within the expository paradigm of the Sydney School of Genre. Thus, a new sub-class named Heuristic Exposition is proposed, which has an “orbital” structure (comprised of a “News Hook” supported by various persuasive-evaluative “Satellites”). The proposed sub-class can be an addition to the other two expository sub-classes, which are Analytical and Hortatory Expositions. The case made is that the orbital structure helps the editorials achieve their communicative goals where the conventional structure might have fallen short, if not entirely failed. In addition to the generic examination of the editorials, another contribution this study seeks to make is that to understand the rhetoric of the editorials, their evaluative positions will have to be foregrounded. Thus, an Appraisal-based study is offered to foreground various assumptions that the editorials make as regards their putative readers who may be aligned, neutral, or opposed to their positions. The major conclusion of this study is that it makes some original contributions to the Sydney School scholarship on argument genres, and the proposed orbital schematic structure should be able to account for a high number of opinion text types beyond the present dataset."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/70942","https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4e47a665-141e-4e84-9971-e0fa2d2186a2/download","https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22598"],"dc:language":["EN"],"dc:publisher":["UNSW, Sydney"],"dc:rights":["open access","https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2","CC BY-NC-ND 3.0","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/","free_to_read"],"dc:subject":["Argumentation","Appraisal","Genre","Media Discourse Analysis"],"dc:title":["Genre, evaluation, and persuasion in journalistic opinion writing: a study of Pakistani English-language editorials on the killing of Osama Bin Laden"],"dc:type":["doctoral thesis","http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:32:27Z"}