Bias and Writing Types Overview

Bias

• Bias is a preference or inclination, positive or negative, toward something.
• Bias can be unconscious and rooted in personal experiences.
• Types of bias include cognitive (confirmation, anchoring), statistical (selection, sampling), social (gender, implicit), and media (framing, sensationalism).
• Prejudice is a preconceived, usually negative, opinion based on stereotypes, potentially leading to discrimination.
• A key difference is bias can be neutral, while prejudice is typically negative and unjustified.

Persuasive vs. Argumentative Writing

• Persuasive writing aims to convince the reader of the writer's opinion.

• Argumentative writing proves a viewpoint as factual using logic and evidence.

• Persuasive techniques use facts and opinions combined to convince, while argumentative writing relies on facts, credible data, and logical reasoning to validate the argument.

• Persuasive writing targets a specific audience to achieve a specific goal, unlike argumentative writing which seeks to present a logical argument to a broader unspecified audience.

• Persuasive uses "I" and "you" while argumentative favors objectivity using the third person.

• Persuasive writing relies on emotional appeals and personal belief while argumentative writing prioritizes logic, evidence, and expert sources.

• Persuasive writing often focuses only on the writer's viewpoint, whereas argumentative writing acknowledges and counters opposing views.

• Persuasive writing starts with a personal interest while argumentative writing begins by researching a debatable topic based on facts.

"Sorry, Wrong Number" Summary

• Genre: Suspense and thriller radio drama.
• Plot: A bedridden woman, Leona Stevenson, overhears a murder plot over the phone. Despite her efforts to alert police and operators, they are dismissive, and tragically, she becomes the target and victim of the murder.
• Characters: Leona Stevenson (victim), Henry Stevenson (involved in the crime), Operators and Police (unresponsive), George (the killer).
• Key Themes: Isolation, helplessness, societal inefficiency, irony and fate.
• Literary Devices: Foreshadowing hints at her fate, suspense and irony as the audience knows more than she does, and the use of sound effects and dialogue to build radio drama tension.