FREE ESSAY ON PORTER

PORTER

I: Organizational Pattern: Rogerian
Christa Porter examines what a true friend is. She does this by establishing a
presentation with a Rogerian pattern as it's basis. This pattern is seen in several
aspects mentioned by Porter, the more obvious aspect is when she invites the audience to
give their opinion of what a true friend is. Porter is basically discovering what the
listener's positions are when asking what they think a true friend is. Porter also
reveals her pattern choice when she presents her own ideas, primarily supported by
relevant Bible scriptures.
II: Elaborative Devices: Q & A, Rhetorical Questions, Religion, Definition (operational),
Discussion, Proverbs
Christa Porter developed her argument and presentation thoroughly by including a slew of
elaboration devices. Initially, Porter feels including a short discussion of what the
listeners already know, what a friend is, would be very affective. Rhetorical questions
play a role in Porter's development of her presentation, she asks the audience several of
these questions relating to what they would do, think and know. Definitions can be
useful, especially when you are trying to invite the listeners to disclose what they
think the meaning of something is. Porter uses an operational definition to accomplish
the task of defining what a true friend is and does
Lastly, Porter takes full advantage of the effectiveness of the usage of Proverbs and
religion by using several verses from Proverbs as support for her argument.
III: Interactional Goal: To Articulate a Perspective
One of the easier elements to point out is Porter's interactional goal, which happens to
be articulating a perspective. To see this interactional goal at work just simply take a
step back and look at how she develops her presentation. Porter shares information about
what a true friend is and then presents her point of view about friendship. She
additionally encourages others to become involved in the presentation and discussion.
IV: Conclusion
Porter's conclusion is short but somewhat effective. I recall when you mentioned in class
that the conclusion should actually be a bit longer than those mentioned in our
textbooks. Porter sets up her conclusion by providing a situation that shows the elements
of a true friendship. The conclusion is accomplished when she compares and contrasts the
given situation with a hypothetical friendship with God.
V: Commitment Statement:
This element is one of the easier pieces to disect from the presentation, mainly 
because of it's structure. Porter takes what you called "the easy way out", by using the

phrase, "today we are going to talk about something". Basically Porter's
commitment statement is, she wants to talk about a familiar topic (friendship) while
receiving new ideas from the listeners.
VI: Opening & Closing:
I saved this analysis for last, because I feel she spent the least amount of time
developing these elements within her presentation. First of all her opening consists of
only "Good Morning Y'all", granted it is a Sunday School class, it still, I feel,
requires a more elaborative style. For example, she could have said, "Good Morning
Everyone, God is good and worthy to be praised, etc. Something along those lines would
have been more appropriate.
VII: Compare & Contrast:
Porter made some wise choices as well as bad choices. Even though the setting and
audience are relatively neutral, because they all know each other, I feel Porter's
opening would have been more effective if slang and trendy word choices had not been
used.
As far as bad choices or elements, Porter did not include any such further aspects within
her presentation. On the other hand, Porter's wise choices were made when she used that
small discussion at the beginning of the presentation. This discussion enticed the
listeners to recall information about realistic relevant happenings in their lives. This
sort of provoking is what is necessary to the persuasive nature of 
Sunday School.
Another wise choice is when Porter chose to include an explanation of what a true friend
is and how that friend may act in a given situation. This was effective primarially
because it allowed the listeners to establish a sense of nostalgia within past and
present friendships.
VIII: Lastly, Porter's closing is somewhat embedded within her conclusion. She mention's
that the point of her presentation is trusting in God, but does not add any good-byes,
thank yous or at least a closing prayer. Porter's closing could have been more effective
if she said something to the nature of "so we learned today that..., so let's say a
prayer for all of our friends and friends of our parents", and so on. Overall, this
presentation was short, but effective, with the exception of a couple flaws.