BBC: Europe’s Immigration Crisis, Essay Example

The article titled Human migration will be a defining issue of this century. How best to cope?—written by Alexander Betts—heavily focuses on refugee crises primarily in Europe and in the Middle East, where it is most predominant. Betts makes his perspective clear through his writing that he wants more to be done to assist refugees. Specific interpretations may vary from reader to reader but based on the content of the article, a general interpretation would be that refugees attributing to foreign political issues are a rising issue in this century and it needs to be addressed. The applications of collected data pertaining to refugees and human migration integrated in Betts writing strongly support his position on how to best cope with this crisis he addresses.

The text in Betts article achieves many effects which are both informative as well as persuasive. Different sub-stories are presented in the text about how refugee crises are having an impact on the global economy as well as ethical standards. Betts does a fine job of informing the audience about the past and present situations of human migration and how they correlate with each other based on on-going political issues. Betts then uses this information to persuade his audience on the importance of addressing refugee crises due to the ethical dilemma surrounding them.

The first time I read this article, I did not fully have an understanding of what Betts was conveying through his writing. I was previously somewhat familiar with the refugee crises in the eastern parts of the globe, but did not know the full extent of the situation. The second time I read this text, I had a better understanding of the story that Betts was conveying as I paid more attention to the development of the text. This had a more profound effect on my understanding of refugees. The third time I read this text, I feel as if I fully understood Betts’s perspective on the refugee crises. I was able to follow the story in greater depth due to already being exposed to it.

This text might affect others in different ways all depending on their political standing, pre-meditated knowledge of refugee crises and human migration, and personal interpretations of ethical standards. A democrat may feel differently about this article than a republican. Somebody with a deep understanding of the refugee crises may feel more connected with this story than somebody who has had minimal exposure to such issues. Varying interpretations of ethical theory may also impact how others could be affected by this text. For example, one who is governed by a utilitarian ethical theory would be differently affect by this text opposing to one who is governed by deontological ethical theory.

A specific technique that Betts integrated in his writing was the use of historical data in the development of his story. This was used to inform his audience on the situation of refugees. He then imposed elements of his personal perspectives to suggest reasons for the importance of addressing these issues. The story had a strong development with use of current events and historical data to help both inform and persuade the audience for a better understanding of refugee crises and human migration. Betts also made the choice to use photographs to help the audience visualize what refugees are going through. This technique is often used in photo-journalism.

The whole piece of this text is well organized in structured paragraphs, bullet stories, as well as the integration of photographs. This sentence structure is appealing to the audience as Betts goes into detail about the definition of “refugee” and “economic immigrant”. This is an example of how well of a job Betts does at making sure that his audience has a sound understanding of the topic his writing is based on. This informative style of writing can be found throughout the entire structure of the text in different ways.

The article is already divided into several parts as can be seen in the format of the text. Firstly, the paragraphs separate different sub-topics pertaining to refugees. At the same time, the transition between paragraphs flows accordingly in such a way that not only makes sense but allows the audience to follow the story in a sequential manner. Every paragraph is related to the main topic, that being refugee crises. Betts also sequences his sentences from first being informative, and then leaning more towards persuasion based on the facts and historical data which he provides the audience.

Each individual part of the text is organized into separate paragraphs initially. After Betts feels that his audience has a sound understanding of what refugees and human migration is, he begins to individualize specific sub-topics with the use of bullet points. Using bullet points at the end of any article to cover specific and important notes is completely appropriate in journalism and is often used to inform the audience of specific aspects relating to the main story. The individual parts of this text are organized in such a way that it fully surrounds all sub-topics relating to the main topic of refugees.

The purpose of each paragraph is to simply convey information to the audience which they can interpret in their own individual way based on the facts provided by the writer. Each paragraph and section of this article serves its own unique purpose of conveying specific information about the refugee crises while remaining closely related to each other. The opening section of this article mostly informs the audience of current events relating to refugees and human migration. The mid-section of the article goes more into historical data and past events relating to refugees and human migration. The last section of the article is more persuasive in informing the audience on why political action must be taken to assist refugees as well as reasons behind those persuasive sentences.

A stylistic consideration that went into the writing of these sentences is the strong and appropriate use of direct quotes. Direct quotes are an effective way to help an audience understand any type of journalistic information or any given perspectives on varying topics. Another stylistic consideration used in the sentences of this text is rhetorical questioning to the audience. Throughout the article, Betts will first question the reader regarding a topic, and then give his answer to that question. This stimulates the reader’s thinking on the subject matter and is an effective use of styling his sentences.

There does not appear to be any kind of specific pattern in Betts’s use of sentence structure, words, or images. The writing is simply well organized into sequential sections that convey information, historical data, and a perspective that can leave the audience wondering more about the future of refugees.

An alternative which Betts rejected to use was carrying an argument to the audience. Although some of the material used in this writing can be effectively persuasive for the audience, it is not strong enough to the point that Betts can be considered to be carrying an opinion based argument. Betts simply relays his research to the audience through his own perspective and interpretations. Betts remains neutral for the most part of the writing, all of which is supported by both researched facts and direct quotes from external sources.

The choices in grammar, writing style, sentence structure, divided sections, perspective, as well as organization all correlate with each other to achieve the ultimate effect of leaving the audience fully informed on the subject matter. This effect also gives the audience an opportunity to interpret the story on their own and to conduct their own research on it. The various choices used in this writing style are mentally stimulating for the audience, especially with everything being written in a story sequence of both current and historical events.

On the internal evidence of the text, it would appear that the writer is simply trying to inform the audience of a topic which he feels should strongly be addressed. In this case, that topic is the economic refugee crises. After a full analysis of this text, I can say with confidence that the writer achieved their aim towards me as a reader. I have a much better understanding of the topic now than I did before I analyzed this text.