Analysis Of She Thought She Was Irish, By Libby Copeland

In “She Thought she was Irish -- Until a DNA Test Opened up a 100-Year-Old Mystery” Libby Copeland’s intention is to keep her audience on their toes and fascinated with every detail. Readers are gripped by the compelling, sentimental story, and stay because key elements are shown in a fascinating way. Through sentence structure, the appeal of Pathos, and word choice, Copeland composes an emotional story causing the readers to want more.
The variety of sentence structure throughout the article keeps the writing interesting. Copeland uses adjectives to emphasize her thoughts and add more detail to her writing, like in this sentence, “It is a complex feat, made necessary by old-fashioned error and modern-day technology, to grasp that a terrible
Placed directly after paragraphs filled with detail, simple sentences result in powerful statements. The first time using this writing element is when talking about how Alice Plebuch wants to uncover the truth. Right before ending the first section of the article, she concludes it with “Just the skills necessary to solve a very old puzzle.” Copeland maintains this structure the entire article and the last sentence,“It is the truth, after all,” leaves the reader hooked. Often times, less is more, and having short sentences maximizes the crucial points in this article.The variety of sentences keep the article from being repetitive and helps to make this piece more enjoyable for the
When mentioning the response Plebuch had when they figured out the truth, Copeland writes, “Plebuch was devastated. This finding knocked out the secret-Jews theory — but if it put Plebuch closer to the truth, she still felt unmoored.” Instead of just mentioning Plebuch being, “sad”, Libby used adjectives like “devastated” and “unmoored” to fully show how heart broken Plebuch was during this time. These additional details display an alluring sense of grief. Following that, Copeland states “It is astonishing what DNA testing can do. The same technology can cleave families apart or knit them together. It can prompt painful revelations, and it can bring distantly related members of the human family together on a quest, connecting first cousins who look like sisters, and solving a century-old mystery that could have been solved no other way.” These sentences display elaboration on what DNA testing can do, but is written in a way to keep it interesting.Word choice can impact tone, imagery, and how the readers perceive things. Copeland writes these sentences to not only entertain, but to have to have her readers make the decision of whether or not DNA testing is a good idea. Copeland wants her readers to recognize that although testing may cause beneficial, there is a chance of an emotional side effect.
Through the writing elements of sentence structure, Pathos, and word choice Libby Copeland