WRA 150: Evolution of American thought

1. WRA 150: Evolution of American thought THURSDAY, SEPT. 5, 2013

2. AGENDA • Housekeeping • The Rhetorical Situation: Ethos, pathos, logos • Activity 1 • Project proposals • The writing process • What is revision? • Activity 2 • Blog assignment • What’s next

3. THE RHETORICAL SITUATION Aristotle, the father of traditional Rhetoric

4. FIRST… • What is rhetoric? • The art of making meaning: Using language effectively to persuade, inform, educate, or entertain, etc.

5. RHETORICAL SITUATION CONT’D • The circumstances in which you communicate.

6. THE RHETORICAL SITUATION • But, really, rhetorical situations occur whenever one person attempts to communicate with another person. We could do the same activity with a painting, a work of fiction, a political debate, a film, a Facebook status update, a squabble between lovers, a personal journal entry, or any other act of communication. • From Owl Purdue

7. ETHOS • Ethos is an appeal based on the character of the speaker. An ethos-driven document/artifact relies on the reputation of the author. • How to achieve this: • Being an expert • Past experience • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMn-_aQoPk

8. PATHOS • Pathos is an appeal based on emotion • Think pathetic • Examples • Most advertisements are pathos-driven • Why? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHUUyx0d7qw&feature=fvst

9. LOGOS • Logos is an appeal based on logic or reason. • How to achieve this: • Research • Graphs • Statistics/data • http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/world-social-networks-infographic/

10. ACTIVITY • Write a short story describing a time when you had to persuade somebody to do something. These can be either stories of success or stories of failure. • Get together in small groups and share your stories • Identify areas where the author used logos, pathos and ethos

11. DISCUSSION • What were some of the trends you saw in the stories you read? • Was there a particular appeal that yielded the most success? • Thinking about the rhetorical situation of your writing can help you address things like arrangement and invention • Ex. You could arrange your paper in such a way to build your ethos, pathos or logos as an author.

12. PROJECT PROPOSALS • Meant to crystallize your topic and set the scene for your paper. • Get into small groups and share your project proposals with each other • Discuss why or why not these particular topics would be good for project #1. • Does it open up enough room for critical reflection, analysis and interpretation? • In order to effectively do this, we must consider the rhetorical situation.

13. THE WRITING PROCESS • Writing is an iterative process—it is never done, just due. • It is important to modulate your writing—not only does this allow you to know your topic well (because you may have to revisit it often) but it allows you to manage your time more effectively. • From last class, things to consider in your writing process: RAIDS (revision, arrangement, invention, delivery and style.)

14. REVISION • What is it? • Making your paper better by hearing the opinions of others • Review to make it easier to understand: editing for stronger diction, etc • Fixing errors: grammar, spelling, sentence structure • Activity: Get into small groups and define what revision is. • What sorts of things do you do to revise? • Check for organization, flow, clarity • What’s the most important thing about revision? Why? • To make it better, make sure it makes sense • How do you prioritize revision tasks? • Read it out loud

15. EDITING VS. REVISING • Editing addresses low-order concerns • Grammar, punctuation, spelling, citation, formatting issues • Revising, however, should address higher-order concerns to better suit the rhetorical needs more effectively • Things such as development, arrangement, content, etc. • Thinking about our learning memoirs, what sorts of things should be concerned with?

16. SHOWING VS. TELLING • In a memoir, it is important to show the readers why a life event is important, not just tell them that it is. • In order to do this, use descriptive language and imagery to fully explain why these life events are of importance. • Remember that the reader doesn’t have the same orientation to your moments of learning as you do, you need to guide them through your ideas by showing them.

17. EXAMPLE • Original: Getting this present encouraged me even more; I knew I was unstoppable now. • Revised: Receiving this glamorous, brand-new snowboard was exactly what I needed to push me even further. I no longer had to ride that egg-shell white, hand-me-down board that I felt no connection with. The new one, that was now all mine, had a certain glow to it. A glow that left me breathless and excited to use it. When I strapped my new snowboard on for the first time, I felt the instant connection I was hoping for.  A magical power shimmied its way through my black Burton boots and up my goose-bump covered legs. Together, the board and I moved in way that I had never felt before. My feet, which were tightly tied up in my boots, flowed along with my board over the land that the snow covered.  As I glided down the mountain side, a feeling of being unstoppable slowly developed inside me.

18. BLOG POSTS • There will be several assigned throughout the semester • They will typically be very informal • More of a way to make your writing process and ideas more communal • I highly encourage you (might become mandatory) to comment on each other’s blog posts. • Public vs private

19. BLOG POST 1 • Thinking back to the snowboardexample, take an underdeveloped section of your project proposal and revise it to be more descriptive, detailed, whatever you see fit. • After that, write up a short reflection on the choices you made to make this section more appropriate for the assignment. What sorts of things did your original statement lack? How did you assess this?

20. BLOG POST 1 CONT’D • So your first blog post will essentially be • Original statement • Revised statement • Reflection on how you got to the revised statement. Talk through the choices you made and why you think they are successful.

21. FOR NEXT CLASS • First draft of project #1 due. • Bring 3 copies of your draft to class • Read • “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott (on course website)