Rhetorical Analysis & Clarity in writing

Rhetorical Analysis&Clarity in writing Eng 105 Th. Oct 13th

Your Questions

Ethos, Pathos, Logos • Do ethos, pathos, and logos need to be related to the thesis? • Yes - If you think the author did a good job using e/p/l to effectively make their point, you’ll be supporting that claim and giving example from that standpoint. • And vice-versa for ineffective arguments • An argument can be effective but still have some bad points - most will. Don’t hesitate to talk about those.

Lack of ethos, pathos, logos • What if my paper doesn’t have any ethos/pathos/logos? • If there is an argument, there is logos - somewhere. If there is an author, there is ethos - somewhere. If there are words other than cold, academic speech - “obliterated” where something less loaded could be used, that is pathos

Effective or Ineffective? • How do I know if an argument is or isn’t effective? • Need to put aside personal opinion - that can easily taint your judgementµ • Go by the use of appeals. Is it TOO emotional? Is ethos as glaring as a president putting on a blue collar shirt and rolling up his sleeves to appeal to the working class? Or is it legitimate?

Which is easier? • Is it easier to analyze something you agree with or something you disagree with? • If you agree with it, you will be less likely to notice problems - “preaching to the choir.” • If you disagree, you may find flaws where flaws do not exist

Having problems with Ethos • Anything that makes the author sound good • Any titles, history, MA MFA PHD, Etc. • Anywhere the author tries to relate his/her experiences to the reader’s in any way • Any words that appeal to a certain group • Words like “us, we, fellow Americans, etc. • Conversational tone rather than academic

Fallacies • Don’t focus the paper only on fallacies • Talk about fallacies in the Logos/Logical argument section - you may also mention them near your thesis if the author uses many of them and it really hurts/helps the paper • They can add to an argument - many effective papers use terrible logic. Productive use of fallacies is a fine art that has gotten many people into positions of power.

What if there is very little of one argument type? • There should be at least two of each in your paper • Talk some about what the author should have done in this case • Talk about how this helped/hurt the argument - perhaps not appealing to the audience helped make a very logical argument more powerful by drawing more attention to statistics

Idea Generation - Length! • Go through your article line by line before you write - mark up a list on the article itself of the ethos, pathos, logos, audience, author, tone, bias, fallacies, argument type, etc. • Don’t force yourself to write sequentially - NO great writer/author writes perfectly from “Once upon a time” to “The end.” • Force yourself to find at least 2-3 examples of each appeal. You may think it’s silly, but you may surprise yourself!

Why the hell are we writing this? • Critical thinking skills • Skills/Ideas will be used in other 105 papers • Skills/Ideas will be used in ALL classes that need papers - and many will. • Helps with awareness of media, culture, advertising, politics, internet, etc.

Editing for Clarity P. 339/Section 10 in spiral bound book

Redundancies • Students living in close proximity in the dorms need to cooperate together if they want to live in harmony. • Students living in the dorms need to cooperate to live in harmony.

Repetition • The children enjoyed watching television more than they enjoyed reading books • The children enjoyed watching television more than reading books

Wordy to Concise • It is a common desire to use long, academic-sounding phrases in place of single-word alternatives – but in reality, the concise choice is the best choice • At this point in time = Now • In order to = To • For the purpose of = to • In the event that = If

Missing words • Missing words can change the meaning of a sentence - make sure subjects, verbs, etc. all agree • The gang members neither cooperated nor listened to the authorities • The gang members neither cooperate with not listened to the authorities

Misplaced Modifiers • The hikers watched the storm gathering force from the cabin’s porch • Leaking in the basement, I found a pipe • From the cabin’s porch, the hikers watched the storm gathering. • I found a pipe leaking in the basement

Be assertive • This seems like it might be an example of a logical fallacy… • This is a logical fallacy.

Author in the paper • Do not use “I” • The paper’s existence implies an author already, as well as an opinion • Therefore, you don’t need “In my opinion” either.

Rhetorical Analysis & Clarity in writing