Class Overview – Week 10: Revision of Introduction

1. Class Overview – Week 10: Revision of Introduction • The future of your grade (i.e. your wake up call) • 1302 • Malcolm X • Revision vs. Editing • Revising an introduction for a rhetorical analysis • Group Revision of an introduction • Introduction Workshops • Group Discussion (?) • Directions for BA7

2. Upcoming Assignments • Next Tuesday – BA7: Revision of Introduction • 11/13 – BA8: Revision of Conclusion • 11/20 – BA9: Sentence-Level Revision • 12/4 – Draft 1.2: Rhetorical Analysis • 12/11 – Writing Review • Participation points

3. ENGL 1302 – Advanced College Rhetoric • Section 68 – Thursday, 2:00 – 3:20 • Section 71 – Thursday, 3:30 – 4:50

4. Malcolm X Why does Malcolm X want us to get an education?

8. Revision vs. Editing/Proofreading • Proofreading/Editing – This is when you look for mistakes like spelling errors, punctuation mistakes, and other grammatical issues.

9. Revision vs. Editing/Proofreading • Proofreading/Editing – This is when you look for mistakes like spelling errors, punctuation mistakes, and other grammatical issues. • Revision – This is when you read a paper to see if it flows from one topic to another in a sensible manner. You examine the paper to determine if the organization is logical, if the paper fits the actual assignment, or if you veered off-topic at any point.

10. Revision vs. Editing/Proofreading • It doesn’t mean “I changed in a few words and tossed in some commas.” • It means that you are rewriting certain parts of your paper to make them sound better and to make sure they support the claims you made in the thesis statement. • Revision literally means to “see again” in a new light.

11. Revising Your Introduction The Introduction to your rhetorical analysis must contain these four things: • You must state the author and text with which you will be working. • You must identify the purpose. DO NOT tell us the author’s life story. Explain WHY the author is writing this particular essay. • Identify the audience. DO NOT say, “The author has a general audience.” Instead, identify a few specific audiences. • In your thesis statement, tie rhetorical choices, audience, and purpose all together to make an argument about how the writer uses the rhetorical choices to reach his audience and achieve his purpose.

12. “No university would ask any student to devour literature as I did when this new world opened to me, of being able to read and understand.” (228). These words spoken by Malcolm X illustrate a man of drive and passion in regards to an education. This was not always the Malcolm X that existed, but one that takes shape and form in his own account in “A Homemade Education.” X gives an unlikely insight about the African American community through his struggles with overcoming a lack of an education in prison; through well placed metaphor and allusion he brings the each personal plight of his situation with that of black Americans, to shed light to fellow blacks, and white Americans alike, of the deep history of the black race.

13. Malcolm X a “Homemade Education” is about Malcolm X being locked up in jail and he decides to learn. He explains this to the reader by using fear, individual experience and emotional appeal. This is all so that he reaches out to his people and supporters. Malcolm X was a leader but he was not always this way. You will see this as he addresses his people (civil rights activist). He goes through what made him envy, with fear and in your face facts, and the emotional appeal of his own struggles and experiences that has changed him into a better man. He will show how he is transformed by all the events he goes through and how he became a better person because of it.

14. Our culture is surrounded by means of casual language.  Slang words have grown increasingly more popular and have made their way from the language of the uneducated to language understood by the masses.  Casual language and slang dominate everyday communication: Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, and blogging are all prime examples of how this type of informal language is the norm in our culture, and written communication.  With students in early composition courses, the main critique is often to avoid writing as one speaks; however, with excessive slang and casual language in our written communication, this idea becomes harder to escape.  On the other hand, it is not impossible to use slang or casual language in scholarly writing; in fact, the act of using this type of language can be incredibly influential to students who are studying English composition. The personal examples and the casual tone and language of Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education” is relatable to students of all skill levels, which helps make his story inspirational and especially beneficial for beginning writing.

15. Group Writing – Revise This Introduction Malcolm X’s essay “A Homemade Education” is a powerful essay that shows the importance of education to the less privileged community. When Malcolm X was in the seventh grade he actually ended up dropping out of the school system all together and began his life on the streets. When Malcolm X was thrown into jail, he soon realized he was not as smart as he had once thought himself to be. Malcolm X then decided to grab a dictionary and began trying to give himself a better education. In the essay “A Homemade Education,” Malcolm X initially uses irony to show how even through great odds people who find themselves economically disadvantaged, lacking education, and homeless can also receive an education; however, Malcolm X’s use of invective language and slang helps him to draw a connection with his reader to encourage him to go out and better themselves.

16. Introduction Workshop You are going to share the introduction to your rhetorical analysis with two other classmates. You will spend five minutes reading someone else’s introduction and writing feedback to them as they read your introduction and give feedback to you. Consolidate all of the feedback on one page. By the time this workshop is over, you should have two sets of feedback from two different students on one page. I will tell you when your five minutes are up and when you should switch papers with another classmate.