Week 4: Rhetorical Choices

1. Week 4: Rhetorical Choices Discuss the important points that you took away from this week’s readings.

2. Housekeeping • Appendix 1 in FYW has samples of student submissions • These are actual samples to give you an idea of what others have done. Note that some, but not all, are A papers, so there is room for improvement on them. • How grading works. • You have assignments both on Raider Writer and on my blog, so make sure to check both regularly. • If you are going to come to my office hours, please let me know so that I can expect you. Plan on your appointments lasting at least 15 minutes. • I will not see anyone new after 4:45 without a prior arrangement. • Please come to office hours prepared. • Questions about BA.2?

3. My Teaching • My lesson plans are not based on the class readings. You are responsible for knowing and understanding the information from the reading, even though it usually won’t be directly discussed in class. If we had time to go over everything that we needed to, there wouldn’t be the need for assigned reading. • My style is based around the common mistakes. A lot of the way that I teach is based on helping you avoid these, so please pay attention to things that I repeat or emphasize. • Also pay close attention to the tips on handouts.

4. In your notes: • Answer these questions in a sentence or two. We will be discussing your answers for most of class, but this is to get you started thinking about things. • Where was each article first published • When was each article first published • Who would have read it? Basically, who is the target audience?

5. Form Small Groups And discuss your answers. Discuss your identifications of the purpose as well. Remember, these purposes are persuasive, so the authors are trying to get their readers to DO something. Your identification needs to show this.

6. Discussion • What are your answers? • Where was your article first published • When was your article first published • Who would have read it? Basically, who is the target audience?

7. More Discussion • What is the purpose of the Birkertsarticle? • What is the purpose of the Budianskyarticle? • What is the purpose of the Jaschikarticle? • What is the purpose of the Rosenberg article? • There can be several answers to these questions. There is an answer that is what we are looking for, but as long as you can make a solid argument for your answer, you can use it. • There are wrong answers. For example, the purpose of the Budiansky articleis not to convince us to prepare for an alien invasion.

8. And about the assignment for today. How to Research for Audience

9. Rhetorical Choices • All writing is rhetorical, and all rhetoric involves making decisions. • There is no such thing as a happy accident here. Make sure that you are thinking about your rhetoric during all stages of your writing. • Be objective. • Think about the effectiveness. • I am providing you with a list of common rhetorical choices. This is not exhaustive, and you may find many such lists online. • Note the importance of adjectives. Narrative structure, common diction, ridiculous examples. • The appeals are not choices.

10. We are going to watch some political ads. Looking at the handout that I gave you, think about some rhetorical choices that are being used. Let’s look at this

11. Form groups based on which article you chose. As a group, identify some of the rhetorical choices that are being used in your article, and evaluate their effectiveness. Everyone Stand Up

12. Brief Assignment 3 • Choose one of the texts. • Explain the audience and purpose of this text. Do this in depth and with specificity. 100-200 words. • DO NOT MAKE GUESSES. “Scientists” is not specific enough. • Identify and list five rhetorical choices. • You must go beyond this, however. You need to explain how each choice is acting in the text, and provide an example if possible. • Ethos, logos, and pathos are not choices, so do not include them in this list. • Just listing choices without supporting them will result in a failing grade. Make sure that you are backing up your ideas. • You may only use three of the choices on the list that I gave you. For the other two, you will need to do more research.

13. For Your List • Try to answer the three most important questions: • How is this choice persuasive? • Why is this choice persuasive? • Why might the author have made this choice? • Define the choice. This allows us to see if you fully understand the choice, and make sure that you are using the correct term. • Consider the effectiveness of the choice. • If possible, provide an example. Quotes can be very effective here. Make sure to cite properly!

14. Why do BA.3? • This may seem like a lot of work, but it will help immensely with your draft. • You will choose three from your list of five (later), and these will serve as your arguments for your body paragraphs of your draft. • Identifying these now will give you an idea of what to look for in your future readings of the text. • Along with BA’s 4 and 5, this will give you a preliminary outline for your draft. • Let’s look at some samples.

15. Free write • This may help you identify rhetorical choices, or it may not. If it does, make a note of it. • Please answer in just a few sentences. • Which rhetorical appeal is most prevalent in your chosen text? Why would the author have chosen to appeal to that for their specific audience? • Now think deeper. Which choices are building that appeal?

16. Confusing Shifts: Voice Active Passive Subject is being acted upon “My dog was walked (by Joe).” Usually discouraged in writing, but can be used sometimes. Be + past participle If you can add the phrase “by zombies” to any sentence (or modify something that is already there), then it is passive, and should be changed. • Subject is acting • “Joe walked my dog.” • This voice is preferred in writing in English, as it allows for livelier writing and is generally less confusing.