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Rhetoric Ms. Sams

“He who does not study rhetoric will be victim of it.” –found on a Greek wall from 6 th Century B.C. Rhetoric Ms. Sams. What is Rhetoric?. The art of communication… Analysis and comprehension of how a writer/speaker has achieved his/her effect from a text on an audience.

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Rhetoric Ms. Sams

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  1. “He who does not study rhetoric will be victim of it.” –found on a Greek wall from 6th Century B.C RhetoricMs. Sams

  2. What is Rhetoric? The art of communication… Analysis and comprehension of how a writer/speaker has achieved his/her effect from a text on an audience. So what does this mean to you?

  3. Developing Skill with Rhetoric: The Rhetorical Triangle “Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

  4. The Three Appeals:Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

  5. Ethos: Understanding the Ethical Appeal • Ethos = writer or speaker’s credibility on his/her subject • What can we tell about the “character” of the speaker? • If we don’t know the author, then we have to look at his/her text • The tone of the text • Persona

  6. Situated and Invented Ethos Situated Ethos • The kind of character developed “around” the speaker/writer. Whenever we are dealing with writers we know, writers who have been talked about a great deal or popular figures that we encounter in the press, these writers have an established ethos that is situated in who they are and how they have been represented. • George W. Bush was the son of a political family — his father had been vice-President for eight years and was then President for four years before Clinton, and he had served in many political offices before that. Likewise, the Bush family was considerably "monied" Invented Ethos • The kind of character developed "in the text," the ways that the writer's words and phrases, as well as his/her selection of examples and ideas, establish the writer's authority. • Bill Clinton was a man who came from a poor family in Arkansas and was the child of divorced and re-married parents • He was a Rhodes Scholar and had a prestigious college education, one which his family couldn't have afforded without the scholarships Clinton received through hard work.

  7. Pathos: Understanding the Pathetic Appeal • Pathos = an emotional appeal on the audience • Most of us make our decisions on more emotional than logical bases

  8. Logos: Understanding the Logical Appeal • Logos = the methods of persuasion within the language itself • How the argument is supported • Facts • Statistics • Examples

  9. 6 Keys to Developing Skill with Rhetoric “I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.” ~Richard Wright

  10. The Six Keys… • Persona • Appeals to Audience • Subject Matter and Its Treatment • Context • Intention • Genre

  11. Key #1: Understanding Persona • What is Persona? • Why is it important to understand persona? • so that you do not get fooled by the author. • The writer/speaker creates a persona to make himself or herself more believable and trustworthy so that the audience will buy into what he or she is saying. What is Persona? Persona = the “mask” or character the writer or speaker creates for him/herself

  12. Key #2: Understanding the Appeals to the Audience

  13. Key #3: Understanding Subject Matter and Its Treatment • When deciding on what kinds of information to include in a text, writers/speakers need to keep in mind… • INTENTION: What is the purpose of the text? What am I trying to achieve? • AUDIENCE: Towards whom is the text directed? • GENRE: What kind of text is most appropriate for my audience? • Would it be effective to include an article addressing the negative impact of eating meat in a hunting magazine? Why?

  14. Key #4: Understanding Context • An effective writer / speaker knows how to refer to context to help the audience understand the position he or she takes and to connect positively with this or her argument. • A careful reader understands how context affects the text he or she is analyzing. Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth” DEFINITION: how society impacts the subject of a text

  15. Key #5: Understanding Intention • Intention = Purpose… what the writer or speaker wants to happen as a result of the text, what he or she wants the audience to believe or do after hearing or reading the text. • What is the purpose of the text? Is it… • To persuade • To call to action • To entertain • To inform

  16. Key #6: Understanding Genre • Most appropriate genre = audience + purpose • Questions the writer or speaker should ask to help find the most appropriate genre of text: • What is the context calling forth a piece of writing? • Who needs to know what I intend to write about? • What is the best, most appropriate genre to produce?

  17. Works Cited Banks, William P. “A Short Handbook on Rhetorical Analysis.” 2001. 27 Feb. 2007.http://english.ecu.edu/~wpbanks/rhetoric/rhetanalysis.html. Roskelly, Hephzibah & Jolliffe, David. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. Pearson Longman, New York: 2005.

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