Arrangement- Ideally, the rhetorical situation influences the writer's decisions.

Cicero's 6 part division for discourse:

1. Exordium: Introduction & Insinuation
2. Narration: Statement of Issue
3. Partition: divide the issue into major parts
4. Confirmation: major supporting arguments (evidence, examples, and analysis)
5. Refutation: anticipating and responding to objections
6. Peroration: Conclusion

Reading

1. Would people analyze the same data in a different way?
2. People have other data that would challenge/complicate your analysis.
3. Our data, our analysis challenges other people's interpretations.
4. Qualifying a statement on assertion.

Your Rhetorical Situation

If some one else performed the same research that I did with the editor of the WVU Alumni magazine, they would probably find a completely different angle to work at in order to compose their ethnographic research.

ARCS pg 318

Activity 2

John McCain's concession speech when Obama was announced the next President contained examples of insinuations, narrative, partitions and perorations as most of his speeches do.

The audience may not have been hostile, but McCain supporters were definitely in difference of opinion of those who voted for Obama. McCain begins his speech with "I had the honor of calling senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected of the next president of the country we both love. In a contest and difficult as long as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance, but that he managed to do so by inspiring hopes of so many millions of Americans who once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence of an election of an American president, is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving." Here, he addresses the fact to his supporters that he has lost the election, but doesn't want them to lose hope in what is really at stake here, the best for our country. This also leads into the narrative, which is McCain is addressing them to inform that he has lost the campaign race.

His partition for an argument of definition by addressing the fact that losing to the first African American in this historical campaign should not be looked down upon by using the example of President T. Roosevelt inviting Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House. "America today is a world away from the cruel, frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African American to the presidency of the United Sates, let there be no reason now. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth." McCain knows that many of his followers were against having a black man in office and he is reiterating the fact that our country has come a long way from its ignorance it contained centuries ago, and that should not deny Obama for doing well in presidency.

To conclude, his peroration included, "It is natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought as hard as we could and though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours." Not only does he sum up the feelings his supporters feel, but he explains that the situation cannot be reversed puts the blame on himself.

Activity 3

I don't really see how Shapiro could make her speech any more direct if writing for a smaller publication. Her job entails her to write something for parents and if she writes for an alumni magazine, what good would that do?

Thesis: Since the artwork was designed by one person, there is a director in the creation process with several workers, which displays the communication skills that are necessary in composing the artist's work.

Ethos

Ethos: Character
1) "invented"- person within the written text

• good will
• good sense
• good character
  

2) "situated"-



Parents example
Author showed good character by making it a point to directly address the student when the parents were taking over the conversation. This shows how she is making it a point that the student needs to start answering for themselves as a sign of growing up and when the parents here how they present themselves they will learn that their son/daughter is capable of handling these kind of situations.

1st/2nd/3rd person active vs. passive qualifiers word choice punctuation
-"voice"
-"distance

Good Sense

• making the argument- "if we do x, then y will happen."
• EXAMPLES->1st person
• word choice (pairing)
• Qualifiers-"it is a complex matter"
  

Good Will

• acknowledges parents emotions/values
• word choice: confidence, grace
• Qualifiers-"some"..."most"

Good Character

• "trust"/responsibility/fair/honest
• (aggressiveness toward parents)
• situates herself as an advocate for both parents & students
• word choices
• examples (1st person)
  

Activity 1

Nineteen Minutes is the book I'm currently reading in my leisure time. The author, Jodi Picoult, writes a fictional story about a school shooting. She divides tales of the experience into several different speakers, including students, both male and female; the shooter himself; parents; lawyers; a detective; and a judge. Although the story is told out of sequence, making it more of a mystery, and between different people, it still contains a legit element of readability. Each character has a very clear mindset, use of language, and behavior pattern. It's evident that Picoult did a lot of research on people in their specific line of work for her characters. The detective explains all of the procedures he has to go through in solving this case, as well as the theories he has learned in psychology classes in dealing with victims. The judge is accurate with laws, cases and procedures in her courtroom. Even the students exemplify characteristics of people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Picoult established detailed and specific ethos for her characters, which make the book so realistic.

Activity 2

Since Picoult is a well known author, she does know her readers well and emphasizes it by using grammar that is simple, yet advanced and up to her readers’ standards. The fact that the mystery is resolved by the end of the book and readers aren’t left in the dark about any situation that was presented in the novel shows the author’s knowledge of her audience. Also, there are instances in the story where Picoult chooses to elaborate on intimate events of the characters to reveal personal information, causing them to be more vulnerable to sympathetic readers, displaying her use of close rhetorical distance.

Activity 6

A letter from Stephen Colbert to his viewers:

Dear My Fellow Americans,

While I was lounging next to my pool this weekend, sipping on a cool, crisp beer, reflecting on the many things I’ve had named after me this year…a jet, an insect, and a whale just to name a few…I realized there is something major in America that is currently nameless, but could be benefited by my name: a bear!

Nation, as you know from tuning into my show religiously, which I’m confident that you do, I have consistently theorized that bears are the number one threat to this country. Vicious + Dangerous + Cute = Empty picnic baskets!

I am asking YOU, Nation, for one loyal citizen to name a bear after me. I think having a bear in this country with a strong name like Stephen will help bridge the gap between innocent picnic-goers and bears. I can assure you that my bear would spread the word to all the other bears that humans are harmless, yet hungry and to stop messing with us. He would roam the earth with the mission of “bearing” (HAHA) this news to all bear families and finally ending this ongoing war we’ve faced for so many years.

Consider it.

Your Fearless Citizen,

Stephen Colbert

Logos Appeals

"Logical" within the realm of rhetoric deals with...


Premise: As someone's building an argument, a premise is an unstated assumption on which the argument is grounded.



Probability: likelihood; conclusion-> statements about human behavior-> common ideas/interests that people share.


Deductive Reasoning: If premises are true, then the conclusion must be true. Movement from general principles (class of items) to specific cases.



Inductive Reasoning: Movement from specific cases to general principles. "The skilled pilot is the best pilot. The skilled chariot is the best chariot. Therefore, a skilled person is the best person."


Enthymeme: Premises are unstated in the argument. Rhetorical arguments founded on assumptions that remain unstated.

If evidence doesn't fit the defendant, then you must aquit the defendant.

• Grounded in community values. -> Major Premise
• The glove is evidence. -> Unstated Minor Premise
• The glove doesn't fit the defendant. -> Stated Minor Premise
• If the glove doesn't fit, you must aquit.

Commercial: "Did anyone stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?"

• We need some one who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express to help this man. -> Argument
• Smart people are the best people to handle difficult situations. -> Major Premise
• People who stay at a Hoida Inn Express are smart. -> Minor Premise

ARCS pg 186

Activity 1

In my roommate's issue of Cosmopolitan, there was an article in the back about violent boyfriends turning into killers. There were multiple stories of girls who had broken relations off with their men because of their violence and anger, which ultimately caused these troubled men to laps into dangerous criminals. The girls were found dead some where around their hometowns. Their premises throughout the rhetoric were:
Major Premise: Violent/angry men are not worth dating and need to get professional help.

Minor Premise: Girls should break off relations with violent/angry men.

Conclusion: Girls shouldn't date violent/angry men.

Ultimately, I think the proofs are read by the Cosmopolitan readers well. It's always good to raise awareness about situations this serious and what kind of signs a girl should look out for. However, my problem with this magazine is that I feel it to be one big contradictory enthymeme on its own. Throughout the magazine it displays all of the quality factors women look for in their dream men, show pictures of male models, and has stories of the most romantic weddings or engagement proposals. At the end, it has the scary stories about men being violent, abusive, cheating...whatever it may be. The magazine's enthymeme is:
Major Premise: Find your dream man here!

Minor Premise: Watch out for those scary, cheating, woman-beaters!

Conclusion: Your dream man is within these pages, just not the true life reads!


Activity 3

I think the premises for "Elvis has left the building" are:

Major Premise: The concert is over and people need to file out of the concert hall.

Minor Premise: Elvis has physically removed himself from the building because the concert is over.

Conclusion: Elvis has left the building.

Seen observation pt 2

Triangulation: as you analyze data from one source, consider/analyze data you've collected from another source
-does it confirm, challenge, complicate your initial analysis.



Analysis
-hierarchial relationship shapes decision-making
-

Supporting Data
-talk btwn two: Seen gets final say; Seen never answers Nick's questions
-observe body language
*Nick looks away
*Seen's pointed finger
*Seen interjects in Nick's composing process
*Nick stands back to observe
*Seen at the wall demonstrating
-At color discussion
*Seen refers back to his original inspiration
*Only Seen's name on the drawing

analyzing data concepts & freewrite

Faigley's social perspective
-Coding data: reading all the collected data, looking for patterns, themes, similarities/differences to emerge.

Intertextuality (Bazerman)
1) Direct quotation
2) Indirect quotation
3) Mentioning another document
4) Commenting on another text
5) Using recognizable phrasing

"Tracing Writing Process" (Prior)
1) Analyzing texts
-same btwn drafts (one single line)
-slightly revised (two lines)
-added (all caps)
-deleted (brackets)

2) Thinking Aloud
-differentiating the various types of comments


Influence of Workplace Culture on Writing/Revising
-editorial comments
-Kleiman's 4 categories of revision comments

Analyzing Genres
-Prominent linguistic features
*uses active verbs
*presents concrete details
-Rhetorical features
*specific things that happen in an introduction that motivate the reader to participate
*what's the person doing to making an argument in the progress report
-Organizational Features
*importance of (chronological) order

Rhetorical Theory
-definitions/concepts can serve as lenses to analyze whats happening in texts



freewrite
One way I can analyze data is to look btwn drafts of the articles that the authors have given Laura and trace their writing process as Prior proposed. By viewing two or more drafts of the same piece by an author and/or Laura's editorial comments, I can see what is the same, different, added, deleted...
This will show what was considered important y the author AND editor in the article, as well as how they want the article to come across overall.

Another concept would be to analyze the organizational features of the magazine. Since I will be sitting in on many of the meetings discussing the layout/design, I will take away from those observations what the editors view as an important order, why, and how they go about placing the chosen articles into place.

Finally, the data of the workplace, how the editors interact with one another, with authors, photographers, and how their writing space is set up will show how that influences the PW's vibe in the writing process.

common topics, common places, ideologies

ideology: sets of beliefs, values. ideas that shape how some one views the world.

Ex: feminism, conservatism, liberalism, humanism, communism, capitalism, libertarianism, environmentalism

Common Topic: specific procedures/set of questions for generating arguments (heuristics)

Common Place: unstated ideas, statements that help to shape an ideology. Unstated premises that help to construct an ideology.

Examples from pg 130: Self-help, truth telling, altruism, frontier, faith in "God" guides the nation, patriotism, loyalty national flag...vague principles, myths, "traditional values", something ppl can take "comfort" in.

Who is more conservative? Why?
Hirsch is more conservative because of his consistent ideas of patriotism, tradition, honorable to your country. Zinn is more liberal because he is more philosophical, raises questions to debate and think about.

*common places are frequently resorted to in popular rhetoric*
*they provide the terms within which American discourse works*

ideologic: arguments that are made by stringing together commonplaces.

"Keep Austin Weird"
1. An "ideal" city is a "weird" city.
2. A weird city has lots of heterogeneity people, shops, ideas, cultures..
3. Austin is a weird city.
4. Homogeneity is not weird.
5. Box stores corporations promote homogeneity.
6. Government should promote what is unique in a city rather than what is "the same."
7. Austin policy should keep lots of stores here rather than inviting in corporations.


"Guns Don't Kill People; People Kill People"
1. Guns don't do anything on their own.
2. Government's job is to protect community.
3. People are inherently good or bad.
4. Good people will follow laws, bad people will ignore laws.
5. Responsible people should be given rights; irresponsible people forfeit their rights.
6. Gun ownership is an inherent American right.
7. Government should create legislation that targets criminals alone, not the tools they use to commit crimes.

ideology: beliefs, attitudes, values, ways of thinking/viewing the world that define a group.

commonplaces: help express ideologies. mode of thinking/often unexamined. short, quick ways to incorporate a larger argument, resonate with an audience. important for rhetoric and in the invention process of writing.

writing an abstract

I'm writing about two subjects because I haven't decided which one I'm going to focus my report on: the WVU undergraduate course catalog and the WVU Alumni magazine. Laura Spitznoggle is editor for both productions and has been gracious enough to give me information on both.

1) Why is the course catalog important? Is it easier to have the courses listed online or to have printed text you can hold in your hand? How are these decisions and process made?

What is the process of choosing articles for the alumni magazine? Who decides what the alumni want to read about? What makes the themes of the magazines so important?

2) I interviewed the editor of the course catalog about how it is made, what her specific duties are in that process, and how she prefers to go about her work ethics. I was invited to meetings and also received samples of writings.

I interviewed the editor of the magazine, asking her what the process of compiling a magazine contains, how much editing is involved and how she decides what articles are valuable and what aren't. I was invited to meetings on the production and also received two copies of the fall issue of the alumni magazine.

3) So far, from interviewing her on both products, I've learned that they are each lengthy works of production and take multiple revisions-the course catalog needing more. Also, it has a lot of interpersonal communications going on.

4) From what I've gathered, the editing process takes longer than the entire compilation of both products. With the course catalog, to revise every text that professors send in can take months, due to people turning in their information late, not liking how the course was exemplified in a revision, and not knowing how to write professionally. The magazine takes time to edit all of the articles people want to submit and fitting them into the appropriate places in the magazine so it flows well. The course catalog may not be available in handbook format for much longer because of how long the revision process takes. An online catalog is starting to make its way into process.

Did your final draft portray all of the information and character analysis you wanted to convey?

How did you decide what to eliminate and what to include to make your cover letter represent you appropriately?

What did you evaluate about yourself to outline your cover letter?

intertextuality

I can use the information I learned from the intertextuality readings in my ethnographic paper by applying the uses of direct and indirect quotations, terminology relevant to my topic, and applying analysis to the research.

-midsized organization
-defines what GAO does
-provides tha tasks GAO performed in 1990
*over 1200 written reports
*provided testimony
*offered legal opinion
*resolved contractual disputes
-discusses the divisions of GAO
*14 regional offices and 2 overseas offices
*4 program divisions and 3 technical divisions

Why provide those types of details?
Kleimann wants her readers to understand not only what GAO does, but the process of the work that goes on. That's why she gave the structural outline of the offices, programs, teams etc to show who handles what and how big the organization actually is. Also, she goes into detail of the work they submit so the readers have a better understanding of what it is they do.

Activity 3, pg. 94

I'm analyzing the midterm paper I wrote for my British Literature class last year. The topic/question was to juxtapose two or more pieces that we read and discuss similarities and differences of the themes. I wrote about John Donne's poem, "The Flea" and Andrew Marvel's poem, "To His Coy Mistress."

I interpreted these pieces as love poems, but more so with the theme of seduction and sexual mischief. Throughout the paper, I quoted numerous direct quotations from the texts such as stanzas, lines and phrases from the Norton Anthology overview that preceded the works. I also used indirect quotations from the authors in what I interpreted their poetry to mean.

For six pages, I would analyze the similar ties of the poems and use the following paragraphs to discuss the differences. Personally, I found it challenging to organize my paper in a constructive manner, yet continuing to be analytical about the texts. However, it turned out to flow rather nicely and during the editing process it was easier to move things around to make it read more synthetically.

My teacher agreed and remarked about the structure of the paper, as well as the thought I put into evaluating both pieces. He was impressed at the way I organized my thoughts to allow my interpretation to be followed easily by a reader. Also, with the extensive use of intertextual techniques, my teacher thought that I did a great job with portraying the poets' work while providing my opinion.

Seen's Graffiti

"Seen" takes over direction. Not much collaboration, "Seen" is simply instructing what he wants his helpers to do. Doesn't ask questions or validate his opinion, just says what he wants and instructs them to to do it. Body language is him turned in to the other guy, standing slightly in front of him and the other guy does not turn toward him, just keeps straight-doesn't even OK at him.

Walks up to the wall to visually show where he wants the graffiti to start. Doesn't ask if that looks good or anyone else's opinion, even when he changes his mind three times. Constantly says, "Listen to me," and "You understand what I'm saying to ya?" even though no one responds.

Explains entire process of the artwork of graffiti. He tells the camera the rules of how to do it, which is what must go through his mind while he sketches and paints.

As he sprays, he continues to hold the picture of the sketch in his hand to make sure the bigger picture looks exactly like the smaller one. Without it, the wall may look totally different than what he imagined. Confesses to having "a hundred outlines" of his final piece, letting the viewers know how lengthy of a process it is.

Yells and dismisses at his partner for suggesting brown paint, emphasizing "red, orange and yellow." Has dramatic, exaggerate and sometimes aggressive bodily movements when he's talking. He also raises his voice when he gets frustrated with his partner. It makes his partner look elsewhere and not want to pay attention to him.

Reflectionon Collabortaive Work

This was the first time I had ever collected data by observing another work. I felt somewhat intrusive on the writers' space, as if I were eavesdropping. However, if I would have sat any further away I would not have been able to hear them. From where I was sitting, I could clearly see and hear the writers collaborate on the project. At first, all I picked up on was their oral composition of the prompt, but as the assignment went on, I noticed their body language and facial expressions as they talked to one another. I could practically visualize them hitting the point of the prompt where they jumped on board together. However, I think that if I had sat directly behind them, as opposed to next to them, they would have been a little more reserved about their creative energy with one another and possibly not have written as much. Giving them their space to work was easier for me, and them, to capture the process of their work.

packet update

I understand now why we should look through different texts when reviewing a final draft. The writer may not have understood the prompt, need help finding ways to collect data or even have problems with putting their ideas into a well-formatted text. Like I said in the last weekly update, I "get" what's going on, it just takes me a little longer to apply it since this is such a different way to go about viewing a writing process.

Rhetorical Activity 3

The article I chose was in the DA today in the opinion section. It was a message from the editorial staff because they are dissappointed to hear about the WVU College Republicans starting their own newspaper, "The Mountaineer Jeffersonian" instead of contributing tho the DA. The writer(s) claim they are "disheartened" about the new paper which will display more conservative opinions than the DA does. They continue their article with describing how each opinion columnist is welcome to contribute whatever opinion they have, especially when it comes to politics.

From what I gathered, the writer(s) stasis argument rested both at conjecture and quality. Conjecture because it implyed that "The Mountaineer Jeffersonian" exisits and is a problem because it is taking away "welcomed" opinions from the DA. This view also falls under quality because without enough conservative opinions in the DA, the opinion section is a bad thing since it wont display an even amount of political opinions, which are important in a collegiate paper since it is there to "inform, educate and enlighten" the students at WVU.

The position of the writer(s) is obvious because they work/write for the DA so of course they don't want competition to their paper. However, I don't think their stasis was achieved because they didn't do a good enough job supporting the idea of an alternative place to freedom of expression.

Weekly Update

So far, I understand everything we are doing in class, however, the readings are easier for me to follow than our class discussions. It's not the content of what we are learning that I get confused with, it's our approach of looking at things. I'm used to just writing about whatever I want to or whatever will answer a question. It's hard for me to think about where the writer is coming from when writing a text and the process of how it gets done. I think it takes me a little longer than most people in the class to understand everything because I'm not used to thinking like that. That's why I get so nervous with the exploratory essay and the letter of inquiry because I'm not sure if I'm doing everything right!

Writing Process of my Exploratory Essay

When thinking about the exploratory essay, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. I've never taken an English or a writing course like this one before, so I panicked. Luckily, I remembered Mr. Wible saying that you don't HAVE to end up with the PW you initially wrote about in the essay. This calmed me down, so I brainstormed about what kind of PW interests me.

As I was trying to come up with something good, I found myself constantly going on the Internet to check whatever it was I thought was important at the time. Since MIX is my default page, I checked my e-mail a bunch of times until it hit me. I never EVER look at the news announcements on the MIX page until that day in the midst of my procrastination. As I started to scan the news, club announcements and job openings, I realized I never put one thought into what goes behind all of that preparation and publishing. I quickly jotted down some questions about it on a notebook page and then panicked again. "There is no way I can make this 3 pages," I thought.

I started thinking about other PW jobs around campus that I had never considered. As I was looking around my room at all of my WV stuff trying to have an idea sparked, my friend's little brother, who is a freshman at WVU, called me to catch up on things. He started talking to me about his classes and how he hated them and the stupid "awareness plays" his university 101 teacher was making him see, but I had to cut him off because he gave me two new ideas! I hung up the phone and started writing down more questions about the people who write those silly plays we are required to see as freshman, and how the course catalogue book was edited and even drafted.

Questions started flowing! I was really excited because not only did I have three jobs I could pick from, but they were all easily accessible since they were based on campus. After I had at least 6 questions for each PW, I started to write my paper and sure enough it made the cut!

Kairos

Kairos = an advantageous time for rhetorical activity. In the image on page 46, the figure represents "time" by the wings on his feet. He is also holding a scale, which represents judgement and what the appropriate time is for the appropriate judgement.

discourse community

I'm a big sports fan, in particular a St. Louis Cardinals fan. When watching games, it's unspoken knowledge that you wear your teams colors or jerseys. When writing about sports, you always compare your team's players to those of another team in that division, because ultimately your team will play theirs. So you need to have a broad span of knowledge of other teams. And you always want to be positive about your team! No one wants to read negative words on their team from an alleged fan! Also, it's customary to learn the correct lingo for your team. You don't want to call out the wrong name of a player, the wrong nickname of your team or the wrong chant.

Rhetorical Activities

1) The two magazines I found laying around my room were Glamour and Women's Health. Each of them had articles on two subjects that were relevant to the end of summer and beginning of an academic year: weight loss and the Human Papilloma Virus. The writers created kairos by taking advantage of the fact that the magazines are issued a month earlier than they are implied for, the September issues are available in August, to offer knowledge for women to shed some extra pounds (or maintain their diets) before the summer is over and people start to cover their bodies with more layers of clothing. Also, since magazines like Glamour are targeted for younger, possibly collegiate, aged women the articles on HPV were kairotic because they know that girls are starting a new academic year and should take advantage of student health offerings of the vaccination. The author in Glamour also used her article to mention a few other "health watches" that women should pay attention to after their "summer flings" just as the author in the Women's Health magazine used the opportunity to talk about new recipes that are "healthy" and that use "fresh fall foods".

4) As I was moving back into my apartment a few weeks ago, a guy was walking down my street on the way to grab himself some dinner. He saw me struggling to haul my suitcases and trash bags full of clothes up three flights of the rickety stairs we call our "fire escape" and he stopped and offered a helping hand. I was the only one of my roommates around and had at least five more trips to go, so I gladly accepted his offer. Twenty minutes later, after he had not only carried the heaviest bags each trip, but also made the last two trips on his own while I stopped to call my dad and let him know that I had safely made it to school, I offered the guy a beer. It was the only thing I had to offer that seemed reasonable for everything he had just done for me. Surprisingly, he declined. I wasn't offended, but I was curious as to why a young guy in Morgantown would decline free beer and he replied with the fact that he was underage and he was being deported to Iraq in a few days. As he continued to tell me about the training, testing and pressure he had gone through in the past few months, I couldn't help but feel sorry for this kid, literally a kid, who was about to go serve our country, protect our citizens and honor our patronage in another country and yet not be able to sit and have a beer with me. Why is it OK for him, an eighteen year old, new graduate of Morgantown High, to pick up a gun and go thousands of miles away from his friends and family to be scared out of his skin with visions that he was just legally allowed to witness in the movies, and not have this beer with me?

Week Review

After the readings this week, I definitely know the difference between rhetoric and an argument. I was always aware the was a fine line between the two, but now I know that rhetoric is the secret behind debate, which settles an argument to a common ground.

I'm still not sure what discourse community is and how it's applicable to the textual perspective.

A document in the workplace

In order to capture the "moment of continuous process of communication" in one document, a professional writer needs to know how to be able to write from a social perspective. In order to do this effectively, the writer should know how to "view written texts as communicative chains." This means to fully understand the relationships between the different positions of people on a job with the written work they perform and how to portray this information all to the same audience. Using the bank supervisor example from Faigley's text, a writer needs to understand the bank supervisor's job, the tasks of his staff, and how communications within the two are understood. With understanding all that is involved in a work environment, including the jobs, tasks and assignments required of each individual, the writer should be able to record a document that is eligible and understandable to anyone that needs to know this information.

rhetoric

Rhetoric is a conversation/discussion presenting both sides (or more) of a topic. It is understanding your opponent's viewpoint and then stating your own and possibly coming to an agreement, settlement or commonplace of some sort. Rhetoric is not ignoring your opponent's view and only re-stating yours multiple times in hopes that they will finally see the light. It's more of an act of persuasion. If you want things to go your way rhetoric will help convince the other side that your side is better or that there is a better middle ground where you both can enjoy. Rhetoric is the key of debating, however, recently, debating is putting down the opponent and telling them they are completely wrong and only your way is right. Debate is more thatrical in teh sense that there are scripted texts and they know what the answers will generally be.

ARCS, pp. 29-30, Activities 2 and 4

#2
The first example that came to mind of an argument-that's-not-really-argument are the recent campaign ads for John McCain. The ones that attack Obama for being a "socialite" or trying to be a "celebrity". There are also ads that put down the ideas/resolutions Obama has for global warming and energy conservation. These ads come across as childish and dumb because McCain invades your television for an entire 30 seconds, immaturely bashing Obama instead of providing the audience with insight of his own plans and ideas. The ads would be more convincing and effective if McCain would state (1) what his opponent plans to do if president, (2) explain why they would be ineffective, and (3) entail his propositions of what he plans to do with our country. Many people I know who were John McCain supporters have recently expressed their annoyance with these ads and are now considering to vote for Obama. If McCain paid attention to the American society, he would know that we are obsessed with celebrities therefore, glorifying Obama as one has pretty much sold some votes!
Another example, are the talk shows that host debatable topics, like The View and Oprah. Similar to what the book was referencing with the show Crossfire, these shows are more interested in relaying their own opinions on a debatable matter, such as politics or international relations, than they are having a rhetoric conversation with their guests. They would rather hear the applause from their studio audience than their guest's professional opinion on the matter. Even the men on Sports Center don't have anything meaningful to argue about, yet they still debate over every play, team, and player that they can--in a shouting matter of course. The entire show is multiple men shouting over one another at the same time.


#4
I've changed my mind on many things from politics to what kind of soda I drink. With commercial products, I'm easily influenced. I remember the day I switched from Coke to Pepsi. It was when I saw the Britney Spears commercial for the first time. I was a huge fan and the commercial rocked in every way possible, so I was sold. Commercial products will sell me whether it's using a celebrity, a catchy song, a funny commercial or exciting packaging. However, with larger issues, like global warming, voting, and health hazards I think I need to be a little scared. People wont stop smoking or eating trans fats unless a public scare, like incurable health hazards were surfaced. For something to be persuaded on a community it needs to be close to home; it needs to appeal to their interest. Most people want to live a long, healthy life so by publicizing the issue, like writing warnings on labels, publishing articles about losing weight the healthy way in magazines, or even having a beloved actor die of something common, like lung cancer, in a movie will raise awareness and hit close to home with the commonness of the public. In the book, the article about Stacey Lee-Dobek is a perfect example of how publicizing awareness for a global disaster in a movie affected a community member so much that she went and did something about it.
Unfortunately, the only reason I can think of some one being persuade into becoming a racist is if they are brainwashed by some one even more feeble-minded than they are. In this day and age it's pure ignorance to literally hate some one for their race.

Why did Jack Selzer want to study the composing processes of an engineer?
To find out how engineers go about writing their information; how they plan, manage and write their information. Students being taught how to write "technically" were not being educated in the correct way for fields such as engineering.

What did you find interesting about his answers to this question? How did Selzer convince you he was correct?
Nelson does little revising and his secretary only makes minor corrections when she proof-reads it. He spends the majority of his time "inventing" to cater to his audience's needs. He also reuses documents and all of his documents had stylist rules.