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.