Download Week 1, Class 2

What is Rhetoric?
Defining Rhetoric
 The term rhetoric refers to
the study, uses, and effects
of written, spoken, and visual
language
 the study of/ability to use
language effectively
• Aristotle: “the faculty of
observing in any case all of
the available means of
persuasion”
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
• The Greek philosopher Aristotle divided
the means of persuasion, appeals, into
three categories--Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9C5Gc2Rka0YFd4aSZyWdKE
FXtjVLMfEz
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
• Ethos, Pathos and Logos are developed by using a
combination of specific rhetorical strategies.
• A BALANCE of the three, ethos, pathos, logos, is often
important. Each appeal potentially affects the others.
Activity: With a partner, think about a modern situation or event that
involves rhetoric and identify the ethos, pathos and logos of the
event/situation. Explain your example to the class.
Rhetoric Is “Everywhere” & an
“Everyday” Thing
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A politician tries to get you to vote for her.
A lawyer tries to convince a jury.
An advertisement tries to get you to buy something.
An employee writes an office memo.
A newspaper offers their depiction of what happened.
A scientist presents theories or results.
A teenager makes a case for a later curfew.
Thought itself is rhetorical - when you think, you
engage in “inner argument,” or “inner persuasion” in
order to reach a decision/act.
Rhetorical Situation
1. Writer: Who is the writer? What type of writer is he or
she? What stance is he or she taking? What are his or
her beliefs, values, and assumptions?
2. Audience: To whom is the writer writing? Why? What
prior knowledge does the specific audience have?
What expectations does the audience have?
3. Issue: What is the text’s message? How is it
constructed? How does the text create meaning? What
is the purpose for writing? What contexts influence the
text’s meaning?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eRycqjzbg
Strategies in Sculpture:
Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial
The monument generated
considerable controversy because
it refuses to celebrate the causes
of war, and instead provides a
place of grief, contemplation, and
self-reflection. Some might call the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial an
anti-monument.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1JEcFCT
rw
Why these choices for a memorial? Talk
with your neighbor about what strategies
these choices might represent?
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The wall is V-shaped. One side points to the Lincoln
Memorial and the other to the Washington Monument.
It is made of reflective black granite.
Water is featured heavily in the memorial.
There is a Civil Rights component to the memorial.
The monument is built along a pathway that requires
people to move along the small corridor of space on a
downward trajectory, almost “into” the earth.
Unlike many monuments, it lists all the names of U.S.
soldiers who died, and it does so in chronological rather
than alphabetic order.
Rank, unit, and decorations are not given.
Rhetorical Analysis
• Rhetorical analysis looks not only at what
a text says, but at what it does.
• It includes consideration of the claims,
devices and strategic “moves” an author
makes in hopes of persuading an
audience.
Using PACES
• PACES is an acronym used to remember
the elements of rhetorical analysis.
P= Project
A= Argument
C= Claims
E=Evidence
S=Strategies
PACES: Project
• An author’s purpose and the method used to carry
it out.
• To articulate a project—and to write an account—
you need a verb, such as “researches,”
“investigates,” “studies,” “presents,” “connects A
with B,” etc.
Dr. Goodall presents her findings about primate social
structure in an academic essay.
• Notice there is no arguable idea presented with the
project/purpose.
PACES: Argument
• In the broadest sense, an argument is any piece
of written, spoken, or visual language designed to
persuade an audience or bring about a change in
ideas/attitudes.
• In academic writing, the argument often refers to the
main point, assertion or conclusion advanced by an
author.
• Arguments are concerned with contested issues
where some degree of uncertainty exists (we don’t
argue about what is self-evident or agreed upon).
PACES: Claims
• To make a claim is to assert that something is the case,
and to provide evidence for this.
• Arguments consist of numerous claims that, once
proven, help convince others that the argument is valid.
• A short video on argumentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Ff0qo8E3I
PACES: Evidence
• The component of the argument used as support for
the claims made.
• The support, reasons, data/information used to help
persuade/prove an argument.
• Some types of evidence: facts, historical
examples/comparisons, examples, analogies,
illustrations, interviews, statistics (source & date are
important), expert testimony, authorities, anecdotes,
witnesses, personal experiences, reasoning, etc.
PACES: Strategies
• Specific strategies are the building blocks of ethos,
pathos, and logos. They work to strengthen one or more
of the larger appeals.
• Strategies are means of persuasion, a way to get the
reader’s/audience’s attention or ensure their
understanding.
• Strategies do not always exist, nor are they employed, in
a vacuum. Many strategies are used in conjunction with
and enhance one another.
Context
• Rhetorical analysis requires an exploration of context to
develop a deeper understanding of the text:
– Context of Author: What is known about the author that helps us
better understand the text? What is her background, her other
works, her political views, her culture?
– Context of Audience: Who is the intended audience? Does the
intended audience have prior well-developed knowledge on the
topic? In what ways does the author write to her audience?
– Context of History: What references to history does the author
make? Are there historical events or movements related to the
topic? Can historical connections help us understand the text?
– Context of the Larger Conversation: What are others in the
contemporary setting saying about the issue? Are there
conflicting ideas? Was information or other viewpoints not
addressed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckr3y0PLiEc
Analyzing an Email
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=400w4XnjElI
Discuss video: deconstruct the audience,
purpose, persuasion, construction of ethos,
strategies, etc.