Tuesday: January 27, 2009
January 10, 2009
Today’s Agenda
Last time, I introduced the concept of the précis to you, and over the past week you have been working on two précis drafts, one for “Those Unnerving Ads Using ‘Real’ Women,” and one for “The Oblivious Empire.”
How did the e-mail editing go for the “Unnerving Ads?” We will be doing much more of this. However, in the future, I am going to ask that you attach my e-mail to the files you send out, that way I can know when it is you sent out your work, and make sure that everyone is doing so in a timely manner.
I will, or have already, be e-mailing you back your précis for the Unnerving Ads.”
Today, we are going to focus again on what a précis is, and how it is we go about writing one. I wanted you to struggle a bit with the form before providing you with a good example. I find that, by doing so, you will become much more aware of how to structure these documents. We learn best through trial and error, even though it is not always comfortable to do so.
We are now going to take out our précis for “The Oblivious Empire.” I asked you to come to class with three copies today.
Class grade break down as of 10:06 a.m.
A- 1
B+ 1
B 2
B- 2
C+ 1
C 2
C- 1
D 1
F 1
Let’s review how a précis is supposed to be organized:
The Précis (Pray-SEE)
There are three simple sections to a précis: Situation, Issue, and Thesis. In each of these sections we break down different parts of an argument.
While each section has its own rules and expectations, there are certain expectations you will have to follow all the way through the précis.
Each section should be titled as such. This is okay in a précis.
Situation
- We are going to begin with the MLA citation.
- It should lay out what the audience needs to know about the author, the full title (including subtitle), and whatever publication info you have in MLA style (except for the author’s name which should be done first name first). In this case, the MLA-style is that of a work cited entry for a work in an anthology. You will be responsible for locating this information.
- Next, you need to establish the basic context for the writing: who is writing it (what do we know about the author and or his or her position, profession etc), to whom are they addressing the piece (audience), when was it written, and whether there is any particular EVENT that has driven this response. Some arguments may have this, some may not. You can expect to take the better part of a paragraph to convey this information.
- Remember, you are situating the writing for an audience who WILL NOT READ THE FULL ARTICLE. What general information do they need to know about it?
Let’s begin to write a Situation section for the article we just read, “Those Unnerving Ads using ‘Real’ women.”
You will be able to draw off of some of your answers from our earlier writing to do this. You will probably also need to revisit the book.
The next section we need to consider is the Issue section. Here is how that portion of the s document works.
Issue
- The author may use technical jargon or academic lingo in the argument. You need to begin your ISSUE section by defining these terms for the reader. Clarify for the ready any terms or phrases you think may cause him or her difficulty. We do this in paragraph, as opposed to bullet point or list, form.
- Lay out the basic questions that the author addresses (NOT the answers).
- END WITH THE MAJOR ISSUE QUESTION. The major issue question is the question the author attempts to answer with his or her thesis.
Again, let’s try to answer as much of this as possible with the answers we generated at the beginning of class. You will probably also need to revisit the document for information you may have missed the first time through.
Once we have finished the Issues section, we can move on to the THESIS section.
Thesis
- Begin with the author’s THESIS appears (the answer to the major issue question.)
- It is also where the other claims and evidence for those claims (as well as the major claim) will appear.
- This is the lion’s share of the précis.
Common Errors I am seeing:
Errors in Basic Writing (mistakes that you should no longer be making as graduates of Eh 123):
1) Sentence-level errors (fragments and run-on sentences)
2) Paragraph errors
3) Word choice errors.
Errors in Structure:
1) Forgetting to begin with the MLA citation for a work in an anthology
2) Forgetting to leave your own opinion at the door
3) Forgetting how a paragraph works
4) Forgetting to CONTEXTUALIZE information
5) Forgetting to cite sources.
Common Errors, as noted on your drafts:
Common Précis Errors
Situation:
1: Your précis is supposed to start with an MLA-style citation for the article. Your draft does not do this.
2: You are providing your own opinion, which is not what you are supposed to be doing in this document. You need to stick to the goals of the section as they are written on the course blog.
23: This does not do an adequate job of situating the reader.
Issue:
3: Your issue section is supposed to begin with definitions for the more difficult terms or phrases in the document. Your draft does not do this yet.
6: You are to define terms and phrases in a paragraph format, not as a list. Don’t just list the terms, contextualize them in the paragraph. Find a meaningful way to transition from one term to the next.
7: Your individual questions need to be better defined and explained. Do not simply stack them on top of one another.
13: Don’t just list questions. Situate each, and explain why these questions are being asked.
21: Begin by explaining that there are particular terms in the argument that need to be defined.
22: Where are the questions?
Thesis
4: Your Thesis section does not include an explanation of either the article’s thesis or the claims and evidence the author uses to support this argument.
8: You have not yet identified the specific claims and evidence that Daum uses to support her argument. These subjects should be addressed over the course of several paragraphs.
16: Begin with the thesis statement.
Mechanics:
5: Your sentence would better begin with a phrase that links the idea to the author. For example “Daum says” or “According to Daum”
11: Don’t forget to cite the sources you get your definitions from.
12: New Paragraph
10: Go into more detail about this; get more specific.
14: Awkwardly worded.
15: Cite
17: Use the author’s LAST name, not their first, when you reference them by one name.
18: A quote or quotes from the text would work better here.
19: Not Clear
20: Transition needed
Grammar:
20: Sentence Fragment.
21 Paper had clearly not been proofread.
[...] Tuesday, Jan 27 [...]
Arguments Based on Facts and reason- Logos
Logos arguments are based on facts, reason, and evidence. Actual use of statistics done in polls really influences my decisions on certain things as well. In my personal encounters these arguments are very convincing. If my emotion toward the argument is extremely strong generally my opinion won’t change much but I still respect the facts that were presented to me.
A recent Logos- based argument I have recently encountered really made me think. I was in a meeting here at Husson about my grades last semester. We had a discussion on why my grades were so low. I told her that I work forty hours a week, sometimes more, I was living in a distractive environment, and had some issues in my personal life; all of which are the truth. When I told her the amount of hours I worked a week her eyebrows rose. She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down statistics from a recent study on student success verses amount of hours worked. Any student who works 0-7 hours a week did didn’t have much success, mainly because they don’t develop good time management skills between a job and school work. Students who worked between 7 and 20 hours had the most success. This was due to the fact that the students had to manage a reasonable amount of work time in with their school work. Lastly, students who worked over 20 hours a week did poorly. Their reasoning was that the students didn’t have enough time to study because they were working too much through out the week.
This was very interesting. She then said that I needed to cut down my hours in order to be successful here at Husson. I just agreed. But in all reality, my job is pretty flexible. I work for a home health agency with a little boy with Leukodystrophy. I am allowed time to study at work if I need it. Not only that but I have breaks between classes through out the day and I use my time wisely. The funny thing is, I still work 40 hours or more a week and I have been very successful so far this semester. I am in my own place now and have learned how to manage my time more wisely.
The point of this is that when the woman showed me those statistics, it made complete sense. If I was working a rigorous job at 40 hours a week, I would need to cut down my hours. But, I also know that most of the reasoning behind my failure last semester was my lack of time management. Although her argument was unsuccessful, I still take what she said into consideration and understand how those statistics make sense. And if my job situation was something other than what it is, I would have defiantly cut down my hours by the evidence she put in front of me.
Samantha Rivers
January 28, 2009
Logos Based Arguments
Logos based arguments are “based on facts, evidence and reason.” Some of the basic examples of this type of argument are statistics, surveys, and polls. Like Ethos based arguments, it is very important to have a credible source for the information that is being presented. It is even more important to have a trustworthy source with logos arguments because anyone can make up numbers for statistics, so you want the view to believe what they are hearing. This type is probably one not many pay much attention to because you encounter evidence based arguments every day so we get used to seeing them. I know I see logos based arguments just about every morning.
The last time I witnessed a logos argument was actually this morning while I was checking the weather on the internet. I saw that there was going to be a very good chance of snow this afternoon/evening. I was planning on going out and doing some errands around town, but when I saw the weather forecast, I quickly changed my mind. Not all the time is the weather forecasts right so I sometimes am skeptical of believing them. This is why it is important to have a credible source because after a while, people stop trusting if the information is wrong a lot.
In a lot of my classes we also work with logos based arguments. I know just the other day in Sociology; we were looking at the percentage of people who become alcoholics during their lives. This type of information I trust more than a weather forecast because it was published by credible authors who are experts on the subject. The weather is something that can change so it makes weather reports harder to trust at times.
When done right I think logos based arguments work well. As long as there is a credible source behind it that is. This type of argument is maybe the least effective out of the three because it’s not appealing to the viewers emotions, nor is it basing anything off of character. All it is doing is giving the view facts. I think it’s the most common argument we see, but the least effective.
Melissa Breton
Logo’s Argument
Whenever your read an argument it effects you in a certain way. You either believe what you see and hear or don’t believe it. One way it could hit you is as a Logo’s-based Argument. Logo based arguments are based on facts, evidence and reasoning. For a good Logo’s argument you are going to see, polls, statistics, surveys, interviews, narrative, testimonies and those are just a few to name. There would never be a day where you wouldn’t see a logo based argument, they are in the news, classrooms, TV shows and just daily conversations with the people around you.
Recently for homework assignment in Probability and Statistics, we were to find an article which had data we could back up and show the variables for. I thought about it for awhile, I wanted to pick something that I could persuade and show that the data could
back up the statement. I looked into that statistics of tanning beds causing cancer. I came across plenty of evidence to back up my thought. “Recent studies show a 75 percent increase in risk for melanoma in people who begin using tanning beds in their teens or 20s” (David, Fisher. Head of head of dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital).
“ Last year, Dartmouth researchers reported that people who ever visited a tanning salon were 2½ times more likely to later get squamous cell skin cancer and 1½ times more likely to develop basal cell skin than those who didn’t” (Sid Kirchheimer. Health News).
This was a small portion of the information that I had found. With this information. I could greatly backup my conclusions with the evidence. When using credible sources, they are more believable. If I would of gotten the information from Wikipedia it wouldn’t have been credible evidence because anyone can just go put information they want too on the site.
For a Logo’s based argument to be effective it takes a lot of work. You can’t say I think this and that and have nothing to back it up. You need to make sure you are appealing to the people around you and using hard evidence to back up what your saying.
Matt Thebarge
January 29, 2009
Logos Based Arguments
Logos based arguments are arguments dealing with reasons, facts and evidence. A very simple formula that helps make this more understandable is “Statement + Proof”. This is the back bone to logos arguments. Most of the time logos arguments contain statistics, surveys and polls to go along with their claim. In a logos argument you should have a credible source and know where the information is coming from. For example, if a democratic based group gives you a poll about their candidate against the republican candidate where as the republican based group gives you something opposite, it would be best to find a non-bias source for your information.
Last night I was anticipating the number four Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. number one Duke Blue Devils Men’s college basketball match up. While I waited for the game, I watched the Sports Center before on ESPN where they talked about the match up. Being a Wake Forest fan for a long time I already had my pick at whom (even though it was extremely biased) I thought was going to win the game but I wanted to hear the sports experts make their picks. One analyst used statistics to fight the case for the Demon Deacons. He claimed that they ere going to win and then stated that four out five times that the Deacons have beaten a number one team, the team was Duke. He then stated that with only one loss at home this season that they should be favored since they were home anyways. He then went on to say who was going to be the “X-factor” in the game. He said that Jeff Teague, Wake’s sophomore guard was going to be the key to success. He backed up this statement by showing that over the past 5 games Teague averaged 28 points and if he was on his game, it would make it very difficult for the Blue devils.
The way this analyst presented his logos based arguments really appealed to me. He stated his case and then backed it up with facts and statistics. It made his argument very reasonable. If he would have just said Wake Forest is going to win and not backed it up no one would have known the reason why he believed this making it hard to want to believe him. In the case that the analyst had chosen Duke over Wake instead I may have tested his reason more then I did. He would have had to provide very good evidence and facts to fight the case for me to be convinced that I should be worried about the match up and that my beloved Deacons would lose. (which they didn’t)
Nate Adams
1-29-09
Rhetoric and Composition II
Logos
A logos based argument is an argument that supports evidence of some sort, whether it is hard evidence, statistics, and common sense. A man may be sentenced to jail on a gun charge or murder because the crime scene investigators found the man’s fingerprint on the trigger of the gun. This is a logos based argument, which supports hard evidence that the man shot the gun. We encounter many logos based arguments in our lives, whether we realize it or not. The book uses the example of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S had supporting evidence that construction was underway to set up missiles that would have caused harm to many people. Arial pictures were taken to support this evidence. A U.S ambassador for the United Nations confronted the U.S.S.R leader, and backed their statements with hard evidence.
I have had many logos arguments based on proven hard evidence. My friend and I were arguing about the recent Mark Teixeira free agent signing in baseball. Being the huge Red Sox fan that I am, I was disappointed that he didn’t sign with the Red Sox. But I still have a positive outlook for the upcoming season. My friend told me that the Red Sox wouldn’t make the playoffs due to the loss of a big free agent signing. He told me that if you take Teixeira’s numbers and place them in the heart of the batting lineup, then the Sox would be unstoppable. I agreed with him about the better numbers with Teixeira, but I told him that with all the injuries last season to Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, Julio Lugo, and J.D Drew towards the end of the season, the Red Sox had the best scoring offense in the majors. Statistically, I had him on all the numbers. The pitching staff looks promising with 6 great quality possible pitchers, which would be the best in baseball. I told my friend that if you take all the defensive statistics, the Red Sox are top 5 in the majors, and their batting order still remains the dominate lineup it has been for years, and the pitching staff has always been one of the best in the majors, with one of the lowest earned run averages in the league, along with wins, and strikeouts. Just because my friend would have loved having Mark Teixeira to be on the Red Sox, he gave up hope for the playoffs already since they didn’t sign him. I won the argument statistically, and had proven evidence that the Red Sox are one of the best teams in the American League.
This argument was brought to my attention because baseball is a hot topic for me, and I can argue statistics all day if the topic is baseball. My friend might have been arguing for the sense of arguing, but once I heard his statement, I came back in defense with statistics, and hard evidence.
Logos – arguments are those arguments based on facts, evidence, and reason. When using this type of argument, the facts can be supported by: evidence, statistics or surveys and polls, because these things could sometimes be helpful in convincing a persons mind.
I happen to have encountered a logos based argument not too long ago. I don’t really eat a lot- and my reason isn’t because I am watching my weight or something like that, it’s just because I could be a picky eater sometimes, and most times I have a low appetite, especially in the morning before going to school – I don’t always feel hungry enough to eat before leaving for school. When I even decide to eat later in the day, most of the time I don’t pick healthy foods, rather I pick junk foods. During the weekends, I could sometimes go on without eating anything until my dad calls me in the evening to see how I am doing and then says “What did you eat today?” then I’d start to think and then realize I haven’t eaten anything yet.
My mum noticed this habit of mine and tried to warn me that it wasn’t good, because it was unhealthy, she even tried to encourage me into taking multivitamins but I never really took that seriously because I hate taking drugs. She then brought a book home were a similar thing about what I was doing was written, but I didn’t still take that seriously even though my mum is a Pharmacist and I knew what she was trying to convey to me was true, I still never listened to her.
It wasn’t long after that I started to notice that I couldn’t do anything for long without getting tired, and then I became really sick. I was taken to the hospital were they ran a blood test and discovered that my blood sugar was low. My doctor then asked me what happened – because it seemed like I wasn’t eating properly or a balanced diet. I was surprised that she said that, then she showed me a statistic of how healthy people are when they eat a balanced diet to how unhealthy people are when they just feed on junks or don’t balance their diets, which made me realize that I was harming myself, and that even though I didn’t feel like eating I should always try to eat something healthy.
I definitely would say that the doctor’s appeal did work because after she talked to me and showed me the statistics, the fact my mum had been trying to make me understand became clear to me. Although everything my mum had told me was similar to what the doctor said, I guess I didn’t listen to her because I felt she was my mum, and mothers sometimes say things just to make their children do something, so it made total sense to me hearing it from someone else.
Tiffany L
1/29/09
Logos Argument
Logos arguments, are arguments based on facts, evidence, and reason. These kind of arguments are things such as surveys, polls, and statistics. Like Ethos, and Pathos arguments, Logo arguments are seen in everyday life. They can be in a pamphlet, the newspaper, or even in a magazine. Just like the Ethos arguments, it’s important to have a reliable source giving the information. Since we encounter Logos based arguments so much, we tend not to really pay attention to them.
I witnessed a Logos argument the other day. I was in my nursing class, and our teacher was talking about coping with stress. Before I came to college I had always seen the statistics on how much stress an average person has, but I always ignored it, and thought “how could someone be that stressed“. I never realized how stressing college can be. Our professor decided to have us take a survey of questions that were potential stressors, to evaluate how much stress we encounter everyday. We had to pick a number between one, and five for each question, five being the least likely, and one being the most likely. At the end of the questions, we had to go through, and add up all of the numbers that we put down, and then subtract twenty to get our stress number. A lot of the people in my class had high stress levels, including myself. Our professor then shared with us statistics on how many college students have high stress levels from trying to balance school, work, and other activities. I was astounded by how many students get stressed. These statistics really appealed to me because, it made me realize that so many people in the world around me gets really stressed, and it‘s not just me.
I trust that these statistics are accurate because they were done by a reliable source, who are experts in their field. I think that these statistics were designed for people to know that there are many stressors in our life, and that we need to learn how to cope with them. Like the statistics, the survey showed how stressed we actually are, even though we may not feel like we are that stressed, we are. I know from my number score, that I’m really stressed according to the questions they asked about my daily routine, and activities.
I think that Logos based arguments can be used well, if the source is a reliable one, and if the information is real, not something that was made up by the writer to get the reader’s attention. Logos arguments are not trying to appeal to your character, or your emotions, but it just shows you up front the facts. These seem to be the most common arguments we encounter in our day to day lives, but they also seem to be the least appealing to us, because we see them so much.
Julie-Anne Moore
Logos Argument
One of the most effective arguments is the logos argument, or the argument based on reason. Among the pathos, ethos, and logos kinds of arguments, logos is the only one that relies solely upon hard evidence and common sense. It is also one of the most reliable, as it is not based upon momentary emotions that can easily fluctuate. Only if the situation drastically changes does the logos argument fluctuate. Nonetheless, the logos argument still relies upon a good presentation as do the other arguments. Without sufficient evidence and a good presentation, the logos argument will fail.
Recently the voters in Main were once again fulfilling their duty as such. Though they were not voting on the next President, this vote had the potential to drastically change our lives. Governor Baldacci’s school consolidation plan was being voted on. The fates of not only the school-age youth were on the line, but also the fates of every tax-paying citizen of Maine. The youth’s education was being voted upon and many were not sure what the best way to vote was.
When Governor Baldacci proposed the school consolidation plan, he was looking for ways to save this state and to reduce the $95 million budget deficit. He cited other states that had completed the consolidation and saved millions of dollars. Subsequently, he knew that Mainers were looking for anything that would help save our state and with precedented savings of up to 22%, Baldacci believed this legislation would pass. However, from the beginning the consolidation plan has had many opponents. Therefore, Baldacci presented statistics and another reason to consolidate that would appeal to the Mainers’ common sense. If they do not comply, it will cost them. The punishment for those dogmatic communities is the possibility of losing state subsidy or receiving a 50% reduction in state aid for special education programs. The schools would not be able to support a special education program and the taxpayers would pay more taxes. Baldacci wanted Mainers to not even consider opposing this legislation in their votes. Consequently, he appealed to their logic and supported his consolidation plan with statistics, presenting a logos based argument. He hoped that this was enough to get every town’s approval, but did it appeal enough to people’s reason?
Baldacci’s plan failed in approximately 2/3 of Maine’s towns. Unfortunately, many towns will soon be paying the price for their decision. Notwithstanding, the reason his plan failed was because there were also statistics and other numbers that contrasted those that Baldacci sited. Though other states had successfully consolidated their schools, many have returned to their former school districts as it was not cost effective. Knowing this and the fact that the consolidation will initially cost a substantial amount of money, many voters voted against Baldacci’s plan. Furthermore, the only reason that his logos argument succeeded in some school districts was that they feared the consequences of opposing Governor Baldacci.
Nick Gimbel
Logos Argument
A logos argument is one in which it is based on facts, statistics and reasons. This can come in many shapes and forms, such as a data sheet providing concrete evidence that a car is inefficient or that it is impossible for the number one to be greater than the number two due to obvious mathematical reasons.
I have encountered logos arguments many times as of late. Mainly due to the college basketball season coming into full swing. The limits to logical arguments in sports is infinite. An argument I have had lately was how Duke will fair during the rest of the season and into the playoffs. During the argument, I quickly stated that four out the five Duke starters average double digit points per game and players off the bench all average about seven or eight. That is huge to have such a dominate bench in this game. I also point out that their three point shooting is quite good at around thirty five to forty percent. The offensive threat from Duke is incredible. As they have proven in many games, they are never out of it. I have watched them close big point margins many times this year. I have also witnessed them absolutely crush teams with their offence. A minor problem is their shoddy free throw percentage, a mere seventy three percent, which is still above average but could be improved.
Another thing I counter with is the Duke defense. The Duke team is quick and agile and accumulating over 170 steals this season and causing countless turnovers. They make good on the turnovers and usually have some good fast break points from them. Throughout these arguments, the facts I provide I feel that I have given concrete reasons and facts and stats to satisfy any nonbeliever. However, these arguments are usually two sided so the other side usually provides what they think is foolproof evidence to their cause as well. So, in essence, these arguments that I partake in are often settled after the game or season has been played. This may be a logos argument right now but so many unknown factors which can happen during the course of a season so the argument may be rendered null and void by a seemingly trivial occurrence.
Karina Durrell
Logos Paper
Logos is an argument that is based on facts, evidence and reason. These arguments can be based on hard evidence, statistics, clues, reason, and common sense. We all have logo arguments in our life. These are the types of arguments that I don’t like to have because when the other person provides good evidence and facts it is hard to defend yourself and your reasons if they are weaker. A recent logos argument that I have experience has to do with my mom.
My mom went to the doctors to have a mammogram because she finally turned to the age requirement where she had to get it done. She came back and acted completely normal to everyone in front of her. The only difference was she wanted to spend a lot of time with the family, and I didn’t realize what her reasons were but I just went along with it. I later found out that the doctor had found a lump in her breast. When I found that out, I just shrugged my shoulders and said she would be okay. She had to go back a couple of weeks later for another test. I just kept telling myself that it wasn’t going to be anything and everything was fine. After she came back I asked her how it went. She said it went fine and she was just waiting on the results. When she heard back from the doctors they said that for now everything was okay, but she needed to go back soon to just get the lump checked.
She waited until the day of what I thought was going to be her last appointment. My mom said the doctor found another lump and the other one got larger. She had to go get them tested again. When she called the doctors, my mom was informed that one of them came back normal but the other lump did not. The doctor told my mother that she might have breast cancer.
Hearing this news was devastating. I had no idea how to react or what to say to comfort my mom. Throughout this whole process I did not believe that anything was wrong. When I heard the facts and evidence from the doctors, I finally believed what I had heard and what was happening all along. I never thought of this as a type of argument. After reading about logos arguments, I realize that it is. From the facts and reasons that the doctor stated, it has evidence that my mom might truly have breast cancer.
Logos arguments can be very effective and influence you a certain way after you hear the evidence, facts, and reasons. They always have to reasons to back up your point of the argument.
Logos based arguments are by definition based on fact, evidence, and reason. The chapter says that these appeal to you because they provide two types of evidence: hard evidence, that gives you statistics about studies that have been performed; and common sense logic. The whole concept of common sense is something that every knows. Something that is a known fact. Something that a lot of people should. But the problem with that is everyone doesn’t know everything that should be common sense. Things shouldn’t be implied. And the problem with the hard facts is the way that they are used. They can be manipulated and used to the advantage of the person or company in question. The good things about the two types of facts is that with the common sense bracket is that the people that do know and understand the concept will relate to you and understand your point of view better than someone that doesn’t. the good thing about the latter is that hard hitting evidentiary support can go a long way. When people read things that say this right here is fact it makes them more prone to understand and more willing to want to know more and listen to you. They may also form their opinions about something based on what you say is true.
The instance that sticks out most in my mind about arguments about logic is when I have an argument in debate. Debate for me in high school was not a club, nor was it my favorite pastime. It taught many things like, how to build an argument, how to win and argument, and how to sway an audience. I learned that the number one way to sway and audience was with either personal credibility or factual information. Sense I was certified to talk on any of the subjects in question I was always forced to use logos. The perfect example is when I won one of the arguments because I used the information to my advantage. I would always do my research on the topic and gather a lot of statistics, and studies to back up my claim. In this debate though I ws speaking about climate control and the lack thereof. I was to prove that we need it and the world’s global warming, assuming that it exists, would have to become virtually obsolete in order to achieve it. I used many numbers, because numbers can captivate an audience, and lots of graphs and charts to give a visual, because people are always drawn to pretty colors and formal displays of information, and I spoke of many studies that proved that the United States emission of green house gases was ridiculous. My argument was won once I opened my mouth. The audience identified with me because I used these figures to my advantage and I made sure to use common sense analogies to bring it on home. One analogy I used was based on what I knew as a girl. The oil sheen/hairspray thing. I simply stated, ‘when you go into your bathroom and spray your hair for about five minutes at a time, the whole house starts to choke; so when you hear them coughing think of it as your adding to something that will eventually choke the whole world.’ or something to that effect. I was a while ago.
Nate Adams
1-30-09
Rhetoric and Composition II
Thinking Rhetorically
Knowing who your audience is, and what it takes to get them to fully listen to your argument will help you make your point. Many public speakers, for instance the presidential campaign members in John McCain and Barack Obama had to reach their audience. In this case, they had to reach their certain party and get them to agree with what they were saying. If no one believed in Obama, then not a lot of people would have voted for him. Obama needed to sounds confident, and back up his plans with evidence of how this country is going to be able to turn itself around.
For a speaker to get the audience’s interest, the speaker has to be able to convince everyone that he is truthful, and is trustworthy. For example, during the end of Bush’s second term, a lot of democrats and some republicans didn’t believe a word that was coming out of Bush’s mouth. As well as when Bush told the world that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and came out empty, people started wondering if the president was honest and trustworthy. This follows under the category of ethos, because the speaker needs to be clear and concise of what their intensions are, and be able to be honest and wise.
In logos, a speaker needs to have a plan, and that plan needs to be full proof. People need to believe in your plan, and be guaranteed it will work. For example, democrats in the legislature believe that Obama’s new economic plan will work. Obama had to create a full proof plan, and be able to back his plan up with statistics and information that would lead to a concrete plan.
A pathos argument is an emotional argument. A speaker needs to have a topic that audiences will relate to emotionally and be intrigued by the message. In the book, they use a visual poster of a woman who was seriously hurt by a drunk driver. The image is her with a scarred up body, and the message is telling people that “not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies.” The argument has to touch the heart of the audience so everyone can relate to a certain point of a point and time in their lives where this may have occurred.
Understanding what the audience’s intentions are beforehand can help you prepare to win them over with a certain type of argument. If you know exactly what the intentions are for a certain type of argument, whether it be logos, ethos, or pathos, then you can stick to one style and be ready to express yourself emotionally, truthfully, or diligently.
Melissa Breton
Thinking Rhetorically
When working with Rhetorical analysis not only do you need to use elements that stand out and make the piece intriguing, but you need to use the three basic arguments of Etho’s, Logo’s and Patho’s. When a news paper, magazine, photographer, music, or even a TV show is preparing a work for different audiences they have to figure out who will pertain to. If they are trying to get the attention of a teenage girl, they certainly are not going to talk about politics, they would want to talk about clothing styles or gossip about celebrities.
Recently, I was watching music video’s on MTV while cleaning my dorm room. A song came on, the title of the song was called “Untitled” by Simple Plan. The video’s argument was simply, that know one can escape this disaster of a drunk driver. Not only do they show the crash of the young girl, but before it happens in the evening, it shows her family at home doing their daily routines and her family realizes something is wrong.
This shows how one thing could ruin a whole night, just in the matter of seconds. As the songs continues the drunk driver sings the song. The first line of the chorus states “how could this happen to me?” It doesn’t matter who you are, it could still happen to you.
At the end it gives a phone number for people who need help with drinking. The video caught my eye in the matter of seconds and kept my attention. This is a big problem for teens around America today. It’s sad to say but just about everyday you can open up a newspaper and read about someone who died in a drunk driving accident.
Everyday teens get killed in drunk driving. This argument shows ethos’s, because it touches an emotional spot in your heart. It also touches logos, because the information in the video can be backed up all over America and it is information that is very believable.
By using a band that teens are into, it makes the music video more effective, because it is
a celebrity who is putting the message across, rather than sitting in a boring lecture listening to a cop put the words across in a health class. When you use the three basic arguments, the argument tends to me more effective to the audience.
Samantha Rivers
February 1, 2009
Defining Speaker and Purpose
Every year, companies spend millions upon millions of dollars to have their 30 second commercials played during the super bowl. This is prime time Television for Americans all over the county, so of course it makes sense to play the best of the best advertisements at this time. This is a key time for the companies to understand who their audience will be, and to make the ads fit accordingly to this. They will defiantly be using a lot of pathos based arguments in a funny way. I am imagining there won’t be any playing your emotions up in a sad way; most will be trying to get a laugh out of the viewer.
The super bowl is not a time to deliver sad ads, and the advertising companies know this. The way to keep the attention of sport fans (a good percentage of them being male) is to make them laugh. A bunch of men don’t want to feel sad about kids in Africa; they want to see funny commercials about beer and cars. There might be a few Ethos based commercials in the mix as well. Maybe they will get some popular athlete to do a commercial to promote sports equipment or energy drinks. If you put a popular figure and attach it to the product they are selling, people will think they are a credible source who would not lie about the product.
Lastly are the logos arguments, that will make appearances one way or another I am sure. It is pretty simple to slip arguments based on facts and reason into commercials. All they companies have to do is provide specific facts and maybe some statistics on why their car is better than another, or this is the gum you should be chewing.
It is very, very important to know who is going to be watching and what the purpose is behind the ads. Like I said before, the viewers of the super bowl are probably going to be more men than women. The other piece of information to know is that the viewers are sports fans. So the types of commercials that are probably going to make the most appearances are cars, beer, insurance, sports gear, energy drinks, soda, food and things of that nature. The companies need to appeal to the audience and have a feeling of knowing what they want to see. It is very important to keep the audience interested, that way there will be a higher chance of selling the produce. You can play up each one of the types of arguments (pathos, logos, and ethos) any way you want to as long as you can shape it to your audience. These types of arguments can be very effective when used correctly. Hopefully the commercials tonight during the super bowl will be enjoyable, because I know I always look forward to getting a good laugh.
Tiffany L.
2/2/09
Defining Speaker and Purpose
Knowing your audience, and knowing how to grab their attention, will really get them to listen to what you have to say. Many organizations such as Save the Polar Bears, have public speakers, that use a type of argument for a specific audience, to get them to send money to help save endangered Polar Bears. For example, on TV they show pictures, and video clips of polar bears standing on pieces of ice on water, that keeps getting smaller, and smaller. When the audience sees this commercial, they’re not really listening to what the speaker is saying, but is being reached emotionally by the pictures and video clips of what they are seeing.
In order for a speaker to get the audience’s attention, they have to appeal the right argument for that specific audience. If you use the right appeal, to that specific audience, then you can better shape the kind of argument you’re going to use. For example using the starving children commercial on TV, uses the Pathos type of argument to appeal to people’s emotions. Showing the pictures of children who are undernourished, really hits audience’s emotions hard, because it’s a really sad situation.
Logos arguments are based on reason, facts, and also evidence. A speaker needs to have credentials, so that they audience will believe, and or trust them, and not think that they are just some random person who made up all of the information. This is why the speaker also needs to have things such as polls, statistics, and information about their chosen topic, to help reach the audience’s attention. For example, when you buy car insurance, they show you the statistics of how their company rates better then all of the other companies that are available to you. They show you this, so that you will go ahead, and buy insurance through them, instead of someone else.
Really understanding, and knowing your audience before hand, gives you an advantage of being able to prepare to persuade them, using a certain type of argument, based on what specific audience that you are trying to reach. If you really know what type of audience that you’re dealing with, then you can pick an argument that will really appeal to, and grab their attention. No matter if it’s an Ethos, Pathos, or even a Logos argument, if you know your audience, then you can really shape your argument around it and really drive it home , instead of trying to use two, or three different arguments at once, which might not have a very good appeal to the audience.
Samantha Rivers
February 2, 2009
Adjusting for Audience
Knowing the way an argument works can be beneficial to the viewer because you can see the point the argument is getting at. Rhetoric is key to understanding arguments. Once you know how an argument is formatted, you can decide what kind it is and even think about why it is the way it is. If you have the ability to decide if the argument is logos, pathos, or ethos you will have a much better understanding of where the argument is coming from.
If you have an understanding of rhetoric than identifying pathos based arguments should be no problem. You can decide if the argument is relating to your emotions, and what way it is meant to make you feel. You can decide if it is a good pathos based argument or if it somehow missed its mark. Rhetoric can give you incite as to why you think the argument makes you feel the way you do. You can even format your own opinion thanks to your understanding of rhetoric. Rhetoric can make you see both points of view. For example, in the book there is a picture of a woman who was hit by a drunk driver. The woman was very beautiful before the accident and the after effects are very disturbing. This is definitely pathos argument and after learning about them it’s very easy to pick them out.
Rhetoric also helps me decide if the sources are credible in ethos based arguments. There are a lot of arguments put out in the world with made up statistics and non credible sources. It is very easy to just want to believe all of them, when in fact a good amount of them are made up. You always hear about weight loss supplements that are “doctor approved.” Sometimes they even have “doctors” and people who have claimed to lose weight by using the product on the ads. In reality, they are all just a bunch of actors and there is no actual proof that the product works. For all people know it could just be a placebo. Rhetoric enhances your knowledge and makes you question things you are told. Just because someone tells you something, it doesn’t mean it’s the truth.
Rhetoric also helps with understanding the last argument-logos as well. Again, it is very easy to believe facts and number that are thrown at you. Having a rhetoric background will make you question where the numbers come from, and if they are believable. Rhetoric makes you an all around more aware person. You will be able to understand the point of arguments more, and be able to formulate better ones yourself. Like I said before, it’s really easy to believe everything you hear and not ever question anything, but it is very much worth it to always wonder what the point it.
Julie R
Rhetoric and Composition II
2.3.09
Defining Speaker and Purpose
So far we have learned about three main arguments. Pathos argument is when one uses emotion to persuade. A perfect example is the commercials that show starving children in Africa and ask you for money, it send you on a guilt trip and most people donate money. Ethos when the argument is based on a subject you have knowledge about. Such as asking the doctor why you have a soar throat, you are likely to believe him/her because that is there profession. Lastly, Logos arguments are based on reason, facts and evidence often from polls and surveys. Each one of these arguments has a main meaning, but they can each be written differently depending on the audience. The main
Each time an author writes a piece, the reader has a image of the author and usually this helps determine whether or not the reader will continue or not. So authors begin with statements, some begin with statistics and others begin with questions. This very first opening line lets the reader know what to expect. The reader develops an idea of the author but the author also gets the opportunity to shape the readers response to persuade the readers’ opinion.
Arguments are sometimes backed up or based on personal experience. Like Diane Weathers in everything’s an argument. The personal experience bring emotion into the equation like a Pathos argument. Because you understand one on one what the experience was like and this pulls your opinion one way or the other. “… Women may complain of a glass ceiling, for us, the ceiling is concrete.” (108) The ad writers or argument authors may know how to target a certain age group. For teens many ad’s are given through the TV.
One of the biggest impacts on the reader is if they seem reliable or not. Do they know what they are talking about? Are they trustworthy? Organized? This demonstrates a type of Ethos argument, being reliable because you have experience in a certain topic. Word choice is critical. Is the author being formal? All these characteristics can help determine if the author is, passionate or loony, competent or anal, knowledgeable or even pompous.
These characteristics of writing are like an attribution. It comes very natural while reading. Certain words and phrases trigger thoughts of believe or disbelieve. When an author persuades the reader either way if the reader has a new belief they might research and spread the new belief involving another “layer” of arguments such as emotion or personal experience.
Julie-Anne Moore
Audience and Purpose in an Argument
When a professor at college walks into the classroom on the first day of school, he does not treat his students like kindergarteners. A politician does not repeat the same speech in every state on the campaign trail. Not only would both these people bore their audiences, but they would also lose their audiences’ attention and fail in conveying their argument. Therefore, not only does one need to think of what kind of argument they want to express ( either logos, ethos, or pathos) but they also need to consider who they are addressing in how they construct their argument in order to fulfill their purpose.
When an article in an academic journal wishes to convince the audience to believe its claims, it uses an ethos-based argument. This is to convince the reader it knows what it is talking about and a logos argument is also used, which is to convince the reader the argument is true. However, if the audience is not taken into consideration, the goal of convincing the reader to believe the argument will not be reached. When the author is presenting his logos argument, he must be able to support his data with sound reasoning and accurate information and citations. As there are many inaccurate sources of information, the author’s readers must be able to see where his information comes from and that it is a good source of information.
Notwithstanding, the author must also be careful in his word choice. Not only do his words need to convey his message, but they also must be carefully chosen to connect to the audience. As the purpose of the argument is to convince the reader that the author’s theory of point-of-view is true, he must sound professional but not pompous. If the author were to utilize technical jargon too much in his paper he might seem too haughty and not reach his audience. On the other hand, if he were to write in slang, he would not convince the reader that he is knowledgeable, which is his ethos-based argument. Thus, he must have a very careful balance in his word choice.
If a columnist wants to convince the reader of her point-of-view using emotional claims, or a pathos-based argument, she must also connect to her audience. This connection must also take into consideration the view of others that do not share her opinion. Subsequently, if she wants to succeed in convincing the reader that her argument is correct, or at least make them make concessions, she must not be too strong in her argument. Once again there must be a balance in the argument. She cannot sacrifice the emotion in her piece in order to further her claims, but she also must respect others with different positions. Consequently, everyone must be careful in their wording by understanding their audience in order to present a successful argument.
Matt Thebarge
2/3/09
Speaker and Purpose
In any type of argument, whether it is Ethos Pathos or Logos, there is a purpose behind it. All arguments are trying to achieve something. Not only is this true but arguments are always directed towards a certain audience, ranging anywhere from one person to the whole world. Knowing the basic idea of purpose and audience, you can begin to grasp a concept at what point the argument is trying to make.
A pathos argument is an argument from the heart. These normally touch on subjects that will affect you emotionally. The purpose of a pathos argument is to do just that, make u feel an emotion toward what they are selling, or arguing about. The drunk driver example in the book does an excellent job at just that. It makes you feel towards the victim of the accident as it argues against drunk driving. The purpose of this argument is to get you or people you no not to drunk drive. The audience is anyone who reads the magazine the article is in but not just that. The argument also targets people who may have drunk driven before or knows people that drive drunk. This example is one of the most powerful anti-drunk driving ads I have ever seen.
Ethos arguments are arguments that are based on character. Readers like to be justified by the person presenting the argument to why they credible and why the reader should believe them. A lot of this is based on experience. So if the purpose of an argument is to tell people that “aliens have invaded earth” then they are going to believe an FBI agent or someone that works for the government before they believe that guy whose claimed to have been abducted on numerous occasions. You have to convince the audience you are credible, many people do this by listing their degree, where they went to school, their position etc. when they write articles and columns. This makes it more sensible for the audience because they can first hand see the credibility in front of them.
Logos arguments are arguments that are based on Facts and or reason. The target audience will have to be convinced by the presenter why they should stop or start doing something. The purposes of logos arguments include showing people the facts behind something. For example, if someone was trying to show how smoking cigarettes can lead to cancer they may show statistics of people who smoke and got cancer compared to people that don’t smoke. The audience needs to see the cold hard facts to help persuade them in the way the presenter wants.
Tiffany L.
2/02/09
Adjusting for Audience
If you know how to use an argument, it can be a very big advantage, not only to you for being better able to persuade the reader, but to the reader themselves. If they know how an argument works, then they will be able to better understand what it is that you’re trying to tell them. When you understand rhetoric, you can understand how arguments are formatted, what type it is, and how to use it effectively. Knowing what rhetoric is, allows you to understand what ethos, pathos, and logos arguments actually are, and how they are used in our everyday life, even though you might not spot them right away.
If you have a good grasp on what rhetoric is, then being able to pick out different types of arguments such as logos, will be really easy to spot in your everyday routine.
When you spot these arguments you can decide rather you think it’s a good logos argument consisting of reliable information, or if you think that it didn’t really do it’s job of appealing to you, and it doesn’t have reliable sources. Understanding rhetoric can help you understand why certain ads, commercials, or statistics appeal to you, and your interests. Rhetoric helps you form your own opinions about things. It allows you to see other aspects of the subject. For example, I saw a poster of a set of baby’s teeth that were perfectly healthy and straight, but on the bottom there is a picture of what happens when you put your baby to bed with a bottle. Their teeth begin to rot, and fall out. Below these pictures, they state the statistics of how many babies go to bed with a bottle. This is definitely a pathos argument, and a logos argument. It was easy for me to pick the arguments out of the poster, because of my understanding of rhetoric.
Rhetoric heightens your knowledge, and understanding. Rhetoric has taught me that not everything that friends, or family tell me are true, and that I should question information that they are telling me.
Rhetoric also helps me understand if sources are reliable in the ethos arguments. It’s very important for the sources to be credible, because just anyone can say that they are a doctor, and put out random statistics. For example, if I read an article written by researchers, I would say that it is probably a reliable source, because it’s their profession.
Understanding rhetoric, has really made me understand what the point of arguments are, that I should question things, rather than just let it pass me by. It also made me understand that not everything someone tells you is reliable, or true.
Defining Speaker and Purpose
When you categorize arguments into Logos, ethos, and pathos, these arguments are based on logic, character, and emotion. If a person is planning their proposed argument, these things are greatly considered. Basing an argument on any of these three things is a very influential way to prove your point. Another way to appeal to others would be to greatly consider the audience you are speaking to and the purpose of your argument.
Before proposing an argument it is very important that you consider your audience. Planning how you will grasp people’s attention will make it easier to convince them of your belief. Its best to know the general age of the person or people you will be presenting your argument to. This is important because different things appeal to different age groups. In order to better your chances of convincing a person is to appeal to their interest. I have had teachers who make lectures very boring and unappealing because they use examples that appeal to their age group or interest only. Successful teachers of my past have connected to their students because they used examples that appeal to their age. I have had teachers explain math problems using sports as methods or bring up current issues other than issues of the past that we know little information about. Certain companies plan advertisements very carefully to appeal to all crowds. This is very smart because it gains them more business for their company. You see the importance of audience appeal throughout all arguments of life, whether it be person to person argument or commercial on television.
An argument is nothing without a purpose. In order to make an argument you need to have something to argue. Although, I have been in certain arguments with people and their argument seems very pointless. It’s important to carefully think about the best way to convey your message. Basing an argument strongly around your purpose will naturally produce effective points. When I had to give a public speech, I stuck to a main point or purpose throughout the entire speaking. I based all my personal examples and explanations around this certain purpose to keep convincing. Think of the ultimate argument. Taking a huge consideration for your audience, strongly basing your argument points around a main purpose, and knowing whether your argument will be Logos, ethos, or pathos based will be extremely effective to your audience.
Julie R
Rhetoric and Composition
2/2/09
Adjusting for Audience
Arguments are all written differently as we learning before depending on the audience. Along with the style of the author, some authors dump all the information on the reader at once and others ease there way into it. The author might even use back ground information, facts, and stories or even put negative pieces of information into the argument to make it more trustworthy. Usually arguments are written in the heat of the moment and are one sided. But really what is Rhetoric? Rhetoric is adapting the subject for the audience, it communicating between the writer or speaker, the message and the audience. It creates a relationship. Just as if you were to get pulled over you as the victim would understand the relation ship between you and the officer.
The article Protectin freedom of Expression at Harvard by Derek Bok is an example of the relationship an article has with the author, writing and the audience. This article is about the freedom of speech. It’s addressing what is the freedom of speech? And how can it be used appropriately without offending anyone since the First Amendment does not discuss the extent of the First Amendment. The Author begins by telling a story to help his argument. He then goes on to give a solid point which creates a logos argument. But then uses a characteristic to seem more reliable by not always agreeing with the point “ First Amendment does not necessarily mean that it is right, proper or civil.” (123) He then tries to understand the world by looking at what people did and maybe why they did it. Then he goes into deeper detail of what is offensive and how it is hard to understand and please everyone.
The writer has a relationship with the writing because he is living in the world as well. He has experience, and has his own understanding of the First Amendment, which he expresses that the extent of the First Amendment is not very clear. He tells a story about Harvard and how students hung a confederate flag and that offended students but nothing could really be done about it because of the freedom of speech. The same goes for the relationship between the article and the audience. Each and every individual has there own opinion on freedom of speech and they pratice it every day living in America.
Karina Durrell
Thinking Rhetorically
Rhetorical analysis is elements that stand out or make a piece intriguing or problematic. You can explore many issues. Some of them are what is the purpose of the argument, what appeals or techniques does the argument use, what authorities does the argument rely on or appeal to, what facts are used in the argument, who is making the argument, and who is the audience for this argument.
In high school, Future Business Leaders of America put on a week about drinking and driving. We did many different activities. We had a car that was totaled in the entrance way to the school. Beside the car, there was a fact on a sign about drinking and driving. It said how many drunken accidents there were in one year. Many people were shocked by the numbers and told FBLA that they could not believe it.
We also had a banner that people were signing that was a pledge to not drink and drive. FBLA sat through the lunch shifts and had markers for people to sign it. When they walked by we explained to them that it was a pledge to not drink and drive and how they should really sign it. We sat through many lunch shifts and by the time we were done, the banner was filled with names.
During this week, we also set up a course on the football field. We had the golf cart out and the goggles that made your vision so you saw the way a drunk person would. We have many people sign up to try the course. They went down during their time off so they could do the test drive. We had cones set up and it was just an open field so nobody would get hurt. Almost every person knocked down many cones.
All of these activities during the week were very affective. People were shocked by all of the outcomes. A lot of them didn’t think that the students would sign the pledge and we had so many names. Also, from the totaled car and sign, many people were shocked and scared. They never realized how many people it happened to and how awful the outcome could be. By doing the golf cart, people got to see how exactly it felt to drive under the influence. Even though you may feel fine, it is still very dangerous and that is something that most people forget about. After this whole week, our point was put across to everybody and they all had a new outlook on drinking and driving. This argument has all three parts in it: pathos, ethos, and logos.
When working with Rhetorical analysis you need to focus a lot on the type of style you use to target and audience. One type of argument you use is an logical argument which according to Aristotle it consist of two parts: Statement and proof. Most of the arguments in today’s world have more statement causes then proof in them. Another way people use Rhetorical analysis to target a certain audience is by using background information or cultural context. Sometimes they will have stories or anecdotes. In a rhetorical analysis you’ll use persuasive text.
For a speaker using Rhetorical analysis a confident voice makes navigating the claim easy. One thing you have to think about when writing an argument whether to use images or not. Sometimes using an image can capture your audience or the reader but it can also distract them. Visual arguments your encounter might challenge conventional principles of logic. These types of arguments often don’t have a visible thesis leaving the reader to construct that part in there head.
Sometimes an argument with evidence may seem dull or offensive to the reader so it’s good to insert a type of style. Using a style in an argument helps the readers figure out what to expect. Certain devices a simple as repetition and parallelism can give sentences power. While using rhetorical analysis you can explore many style choices. One style you can use is by starting out with a blunt statement so the reader knows on whether to continue reading or not, such as the argument on page 121 by Julia Carlisle. She starts out with a very bold statement. Also by using a very bold statement she is creating an image for her readers. When describing some effects of viual arguments you should use a different vocabulary, talk about colors, camera angle, editing, balance, proportion, fonts, perspective.
Defining Speaker and Purpose.
When a speaker is directing a message to a person, for instance in an ad campaign, book, or simply addressing the public, knowing the type of audience you will be dealing with helps because you know the best way to appeal to them, in other for the audience to get the main purpose of your message well. So far in class we learned three different types of arguments: pathos, logos and an ethos based argument.
A pathos based argument are those arguments that are based on emotional appeals, for example those ads we see on TV that show us poor, and sick people in Africa, if you notice in most of those kind of ads they mostly show children, so that it can draw our attention, and also make us want to help out.
Ethos arguments are based on credibility (knowing/ deciding whether or not the writer seems honest), for instance when listening to a message you try to make yourself figure out why you are actually paying attention to the message, most of the time its because you believe the speaker to be trustworthy and honest and deserves your attention. But if you are listening to something or reading a book, and you find out that there is something faulty about the information there, its most likely you are never going to pay attention to that again, because there was no credibility there the first time.
Logos based arguments are based on appeals to reason (deciding whether an argument makes a plausible claim), in this type of argument you have to convince an audience why they should actually do what you say. For example when trying to convince a person why it isn’t good to do drugs, you might use statistics, survey polls, and evidence (such as real stories of people who have done drugs and have witnessed the side effects, so they got out), rather than just telling the person – don’t do drugs because drugs are bad.
So, when a speaker wants to address an audience, they should make sure they have enough facts and support on what they are talking about, they should always find out the kind of audience they are trying to appeal, so they can know the best way to do that, because their success depends on how well the content, strategies, tone and language meets the expectations of the audience, and whether or not the purpose of the message was conveyed appropriately.
Nick Gimbel
Thinking Rhetorically
Audience is a major part of writing a paper. You have to think who it is you are writing for, what they would like to see and how you are going to convey it to them. It is a complicated process, however, it is essential to be successful in your endeavor.
Any television show today is directed towards a specific audience and group and the show itself is carefully developed to provide entertainment towards that group. An example I would like to give is the show titled The Colbert Report. This show is a political comedy, hosted by the one, the only Stephen Colbert. The guy who almost ran for president. The show itself is a political satire based on a comedic attribute brought on by the host. Aiming more towards people in the late teens to late twenties, this show gives a smartly tuned satire towards politically inclined.
Pathos, Ethos and logos, all these are a way to appeal to a certain group or audience. With pathos, if you want to connect with someone, what better way than to do it from the heart? If you are trying to draw the attention of banning abortion, why not make a heart felt story of how wrong the endeavor is, but do it from the heart, make it sound real to everyone. Ethos, emotional, you have to appeal to the emotion of the audience, if you want them to be happy, stay up beat, if you want them to be helping and heart felt, try a sad story. Logos, logic, use simple logic to prove a point, as the ever wise acronym K.I.S.S states, keep it simple, stupid. Logic is a powerful tool, but if your audience can not understand or does not have the ability to understand it, why use it?
When writing a paper, the audience has the be the most important part of it. If you are writing a comedy, you have to decide what time of humor to use so it will appeal to the target age group. You wouldn’t try political humor and satire in an animated, G-rated, child’s movie. Then, you would not use colorful elephants flying with their massive ears on heroic adventures to entertain a group of male college students. To really connect with your audience, you have to write to appeal to them. Once that is understood, it will be easier to state your argument, whatever it may be. You can only keep an audience entertained as much as you write for that specific group. If you deviate from that line of interaction and entertainment, you’ll find that the group will be bored and not pleased with your writing. An argument is only as effective as you make it, and to make it entirely effective, the audience must be the number one priority.
Julie-Anne Moore
Rhetoric in an Argument
Permeating America there are millions of churches. Every Sunday these churches faithfully open their doors and expound upon the Bible. Within every sermon there is at least one argument. Oftentimes this argument is and ethos- and pathos-based argument as well as a logos argument all at once.
This past Sunday my pastor’s sermon was entitled “Stressed but not Pressed.” As the name would suggest it was about not letting stress bring you down. Like all of his sermons, he engages the congregation and makes even the most serious topic easy to swallow with his pathos-based argument. Therefore, the sermon began with a hilarious picture of a kid screaming as a donkey brayed in his face displayed on the screen. That kid was definitely stressed. Subsequently, he was able to prime our minds for the serious parts of his sermon, among which he would interject more humor. Perhaps if he had not been humorous he would have lost the attention of many members of the congregation and been unable to convey his argument.
My pastor was also sure to make his sermon believable and earn our trust in his ethos-based and logos arguments. He intertwined these arguments, along with the pathos-based argument, to bring his point across more clearly. In order to apply his sermon to our lives and appeal to our logic, he mentioned situations that most people experience everyday that are stressful. Many of us have jobs that are stressful and others are a full-time student, which is very stressful, both which he mentioned in his sermon. Notwithstanding, he supported his argument with scriptures for every new point. He supported his logos argument with good reasoning and evidence and sustained his credibility in doing so. By quoting the Bible, he established his knowledge of the subject, and his credibility, while being careful as to balance his words. Consequently, he never sounded neither boastful nor pompous and at the same time was not too simplistic as to lose his credibility. Therefore, Pastor Ward was able to combine all three arguments into one sermon in order to make it more effective.
Matt Thebarge
2/3/09
Understanding of Rhetoric
With all that I have learned so far about arguments it is easier for me to use what I have learned about rhetoric to analyze them. Rhetoric deals primarily with speech and how things appear when they are presented. Arguments consist of this completely. They are trying to “speak” out towards an audience and grasp their attention and sometimes change their opinion. The argument has to appeal to the audience first if it ever wants to accomplish its goal.
While reading the article “Protecting Freedom of Expression at Harvard” by Derek Bok I was analyzing it little to my awareness. The first thing that happened was when the book stated he was a “Distinguished Scholar and past president of Harvard University”(122). This is a good example of Ethos. I now wanted to hear and believe what Bok had to tell me because of his background. I felt that now I could trust that what he has to say will be logical and most likely believable.
The style of his article was also pretty appealing. Being a serious topic it had to be in a more formal form, which it was since it was eventually posted in a paper. His opening paragraph is right to the point. It explains the indecent that happened. This subject can also be seen as an argument that will touch your emotions. The thought of confederate flags or swastikas often offends people in large degree making this a very emotional topic. Not just this but the freedom of speech can also appeal to feelings. Everyone has the right for it and that was part of the case in the article.
According to Aristotle, a logical argument has two parts. These parts are statement and proof. This is identifiable in the Bok column. His first paragraph he states the facts. He lets you know who is doing what where and when. After he does this he then gives you the proof. He also talks about where he stands, saying that “the power of censorship is so dangerous”(124) He then tells you why it is dangerous. I now know where he stands. Bok is fighting for the side freedom of speech but to the extent at not hurting or affecting others in a way of discomfort.
To be able to analyze an argument will make it easier to understand the argument. I feel that analyzing it not only makes it easier to understand but you can grasp more about the argument or the author in general. Within the first paragraph you can tell normally where the person stands and what the emotion of the argument is going to be. Whether the argument is a serious one or one full of comic relief, being able to rhetorically break it down will allow you to fully grasp the article at hand.
Understanding of Rhetoric
Since I have entered this Rhetoric course I have gained a greater understanding of Arguments. To be quite honest, I always considered an argument to be a simple disagreement between two people. In such little time I have learned so much about the different types of arguments and what is considered an argument. This class has given me a deeper understanding of the structure of an argument as well.
I found that understanding Rhetoric allowed me to grasp the details of an argument structure at a fast pace. It all made perfect sense. Before when I engaged in arguments my only problem was not being able to realize I was in one. I knew that when I had a point to get across I needed to consider my audience and strongly emphasize my purpose. But I knew little about the different types of arguments and that a lot of things are considered arguments that you don’t even realize. For example, pathos based arguments triggers people’s emotions. So when a commercial of starving kids in Africa come on the television, it makes people sad and they act due to their emotions. Obviously I knew that the commercial made me emotional but I never considered it to be an argument. Same thing goes with Logos and Ethos. These arguments are based on logic and a character. We tend to believe a person with more credibility just like we believe statistical facts to back up an argument.
Knowing how to present an argument and knowing what type of argument you are presenting is very beneficial to you. Just like any other scenario, the more educated you are about something the more successful you are. I believe rhetoric has taught me how to handle important situations and has given me pointers that I will use for the rest of my life. Every day you present arguments. Before this course I never thought anything of it. It goes down to what you wear every day, to the street signs you read. When engaging with people of this world, you have to know how to present your arguments in a successful way or people will not take you seriously. Knowing how to base an argument and what things the strongly express can make all the difference in your effectiveness.
Rhetoric has changed my view on so many subjects. At first having an understanding of something such as an argument seemed pointless. But as we continued and put the information we were learning into real life situations, it began to intrigue me. I do feel that having an understanding of Rhetoric is beneficial to people who are proposing or engaging in an argument. Knowing what you are saying to a person or crowd is major and being able to comprehend what someone is presenting to you is also very important. Rhetoric
When thinking rhetorically, there are a lot of questions that one should ask in their minds. Some of the questions you will be able to answer without any delay and others you will struggle at answering. With this chapter I learned that not all of the answers are going to come naturally nor will they answered without any delay or thought having to be put into the equation.
The stepping stones, to achieving a standard rhetorical analysis, are for me the understanding of audience and purpose. Without one or the other you will be lost. That’s why if you have one then it is easier to understand the other.
For instance if I understand the purpose of the argument, whether it be an ad on a billboard or the column in the local newspaper, then most likely I will be able to understand the audience. When the purpose is specified as, “I am writing this paper to show that (statement) is true,” then you can get a general idea of who the person is aiming there statement at. It is possible to run into a purpose that is not so blatant and out in the open. This can be found in situations where the work is so overwhelming with information, that it is hard to decipher what is really going on. When this is the case, finding the audience, who the writing is trying to appeal to can be your best next step.
Finding the audience can be achieved in many different ways. You can do this by: paying strong attention to the language, the strength of the language can give you an idea of the tone of the work and if the words are too advanced for a common person to understand; the author may specify it by introducing the group in the beginning, if this happens then you job is made easy; and paying attention to the vocabulary they use as a key to who they are talking to, this means if they start using terminology about heart monitors, your best guess could be that they are referring to people that need it.
The audience and purpose are a very strong combination, however, they are not always presented together or at the same time. If you have one but not the other then the latter can be achieved. But, if there is ever a time when you have no clue as to what the answer for either question is, then back to the drawing boards you shall go.