Week 2 - September 4

Ethos in Our World group presentations.

Peer Review Groups

In groups, discuss:
"How to Detect Propaganda - connecting the 7 propaganda devices with real life situations.  Focus on the number correlating to your peer group.
"Gotcha" - what is the distinction between gotcha and smackdown?  What did Ulysses S. Grant mean when he said "I am a verb."

"Storyville: The Horror of Editing and Revising"  - Freewrite.  What are your thoughts on editing and revision?  Is it a horror?  Which of these steps do you already identify with?

In-class rhetorical analysis work on your article.

Analyze the context:

• Who is the author?  You should do a bit of research on this one if it is not readily known. 
• What motivated the author to write?  What is the author's purpose for writing this?  Pay attention to publishing date and other indicators. 
• What is the author's intent?  To attack or defend?  To dissuade from certain action?  To praise, blame?  To teach, delight or explicitly persuade? 
• Who is the intended audience?  How can you tell?
• How does the occasion and form for writing affect this argument?
• How would the argument have been written differently if it had appeared elsewhere?
• What motivated the newspaper/magazine to publish it?
• When did this argument appear?
• Why did it get published at this moment? (This may seem redundant but this point is crucial to understanding the context).
• What other concurrent pieces of "cultural conversation" (tv shows, other articles, speeches, web sites) does the item you are analyzing respond to or mention?

Analyze the text:

• Summarize the argument.  What is the main claim?  What reasons are given to support this claim?
• How is the argument organized?  Why are they presented in this way?
• What is the medium/genre? (Medium = newspaper, scholarly journal, website.  Genre = editorial, essay, speech, advertisement)
• This more about the author and their way of writing.  How does he/she establish ethos (personal credibility)?  Does he/she come across as knowledgeable and fair?  Does the speaker's reputation convey a certain authority?  How so?
• What appeals are used?  (Ethos = how does the writer present himself; does the writer have credentials or authority; do you trust the author.  Logos = facts and evidence.  Pathos = what emotional response is invoked; shared values)  
• Think back to the "How to Detect Propaganda" article.  Are any of those strategies used?  Why and are they effective?
• Are any images used?  Why and are they effective?
• Does the text succeed in fulfilling the author's intentions?  Why or why not? 

Looking Forward:
Thursday, September 5 - Rhetorical Analysis 1st Draft due. Please post this to your group on BlackBoard.  For this first one, I would suggest emailing me so I know to look for it.  I am not 100% sure I trust BB.
Monday, September 9 (lab)
* Bring a copy (either a hard copy that you have marked or a printed version of a microsoft comment, etc) of each peer rough draft.  Also, bring 2 copies of each peer letter.  One will be given to your group member.  The other will be given to me.
* Read Easy Writer 1-10