Week 3 - September 11

Be prepared.  We are going to be writing a great deal in class today.


Rhetoric in the spaces around us. Begin at minute 13.
9/11 audience awareness

Revision of the Rhetorical Analysis.  Peers or me?
Any questions at this moment.
Please make sure you upload files in .doc or .pdf format.

The rhetorical analysis drafting process:

1. How did the drafting process go? What did you do to get the words down on paper?  Paragraph by paragraph in order? Random paragraphs that you pieced together?  Introduction first?  Outline then writing?  Rushed Thursday night or spread out over the 2 days?  
2. How do you feel about the first draft?  
3. What was the best part of the process?  
4. What was the worst part of the process?

The rhetorical analysis revision process:

1. Have you started revising yet?  
2. What do you know you must work on for an effective revision?  
3. How will you go about revising?  Will you read your peer letters and go through it line by line?  Will you make all of the changes that your peers and I suggested?   
4. How will the revision differ from the writing of the first draft?  

"Writing with Authority: A Primer"
In groups:

1. What does it mean to write with authority?
2. The article provides good examples of voice, expertise, specificity, consistency, and trust.  Come up with a bad example of this.  Write a few sentences of text that break these components that Gingerich claims are crucial.
3. Do you feel you currently write with authority?  In what arenas/genres/situations do you write with authority? Explain.

"All Writing is Autobiography"
Murray argues that it can be difficult to write objectively, without inserting your own stance or personal touch.  Do you agree or disagree with him?  Think specifically and carefully about writing you have done in the past, or are currently writing on.

On page 58 Murray explains where his voice came from.  What about yours?  Spend some time thinking and writing about what your voice is a product of.

On page 59 Murray references a statement made by Johhn Hawkes: "Fiction is an act of revenge."  Murray himself believes that writing is a type of therapy (61). Who do you agree with more?  Would you use a different descriptor to describe the act of writing?  Explain.


Looking Forward:
Monday, September 16

• Rhetorical Analysis Instructor Copy must be uploaded to BB assignment folder by midnight.  You will have some class time in the lab to work and ask final questions.
• Read: "Saying is Believing"
• Read: EW 176-203