ENGL1133 Essay #1: Critical Response

The Rhetorical Situation What is a rhetorical situation? A rhetorical situation “refers to any set of circumstances that involves at least one person using some sort of communication to modify the perspective of at least one other person” (Purdue Online Writing Lab). What is rhetoric? Rhetoric is any communication, a choice of language, used to modify the perspectives of others (OWL).

It is an art of persuasion and argumentation. It helps make effective and educated decisions. It makes one more conscious of the surroundings and encourages questioning. What is rhetoric not? Rhetoric is not trickery It is not an art of lying The four elements of the rhetorical situation • Exigence • Purpose • Audience • Context Writing to an Exigence: Exigence means a situation that demands a prompt action. The writer in a rhetorical situation is the person who identifies the exigence, the reason or problem that pushes that person to write or speak in the first place. The writer then writes with the purpose of resolvi ng that exigence. But, to fulfill that purpose, the writer must gauge the message in terms of the intended audience, the reader who has the capability of resolving the exigence or problem. Whether or not that audience works to resolve the exigence, the a udience reads, hears, and sees the message within a specific context. Writing with a Specific Purpose Writing always has a purpose, whether it is to express feelings about something, amuse or entertain, report information, explain or evaluate the signifi cance of information, analyze a situation, clarify a point, invite the audience to consider alternative points of view, or argue for or against a course of action. Considering Audience A clear understanding of the audience – its values, concerns, and knowl edge – helps writers tailor their writing in terms of length, quality and quantity of details, the kind of language used, and the examples that will be most effective. Context Context includes time and place, writer and audience, and the medium of delivery – the circumstances under which writer and reader communicate. Social, political, religious, and other cultural factors influence context, as do the resources of the rhetorical situation. Therefore what you are able to produce in writing is always influe nced (positively or negatively) by the context. Rhetorical Appeals: The social context of an Argument can be visualized as a triangle with inter related points labeled message, writer/speaker, and audience (Logos, ethos and pathos). Effective arguments c onsider all three points on the triangle. If one point of the triangle is altered, the other points are often altered as well. Message (Logos) Audience Writer or Speaker (Pathos) (Ethos) Ethos (Ethos is Writer focused) Ethos establishes the writer’s credibility, the author’s good sense of knowledge of the subject matter at hand, and good character. To recognize ethos, look for language, and other appeals and strategies. Does the author seem to know what he or she is talking about? Is the writer giving its audience compete and honest information? How does the author try to relate to the audience? Logos (Logos is Audience focused) Logos is an appeal to reasons. It is the w ay an argument is put together - a chain of reasoning, where each link refers to an idea. And all these links together make an argument. Logical conclusions come from assumptions and decisions derived from weighing a collection of solid facts and statis tics. An example of an argument that relies on logos is the argument that smoking is harmful based on the evidence that "Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer." Notice that the statement above uses specific numbers. Numbers are sound and logical. An everyday example of an appeal to logos is the argument that Lady Gaga was more popular than Justin Bieber in 2011 because Gaga's fan pages collected ten million more Facebook fans than Bieber's. As a researcher, y our job is to find statistics and other facts to back up your claims. When you do this, you are appealing to your audience with logic -or logos (Fleming). Pathos (Pathos is Audience focused) Pathos is an appeal to emotions, values, and beliefs. It involv es using language that will stir the feelings of the audience. Pathos is often associated with the audience’s imaginative sympathies – their capacity to feel and see what the writer feels and sees. Look for the authors tone: Sympathetic, impersonal, Anger ed, detached, etc Writing a Claim: A claim is the main argumentative position put forward. Main claim, also called the thesis statement, expresses the arguer’s stance on a given topic. It offers your readers a quick and easy to follow summary of what the paper will be discussing and what you as a writer are setting out to tell them. The kind of thesis your paper will have will depend on the purpose of your writing. Basic characteristics of an arguable thesis statement • It is not a fact, but is an assertion about facts • It takes some sort of stand • It justifies discussion • It expresses one main idea It is specific General thesis statement tips A thesis statement generally consists of two parts: your topic, and the main point: the analysis, ex planation(s), or assertion(s) that you are making about the topic. OR Thesis statement = Narrowed topic + main point. Ex: Abortion is killing; it should be banned Narrowed topic main point Better Yet Provide details, add a because clause Thesis sta tement = Narrowed topic + Main point + First supporting reason or idea + Second supporting reason or idea + Third supporting reason or idea + -------------- . (Or) Thesis statement = Narrowed topic + Main point + 1 + 2 + 3 + ------- . (Preferred way) Ex: Teenagers should get paid the same wages as adults because teenage workers do the same (Narrowed topic) (main point) supporting main point for the first body paragraph amount of work, deserve equal labor rights, and need the money. Second body paragraph third body paragraph