3 Tu RQ: What is Rhetoric?

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Read

Read and take notes on the Anteater's Guide to Writing and Rhetoric (AGWR), 6th edition:

  • Ch.1, pages 1-4 ("Why Rhetoric?")
  • Ch. 9, pages 139-143 (providing an overview of 39a, including purpose-driven rhetoric)
  • Optional: pages. 63-66 (paraphrasing and quoting)

If you didn't get the AGWR from the bookstore, you can buy a digital copy here for $22 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. (Note: The material for this assignment isn't in the 5th edition. You need the 6th.)

Write

Imagine that your audience has heard you're taking a rhetoric class, but they aren't sure what "rhetoric" means. So answer this question: What is rhetoric? Pgs. 1-4 will be crucial to your explanation, and pages 141-142 will help too.

But here's the catch: You must pick two of the following audiences to write for, and write a different version for each:

  1. Your parents
  2. Your little brother or sister
  3. A student in Academic English 20C
  4. A professor in your major
  5. Some other person/group you choose (Name them)

Guidelines:

  • Use English. (Yes, I know your parents and siblings might not understand, but you can translate on your own time later.)
  • Make clear whom you're talking to in each, either by including a title or by putting it into what you say ("So, little brother, you want to know what rhetoric is, eh?")
  • In each explanation, use a level of diction/vocabulary appropriate for the person you're addressing.
  • Use differing examples that are pertinent to your different audiences' day-to-day lives. (Think: When does your parent need rhetoric? When does an economics professor use it?) 
  • Each explanation should be about 100-150 words, for a total of 200-300 words.
  • Most of each should be in your own words, but you can also quote from the book if you think your audience would appreciate that. (E.g. "My writing textbook says that rhetoric is, '.' That means . . .") 
  • As part of each explanation, include explanations of one or more of the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and/or of other aspects of rhetoric (text, medium, rhetor, context).

 

Reflection:

After you submit the assignment, write a 75-word comment in the comment field, explaining why you think the examples and/or diction of your explanation would appeal to each audience.

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