To begin, Thomas Jefferson coordinates with appeals to pathos, or appeals to emotion with his argument. From the Declaration of Independence here are two quotes that demonstrate appeals to pathos: “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people” and “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.” These, as well as many of the other facts listed could be seen as appeals to pathos merely because his use of vivid precise language that depicts how oppressing the old form of government was by evoking a response in a reader of feeling the emotion, feeling sad, angry, or sorry after reading it. These are one of many facts Jefferson was pointing out in the Declaration of Independence and are just examples of his use of language and wording to appeal to pathos.
All of these facts, as they may be structured to appeal to pathos, also exist as a logos appeal. Before listing them Jefferson states: “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.” Following this quote he lists all of the facts about the old government. This is an appeal to logos because it also shows the logic involved with why the United States was declaring its independence. Showed in these facts were all very logical reasons for the colonies to declare their independence and they also make it very hard to argue for the case of not declaring independence.
In this list of facts there are also ethos appeals to back up his argument. A lot about what he exposes in these facts call on wrongdoings of the old government which makes the reader really question morals in general and their state of existence under the old government. This appeal focuses on making the reader especially consider the ethics involved with the old leadership and by proving that it is unethical, or making the reader feel that way, it serves as an ethos based appeal. An example from this list is “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” This shows how it is against the morals of most people for judges to be dependant and make decisions based on the government and how much they are payed.
What makes this entire document so effective is that in this list of facts, they all serve as appeals to pathos, logos, and ethos at the same time.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Rhetoric? What's that?
In the beginning of the quarter and starting off WRIT1122 I had absolutely no idea what a rhetor was, a rhetorical appeal,or even what rhetoric was to begin with. This was when I thought this class would surely be over my head. I remember my first question in the class was "what is rhetoric?"
Since then, I have learned a lot from WRIT1122 and have been integrating that knowledge into not just my writing in the class, but in my other classes as well as writing outside of school.
The understanding of the pathos, egos, and logos rhetorical appeals is definitely useful and crucial to deliberately structure a rhetorical argument, but nothing compares to the argument analysis that was taught in class with the claim, the reason, the warrant, the grounds for the reason, and the backing to the warrant. By asking myself when I make an argument whether it be in writing or not if I have included these and if so where have I included them, my arguments have improved greatly.
The letters to the editors have been a great way to practice this.
Since then, I have learned a lot from WRIT1122 and have been integrating that knowledge into not just my writing in the class, but in my other classes as well as writing outside of school.
The understanding of the pathos, egos, and logos rhetorical appeals is definitely useful and crucial to deliberately structure a rhetorical argument, but nothing compares to the argument analysis that was taught in class with the claim, the reason, the warrant, the grounds for the reason, and the backing to the warrant. By asking myself when I make an argument whether it be in writing or not if I have included these and if so where have I included them, my arguments have improved greatly.
The letters to the editors have been a great way to practice this.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Revisions
In class on Monday we had peer reviews of our letters to the editor. Ben and Louise did an excellent job of giving me the proper peer feedback. Usually a typical in class peer review people either rag on you for a misplaced comma but nothing else, or they tell you its the best thing they had ever read.
Ben and Louise were excellent because they provided excellent honest feedback about how to improve the different aspects of my letter to the editor. Their feedback and suggestions with how I could improve the letter I found very useful while revising. They both pointed out how I could improve on a counter argument in my letter to the editor and in the discussions of all our peer reviews they also gave me some ideas that I could think about for creating a counter argument.
Ben also gave me excellent feedback about how to make the transitions between different appeals more integrated and better flowing. The in-class peer review session was very beneficial to my review process!
-Nick
Ben and Louise were excellent because they provided excellent honest feedback about how to improve the different aspects of my letter to the editor. Their feedback and suggestions with how I could improve the letter I found very useful while revising. They both pointed out how I could improve on a counter argument in my letter to the editor and in the discussions of all our peer reviews they also gave me some ideas that I could think about for creating a counter argument.
Ben also gave me excellent feedback about how to make the transitions between different appeals more integrated and better flowing. The in-class peer review session was very beneficial to my review process!
-Nick
Monday, February 11, 2008
Rhetorical Writing
In my previous blog posts, as well as the midterm critical self-assessment I answered questions and talked a lot about what I plan to change in my writing through college. I mentioned a few things that mainly focused on and surrounded the wide variety of different types of writing encountered at college and adapting to them.
One thing I would like to add to expand upon this is that I would also like to incorporate different aspects from each type of writing to different writing styles. This past week on Wednesday and Thursday I had a twelve page midterm paper to write for a business class. To answer the five essay questions it was a constant battle of including as much information as possible to make effective arguments, without making the paper end up being any longer than it really was. Through all these arguments, I realized just recently after thinking about it that many of them were logos and ethos based.
After this, I got to thinking that writing is not as class/type differentiated as I thought. Adding to my goals for college writing I believe I will now also work on implementing things that I learn from all my writing into my future writing assignments. The things I learned about arguments from WRIT1122 and the letters to the editor could have proved quite useful in my business midterm if I analyzed my arguments in that fashion. This is something I definitely plan to work toward and taking advantage of everything I know about writing in all my writing assignments and subjects.
One thing I would like to add to expand upon this is that I would also like to incorporate different aspects from each type of writing to different writing styles. This past week on Wednesday and Thursday I had a twelve page midterm paper to write for a business class. To answer the five essay questions it was a constant battle of including as much information as possible to make effective arguments, without making the paper end up being any longer than it really was. Through all these arguments, I realized just recently after thinking about it that many of them were logos and ethos based.
After this, I got to thinking that writing is not as class/type differentiated as I thought. Adding to my goals for college writing I believe I will now also work on implementing things that I learn from all my writing into my future writing assignments. The things I learned about arguments from WRIT1122 and the letters to the editor could have proved quite useful in my business midterm if I analyzed my arguments in that fashion. This is something I definitely plan to work toward and taking advantage of everything I know about writing in all my writing assignments and subjects.
Monday, February 4, 2008
My writing and adjustments to college
In response to the question: " So what changes would you like to make to your writing as you adjust to college?"
As I adjust to college, one major change I would like to make to my writing in the college environment would definitely be opening my mind to various styles of writing. In my high school experiences they teach and focus primarily on one specific type of writing in English classes from freshman to senior year. All other subjects, whether it was sciences, mythology, or even secondary courses that aren't even part of the core subjects, all focus on and expect writing to be in the same form and style.
In college, and especially post college, writing varies greatly according to the field as well as the subject matter. Though I absolutely love it compared to writing in high school due to the variety and more interesting forms of writing, I find it hard sometimes to adapt because the typical high school style of writing is so ingrained in me.
This is the main thing I plan to focus on correcting in my writing as I adapt to college. I plan to approach different types of writing styles and forms with more of an open mind and learn along the way as I work on and complete various works of writing in different styles.
Another thing that closely goes along with this is precision. Mainly to me it seems like the different types of writing styles are designed to suit what the writing is trying to accomplish in the most efficient manner possible. This is something I plan to work on adapting to better. High school writing seemed to me to be a stretch of how far one could expand on an idea, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but at times it would seem like there was a length requirement of the various works that would be difficult to reach, thus the point was to be as broad and generalized as possible and to include material just for the purpose of meeting that requirement.
College writing I have encountered thus far has been the exact opposite, where there is an incredible wealth of information, ideas, and arguments that need to all be communicated and presented. Here the goal is not to be as long and drawn out as possible, but be as clear, concise, and efficient as possible with writing to communicate the information, ideas, and arguments without making an excessively huge mess of words that just makes for a reading catastrophe.
This goal to implement much more efficient word choice and way of writing supplements that of open mindedness to various forms of writing as I adapt to college.
As I adjust to college, one major change I would like to make to my writing in the college environment would definitely be opening my mind to various styles of writing. In my high school experiences they teach and focus primarily on one specific type of writing in English classes from freshman to senior year. All other subjects, whether it was sciences, mythology, or even secondary courses that aren't even part of the core subjects, all focus on and expect writing to be in the same form and style.
In college, and especially post college, writing varies greatly according to the field as well as the subject matter. Though I absolutely love it compared to writing in high school due to the variety and more interesting forms of writing, I find it hard sometimes to adapt because the typical high school style of writing is so ingrained in me.
This is the main thing I plan to focus on correcting in my writing as I adapt to college. I plan to approach different types of writing styles and forms with more of an open mind and learn along the way as I work on and complete various works of writing in different styles.
Another thing that closely goes along with this is precision. Mainly to me it seems like the different types of writing styles are designed to suit what the writing is trying to accomplish in the most efficient manner possible. This is something I plan to work on adapting to better. High school writing seemed to me to be a stretch of how far one could expand on an idea, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but at times it would seem like there was a length requirement of the various works that would be difficult to reach, thus the point was to be as broad and generalized as possible and to include material just for the purpose of meeting that requirement.
College writing I have encountered thus far has been the exact opposite, where there is an incredible wealth of information, ideas, and arguments that need to all be communicated and presented. Here the goal is not to be as long and drawn out as possible, but be as clear, concise, and efficient as possible with writing to communicate the information, ideas, and arguments without making an excessively huge mess of words that just makes for a reading catastrophe.
This goal to implement much more efficient word choice and way of writing supplements that of open mindedness to various forms of writing as I adapt to college.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)