Everyday Use Chapter 2 Outline

Using the Five Traditional Canons of Rhetoric

·      Raise your awareness of how you use rhetoric

·      Canons – invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery

Rhetoric at Work: Context and the Three Appeals

·      Ethos - ethics

·      Logos - facts

·      Pathos – emotions

·      Invention strategies help generate material that is clear, forceful, convincing, and emotionally appealing

·      Techniques of arrangement, style, and delivery help you to put your material in structures, patterns, and formas that will be understandable to your readers ad help them to see you as a credible, sympathetic even impressive person.

·      Methods of tapping into your readers’ memories and cultural associations will assist with your efforts to clarify your ideas and arguments for readers and will help them to see you as a person who is on their side, who is one of them.

Invention

·      To find ideas, reading background, and observations that can be put together to form a composition

Systematic Invention Strategy I: The Journalist’s Questions

·      Who

·      What

·      When

·      Where

·      Why

·      How

·      The answer to these questions produce an ample inventory of the ideas introduced and developed in a composition

Systematic Invention Strategy II: Kenneth Burke’s Pentad

·      Act: What happened?

·      Scene: When and Where did it happen?

·      Agent: Who did it?

·      Agency: How was it done?

·      Purpose: Why was it done?

·      It relates the questions instead of keeping them separate

·      It is helpful for analyzing human behavior

Systematic Invention Strategy III: The Enthymeme

·      Nearly everything people write about presents an argument

·      Unstated premise – is always an irrefutable generalization.

·      Minor premise – particular instance of generalization

·      Conclusion – idea that logically follows

Systematic Invention Strategy IV: The Topics

·      The places a writer might go to discover methods for proof and strategies for presenting ideas

The Basic Topics

·      4 basic topics

·      Possible and impossible

·      Past Fact

·      Future Fact

·      Greater and Less

The Common Topics

·      Definitions

·      Division

·      Comparison and Contrast

·      Relationships

·      Circumstances

·      Testimony

Intuitive Invention Strategies: A Preview

·      Free writing- write for 5 -10 minutes about whatever comes to mind when you think about your subject matter

·      Keeping a journal – record your observations, thoughts, and responses to your reading

·      Conversations- just talking about your subject helps create ideas

Arrangement

·      The canon of Arrangement offers techniques that writers can use to give appropriate and effective order and structure to texts.

Genres

·      There is no single pattern that will work with every type of genre

·      All pieces have a beginning (central question), middle (points/back up), and end (answers the question: so what?)

Functional Parts

·      Divide the text into functional parts

·      Is there one piece that clearly states the purpose?

Questions About the Parts

·      Ask yourself why they are divided in this way

Style

·      The canon of Style represents an extensive array of strategies that writers can use to craft their sentences , phrases, and words in ways that are appropriate and effective in the particular writing situation.

Memory

·      The canon of memory today guides writers to try to tap into the “cultural memory” of their readers effectively

Delivery

·      The canon of delivery today helps writers decide how to format their compositions, either in print or electronically, in a way that is most effective for readers.

Everyday Use Chapter One Outline

·      Readers and Writers can understand one another because they use rhetoric.

Rescuing Rhetoric fro its Bad Reputation: Definitions and Examples

·      Many people see rhetoric in a negative sense

·      People believe that it is used to hoodwink the audience

·      This is false

·      Rhetor – a speaker or writer, but someone who understands rhetoric

·      Rhetoric definition:

·      The art of analyzing all the language choices that writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a given situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective.

·      The specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a given situation.

What does “Being Skilled at Rhetoric” Mean?

·      Being skilled at rhetoric means…

·  you can make good speeches

·  write good papers

·  be able to criticize others good work.

·  Being able to analyze why the rhetor used their decisions

·  Being able to plan and write compositions, not just write them

·  Being able to examine a situation and be able to determine what to say or write to further the conversation, not just repeat old points.

Developing Skill with Rhetoric: The Rhetorical Triangle

·      The Rhetorical triangle  

·      All three (speaker, audience, and subject) are connected

Key #1: Understanding Persona

·      If you understand persona then you can…

·  Speak or write to make the audience perceive you as a well intentioned, trust worthy character

·  Make inferences and judgments about another character

Key #2: Understanding Appeals to the Audience

·      Ethos –ethics

·      Logos - facts

·      Pathos – emotions

Key #3 Understanding Subject Matter and It’s Treatment

·      Your piece must be able to have different view points; if everyone agrees on the subject, it’s going to be a boring speech

·      Your piece must make the audience curious

·      Claim plus support; back up your claims; be detailed

Modifying the Basic Rhetorical Triangle: Rhetoric Occurs in a Context

·      Rhetorical transactions always take place in context

·      Every rhetorical transaction is designed to achieve an aim or purpose

·      Once purpose is established the writer determines a genre.

Key #4 Understanding Context

·      Every composition arises from a context

·      Topical events – time bound moments

·      Wider cultural contexts

·      An effective Rhetor knows how to refer to context to help the audience understand the position he or she takes and to connect positively with the text’s argument.

Key #5 Understanding Intention

·      A Rhetor’s intention is what they want to happen as a result of the text

Key #6 Understanding Genre

·      There are many genres

·      Context + intention lead to genre

·      It is important to choose an appropriate genre, not just the 5 paragraph essay that we are all taught

Rhetoric in Everyday Life: Your Life, Your Community

·      Rhetoric is not just used in the classroom

Rhetoric and Citizenship

·      Citizens use their skills at rhetoric to understand and obey expectations from their government

·      It is important to read and listen to speeches and papers involving your community to be an informed citizen

Rhetoric and Community

·      Signs in yards is a form of rhetoric

Rhetoric and Conscientious Consumption

·      Being skilled at rhetoric is one of the most important abilities you can develop in your quest to lead an active, successful life.

·      You will use it everyday