ENGLISH 1301 4TH WEEKSection 15&16

WHAT IS ARTICLE’S PURPOSE? Article’s purpose is NOT same with what an article is about.

If so, how can we identify the purpose? Suppose a content of an article as a story (what an article is

about). A story often has its meaning (moral education etc.). Finding an article’s purpose is finding a meaning of a story. By discussing a subject, what does the article try to DO?

An article in general wants you to be persuaded. The question is what is that the article wants you to do? Does it want you to think? Does it want you to act on something? Identify what an article asks you to do! Be specific!

HOW TO DISCUSS RHETORICAL CHOICES

Because rhetorical choices are deployed to influence the reader, it is necessary to identify the reader.

Because rhetorical choices are used to convincingly argue about something, it is also necessary to identify what the purpose is.

Thus, your discussion must correspond with your understanding of the intended reader and the purpose.

St. Martin’s Handbook: “Writer’s table” in 7b, is useful to see how to analyze. Also 8d,9e,f,g have lists of appeals you can look for in an article.

CRITICAL READING AND LISTENING

Rhetorical choice

Purpose

Intended audience

AUDIENCE & PURPOSE

AUDIENCE & PURPOSE

HOW TO DISCUSS RHETORICAL CHOICES 2

Questions you need to ask How does a rhetorical choice influence the reader? What purpose does the author seem to have in

making such a choice?

Note: When you discuss a rhetorical choice ALWAYS bring an example from the article.

RHETORICAL CHOICES

Humor Invective language Juxtaposition Repetition Satire References (history, culture, authority, etc)

AUDIENCE & PURPOSE

What do you think Birkerts’s purpose? Who do you think his audience? Where is it published? Who is Birkerts? What is the article about?

GROUP WORK

Please find Birkerts’s rhetorical choice(s) and articulate how it works. Your articulation requires discussion of why his rhetorical choice is effective in relation to the audience and purpose.

EXAMPLES OF BA3

MLA CITATION (QUOTING) When you quote something, in-text citation comes at the

end of the sentence. If you introduce author’s name in the sentence, you can

omit putting the author’s name in in-text citation. Just put the page number.

Use proper verbs when you introduce quotes. Does he “argue”? Or does he just “state”? What does he try to do with a phrase/sentence you quote?

See St. Martin’s Handbook’s 13-b “Working with Quotation” for examples.

BA3(DUE 2/15) Purpose: To demonstrate your ability to identify specific rhetorical choices made by a writer

Description: The major essay in this course is a rhetorical analysis. In order to write a rhetorical analysis, one of the first things you will need to do is identify some of the rhetorical choices made by the writer that you can examine in your analysis.  Remember, a rhetorical analysis focuses on how a writer makes meaning. A rhetorical analysis looks at the devices or tools that a writer uses to persuade, inform, and/or entertain his or her audience.  A writer, for instance, may choose to use technical jargon in a text. In a rhetorical analysis, you would examine the use of and effectiveness of that choice to use jargon.  However, to determine the effectiveness of the writer’s choices, you must first determine what the writer’s purpose is and who the writer’s audience is.

For this brief assignment, using the text you will analyze for your Draft 1.1, please do the following: ·        Identify the audience and purpose of the piece. Be as specific as possible and support your

identification with a brief explanation (100-200 words). ·      Identify five rhetorical choices made by the author and describe how each choice relates to the

intended audience and purpose. (Is the rhetorical choice effective for the intended audience? How does the rhetorical choice support the purpose of the text?) Your description of each rhetorical choice should be the length of one paragraph. You can include an example from the text to support your identification (i.e. direct quote). 

READING ASSIGNMENT (DUE 2/18)

St. Martin's Handbook Chapter 3a-3c, "Exploring a Topic," "Narrowing a Topic," "Drafting a Working Thesis"; Chapter 10h, "Moving from Hypothesis to Working Thesis"; and Chapter 15a, "Refining Your Plans".

First-Year Writing Ch 2 pp. 22-36