Day 3: Invention

(First of all, sorry that we have to have coursework on two Saturdays during this class.  Just get some Cheerios, turn on the Saturday Morning Cartoons, and do your blogs!  Your posts won't be due until Monday at noon.)

Is rhetoric to be trusted?

I mean, we use rhetoric to persuade each other all the time.  Buy my product.  Go to lunch with me. Rhetoric shapes our reality.

Just think about magazine covers.  Magazine covers are always trying to sell you a particular reality.  Cool cars = happy.  Nice pretty summer home = happy.  Ripped abs = happy.  Pretty supermodel = happy.

But all these things are rhetorical.  They are crafted.

Check out this website, which is mentioned in Envision in Depth.  It gives some really interesting insight into how advertisements are constructed.

In other words, this chick isn't real...

So, these images that are all around us, persuading us in different ways are shaped by using careful timing of shots, framing of the edges of the images, and then Photoshop.  We'll talk about timing and framing more later, but essentially this is a capturing of a particular time and space...

****

All right, unseemless transition...

***

How do you come up with ideas for a composition?

In rhetoric, there are what's called five canons: Invention, Style, Arrangement, Delivery, and Memory.  Invention allows us different approaches to developing concepts for our writing, and speaking, and other rhetorical work.  The Greeks would come up with ideas for arguments based on opposites, arguing based on definitions, dividing up concepts, looking for opposites, looking for similarities, determining cause and effect, looking for what's possible, or good, or right.

The Greeks would also practice dissoi logoi, which is opposing arguments.  Logoi is essentially the same word as logos that we learned yesterday.  I didn't get a chance to elaborate, but logos is an interesting word.  It can mean argument, logic, or just word.  It's the word in the Book of John, written in Greek, that begins, "In the beginning was the logos.  And the logos was with God.  And the logos was God."  Interesting, no?

Anyway, dissoi logoi is the practice of looking for counter arguments.  So,we'll practice that, like the Greeks did today on your blogs.  But first...

Daily Grammar Review:


Run-on Sentences:

As we mentioned yesterday, each sentence should have a subject and a verb.  But sometimes sentences have more than one subject or verb.

So, think of sentences like this:  Subject-Verb.  S-V.  Johnny runs.  But if the sentence is like this S-V and S-V, it becomes a run-on.  Johnny runs and Jane swims.  That "and" isn't strong enough to hold the two sentences together on its own, so it's a run-on sentence.  So we can make it two sentences: Johnny runs.  Jane swims.  We can put in a semicolon: Johnny runs; Jane swims.  Or we can put in a comma: Johnny runs, and Jane swims.  If the sentence is like this S-V-V, such as Johnny runs and swims.  Then it's okay.  Only if you have a new independent clause with its own new subject do you need to split up the sentence.


Your Daily Assignment:

Take a look at this Crocodile:

Now, to practice dissoi logoi, on your blog write a paragraph where the thesis is:

Crocodiles are majestic, powerful, and amazing creatures.

A thesis is simply your argument.  People sometimes freak out about thesis sentences, but they don't have to be complicated.

Now, on your blog, write a second paragraph with a second thesis:

Crocodiles are ridiculous looking, silly, and lame creatures.

That's practicing dissoi logoi, arguing both sides of an argument.  It can be a useful practice for working through a concept no matter which side your actually taking.


Your first major paper assignment:


Along with your blog posts, you have three major assignments for this class, the first of which I wanted to assign today so that you'd have it as early as possible.  It's a paper, and here's the prompt:

This assignment requires students to develop proficiency in rhetorical analysis and argument by developing a writing piece that closely problematizes one visual text, such as an advertisement, an editorial cartoon, or some other visually interesting rhetorical work.  The aim of your argument is to support a thesis—using the tools of persuasion—concerning how your chosen visual text itself offers a persuasive argument with troublesome issues or tactics.  In other words, you should find an image that you disagree with and analyze it closely.  Using Envision in Depth and the models available there as examples, make an argument that persuades readers of your own thesis, which will be different than the thesis of your object of criticism.  The form of this assignment is an essay that analyzes the visual image and the rhetorical elements of composition, presentation, intended audience, and effect by looking at the image’s logical, emotional, and ethical appeals.  You should quote at least two other sources for your argument other than the primary rhetorical text that you are analyzing.  This assignment should include a Works Cited page, be formatted according to MLA standards (which includes double spacing, 12 point font, and Times New Roman) and be a minimum of 1000 words.

You should e-mail me your draft and your final assignment, though it'd be nice to see the documents linked in the sidebars of your blogs too!

First draft due: July 13, at least 2 pages done.

Final draft due: July 15

Begin finding an image or ad to analyze soon!