We are now shifting from the literacy narrative to rhetorical analysis, the second of the three pillars of this course (literacy – rhetoric – research).
Here’s what you need to do this week (under 1 hour):
– Read from JTC:
> Intro to Section 4, by Lisa Blankenship (pp. 93-94)
> “What is Rhetoric?” by S. Graves, L. Corcoran, and L. Blankenship (pp. 95-100)
– In the comments below, please answer the following questions:
1. So, now you’ve read about it, how would YOU define rhetoric, in one sentence? (Don’t copy the text’s wording, find a definition that speaks to you particularly).
2. Had you encountered the term before? If so, what was your relationship with it?
3. Had you heard the terms logos, pathos, and ethos?
4. Please comment on someone else’s response. Can you relate with their experience of rhetorical analysis?
I attach below two worksheets that my students have found very useful in the past. One is a rhetorical triangle organizer that helps you work out the ethos, logos, and pathos of any text, image, audio, or film material you are analyzing; the other is similar, but in table form, with pre-formulated questions. Pick the one that appeals to you most. You will be required to use one for Assignment 2 (see instructions).
Friday meeting:
– I will give group feedback on Assignment 1 that applies to the whole class, in addition to your individual feedback. We will also briefly talk about the Google Doc from last module.
– I will answer any questions you have.
– We will do some (anonymous) reflective writing on the feedback you have received so far in this Google Doc.
After reading the meaning in the book, I would define rethoric as the art observation of persuation, I’m still trying to get it that is why I came up with that definition. I believe I have heard this term before but I did not build a relationship with it, I don’t think I ever related to it because I never payed attention to the meaning until now. Yes, I have heard about the terms ethos, logos and pathos , back in high school maybe in English class but I don’t remember the meanings.
I heard about ethos, pathos, and logos in high school as well. Also, I like that you defined rhetoric as an observation of persuasion because we are observing how the author writes.
1. I define rhetoric to be an interpretation / dissection regarding how the author wrote a text on their usage of symbols, diction, syntax, etc to convey a theme.
2. I encountered the term a fair amount of times in my high school English classes. I read texts to dissect why and how an author chose to write a sentence a certain way. This way, I was able to understand certain compositional skills such as analyzing and how ethos, pathos, and logos were prevalent.
3. I heard of ethos, pathos, and logos where ethos is, I believe, to show credibility and logos is logic. I forgot what pathos means.
Hi Amisha
I also had the same exposure to the term in high school in order to find out why the author made the writing choices that they did
I also agree with your definition of Pathos, ethos, and logos. It was also presented to me in high school ( my school was a classical school, so literature was important).
Pathos relates to emotions (think about the word “pathetic,” but not in a negative way – just in the way it expresses sadness and empathy. Pathos is all the emotions conveyed through the words, while logo is logic, and ethos is the cultural attitude.
1. The way I would define rhetoric is the way you express yourself when you are writing or speaking in order to persuade the person you are speaking to.
2. I have encountered this term before in English, my teacher would associate it with authors because when authors are writing a story most times they are looking to persuade their readers of the topic they are writing about. In the text it says that when people hear rhetoric they assume it is something negative but I have never heard of this response before
3. Yes, I have heard the term logos,pathos, and ethos multiple times in highschool. They teach it to us because they want us to make our writing better by using these three aspects in order to be able to connect with readers. We also study how authors use it in their writings such as in books.
I agree with you about encountering these terms back in high school and I like your own definition about rethoric.
Hi Karla. I’ve also encountered the term in my high-school English classes. I mostly remember rhetoric being associated with ethos, pathos, and logos. I even had to write a speech on a specific topic, which also had to demonstrate which term (Ethos, pathos, logos) I was using in my speech.
I haven’t heard of people seeing rhetoric as a negative thing either.
1. I would define rhetoric as having the ability to shape our own ideas and thoughts, along with understanding the choices that people make when dealing with writing or communicating.
2. I have encountered the term before several times in high-school. The term would sometimes come up when my class was required to write a persuasive essay or if we were learning about the different aspects of ethos, pathos, and logos.
3. I am familiar with the terms logos, pathos, and ethos. I know that pathos is somehow related to emotion and ethos deals with persuasion, however, I’m not too sure what logos is related to.
I had a similar experience in high school with rhetoric being used for persuasive essays.
1. I would say that rhetoric is being able to express persuasive thoughts and also being able to interpret them.
2. I did previously encounter this term, though I did not really put much thought into it. There was plenty of times where I had to dissect what an author was saying to answer whatever question was at hand in class.
3. I’m going to be honest, i think that these 3 terms were once discussed in class previously bt I do not remember what any of them mean.
In high school, I also did that with dissection and what the author truly meant in their writing.
1.What I understood from reading the article is that rhetoric is to present yourself in a way that is unique from others and be proud of it and able to understand those ideas in a pleasant manner.
2.No, never really encountered this term, this a new thing for me, so what the author says about in in the text about this idea of expression, it might be difficult for me to write bout it in my own piece.
3.Yes logos is the Latin word for logic so basically it’s the idea of using facts and charts in order to prove your point, ethos is like basically the credibility for those facts, making sure what you write is indeed the truth, and finally pathos is the emotion side of your writing making sure its persuasive or has a bit of enthusiasm to the piece so that the reader thinks you really know what your talking about.
1. Rhetoric is being able to persuade someone with the way you speak. Whether it is wrong or not, you still get your point across well.
2. In high school, we often go over if the author was persuasive and what they were trying to teach with their writing.
3. I actually do not think I have heard about those 3 in high school.
I agree with your definition of Rhetoric because it is being able to persuade someone with your ideas.
!) I would define rhetoric as having the ability to create your own unique thoughts and being able to interpret them.
2)I have encountered the term before several times in high-school,we often go over what is the author purpose and what they trying to convey.
3)No I haven’t heard of these terms.
I also think rhetoric is how you communicate your thoughts to other people.
1. Rhetoric to me is how we communicate with others and how we interpret what others are telling us.
2. I have encountered the term during high school. I was introduced to it when i had to write different kinds of research papers and argumentative essays.
3. I have heard about ethos, pathos and logos, Ethos, relating to ethics, pathos, relating to emotion and logos relating to logic.
I agree with Alvin and I can relate to his teachers making him write different papers using the devices.
1. I think rhetoric is the ability the capability to express your persuasive thoughts in a creative but effective manner.
2. I have encountered the term 2 years ago in my AP English composition class. My teacher use to make us read speeches/poems and we had to figure out why the author wrote this, and what was their message for the intend audience.
3. I have heard the terms pathos, logos, and ethos. Back to what I wrote for the 2nd question, my teacher use to make us determine what type of rhetoric devices the authors we’re using. I believe the most common one is pathos, because people are more intrigued by emotions rather than logic.
I agree that rhetoric is the ability to effectively express your thoughts.
1. I believe that rhetoric is how we get our persuasive ideas or thoughts and we are able to interpret them as well. The main point would be to persuade the other person and get your point across.
2. I encountered this term in my senior year of highschool because we would be assigned to many argumentative essays and my professor has definitely said it many times.
3. I have only heard about the term pathos because my english teacher showed us how it involves quotes and emotional stories.
My english teacher also introduced us to pathos in the same way.
1. I believe rhetoric is the specific way in which a person may express their point or opinion.
2. Yes, I have encountered the term rhetoric before, multiple times in the past. I only had heard it used referring to writing and the way you get something across. I never knew it also had to do with the way someone can perceive the writing as well.
3. Yes I believe ethos has to do with some one or something’s credibility. Logos has to do with logic, and the reasoning behind something. Pathos refers towards feelings.
1. I would define rhetoric as being able to fully understand the idea behind whatever you’re trying to convey and effectively communicating in a way that people understand.
2.I have encountered the term in history when learning about the Renaissance. Rhetoric played an important role in the literature of that time. I used the word when learning about the Renaissance and better understanding the thinkers of that time.
3.Yes, I have heard the terms logos, pathos, and ethos. I’m not sure I remember what they mean.
I have also encountered that term in history too when we learned about the renaissance!
1. I would define rhetoric as how you can express yourself in writing or even in speaking. you can use this to persuade the other person to agree with you or think about the situation differently
2. I have come across this term before in my high school English and playwriting class. My teacher would make us think about it by connecting it to authors or playwrights. Usually when authors or playwrights write their pieces they want to convince or persuade the audience on the topic
3. I heard the term logos, pathos, and ethos a bunch of times in my high school English and playwriting class. We were taught it because they wanted us to use it in our writing pieces so it can be more elevated in a sense and have people actually connect with the writing instead of it just being something to read
1. Rhetoric is a tool for a person to convince another person to think in a way you want them to think.
2. I have encountered the term before. It was mainly in English class or history class talking about historical leaders. We would hear speeches in class and try to analyze what the person was conveying and how he was conveying it.
3. Yes, I’ve heard the terms logos, pathos, and ethos. I’ve heard them when learning about rhetoric. I an English class that I was taking we was told to identify whether or not a speech or any writing was using logos, pathos, and ethos. A strong speech that used pathos would bring out strong emotions from the audience. Logos used logic, so in a scientific paper, you will use evidence to prove your thesis right or wrong. Ethos is used by someone with credibility, an example of this would be celebrities endorsing a brand and people would buy it.