Even though I was already aware of the writing center, being reminded of it is key, due to my forgetful nature. Having gone there before once, I think it’s an amazing resource. Unfortunately I forgot about its usefulness until I was reminded about it now, so I’m thankful for that.

According to this reading, rhetoric is a completely natural way of communication. It emphasizes how it’s not inherently manipulative or deceptive in nature. These are two key takeaways. Additionally, going into more detail, rhetoric is the framework in which communicators, writers in this case, frame what they’re saying in order to convey these thoughts in a way where its persuasive to their intended audience. Finally it explores what can rhetoric mean for the audience, readers in this case. It is ultimately their own individual understanding and interpretation of the content conveyed. That is, the author’s thoughts, after being framed in a particular way to suit their purpose, are received by the reader, who adds an additional filter made of their own preconceptions and biases, that results in their own personal interpretation, rhetoric!

Baruch’s writing center offers a variety of services that all students, no matter how adept (or inept) at writing, can benefit from.  The greatest advantage I see in utilizing the writing center is the one-on-one consulting with professionals and other faculty on one’s own writing.  There is only so much we know about effective and meaningful writing and rhetoric as undergraduate students, and learning from the best can broaden our perspectives and sharpen our arguments in the essays we write.

Rhetoric can be best generalized as the constant ebb and flow of thoughts and ideas in writing, conversation, visual and auditory spectacles… Anything and everything can be interpreted, making rhetoric universal and accessible to anyone with half a brain — not to insult anyone with half a brain.

What I find so unique about rhetoric is its diversity of definitions.  There are people that believe it is a way of embellishing thought, as we instinctively “dress down” when it comes to thoughts that don’t leave the mouth.  Others, as implied by the introduction to the text, see rhetoric as a manipulative tool, a sort of marionette’s control bar to steer people during discussion.  However mixed the opinion on rhetoric is, the general consensus seems to be that it is a technique — or tool — to enhance language.  Yet, it is so much more than that.  Rhetoric is all around us, and we connect to it through one or more of our five senses (or six, if intuition counts).  How else, then, is a picture able to say a thousand words?  How else, then, can a wordless symphony evoke emotions so profound that we are brought to tears and immense joy?  Rhetoric, friends.

Thinking of rhetoric as a driving force used by authors, I began to think of the different levels of impact a “strong” rhetoric can have. What first comes to mind is the influence an author can direct to his audience simply by the use of persuasion, conviction, action, and judgments. Building off that, something that has been introduced to me is how all communication between two entities is rhetorical in some way or another. On a broader scale that excludes writing, rhetoric and all its vehicles can do so much with so little. Being that I struggle with identifying writing strategies, such as rhetoric, I hope practice will help me with it in both writing and other avenues.

Rhetoric is the idea of using the writing of other authors in order to benefit yourself and further develop your own skills. In order to form some sort of connection with the readers, the author uses specific “gestures, actions, signs, and symbols” to give readers a sense of what the writer is discussing. When contemplating about rhetorical writers, Aristotle is undoubtedly the “most important figure”. He created the main ideas when using rhetorical ideas that are known as “logos (logical), ethos (character), and pathos (emotional). Authors also tend to use certain conventions in order to possibly persuade the minds of the readers by using a specific “genre, style, or even purpose” when writing.

One new thing I learned about this course was that there are five fundamental learning goals that I should be able to meet by the end of the semester. These goals should be able to improve my critical reading and writing skills in order to better prepare me for my future career.

Rhetoric is the study of effective writing and speaking. It is also a form of persuasive language that people use to effectively communicate their thoughts to others. It is a certain way a group of people express themselves to get their message across clearly. People use rhetoric in their everyday language to communicate different conversations in certain ways. This is possible through the use of the three “topoi”: logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is the use of logic and reason to appeal to an audience, pathos is the use of emotion to appeal to an audience,  and ethos is the use of beliefs/customs/ethics to appeal to an audience. While using these three topoi, people are able to effectively connect with certain audiences on a certain level while speaking out about different views or beliefs.

One of the resources that interested me is the Writing Center. This is great for me because English is one of my weakest subjects, so I hope to be able to take advantage of such a resource and improve my writing skills. With this available, I could understand what I can do to improve my writing skills and also what I should be wary of. Also, the one-to-one sessions are great ways to build up our ability to write effectively and to build our arsenal when writing. The feedback they provide will surely help me reevaluate my writings and I am sure that my peers have a better perspective of writing than I do. This is also an environment where I can make mistakes and not be judged because this is an area where we build on our ability to write.

The reading “What is Rhetoric?”, explains that rhetoric is our choice of speech that we use to deliver a message and can be interpreted accordingly to our audience. An author or text has a specific audience they are targeting and their meaning may vary from person to person. Rhetoric is not limited to our language we speak, but also our actions, gestures, signs, symbols, behaviors, and representation. The reading also points out that rhetoric speech has developed into a demeaning way to deceive people and hide true intentions. However, rhetoric is also an essential part of how we communicate. There are also three core components to rhetoric and those the use of logic and reasoning to an audience, emotional appeals to an audience, and the rhetor’s perceived strength or influence. With these parts, we can effectively make arguments.

When reading about rhetoric, the one thing I find peculiar and interesting is the different interpretations that follow. The question I ask is how can it be completely understood if there are multiple ways of interpreting and every interpretation is different? I also connected the term rhetoric to colloquial language with which a community or “culture” shares. Nonetheless, the type of rhetoric used includes meaning behind it in which there is a reason the rhetoric is being used the way it is. However, meaning is determined or interpreted by the reader thus, the entirety of it is subjective.

There are many available resources at Baruch that students can take advantage of. One such resource that I am certain to use is the Baruch College Writing Center. I am not a strong writer at all so this sort of thing will help me out massively. Especially because I can schedule one on one sessions. There are also the walk-in sessions at the Baruch Library which can address shorter pieces of writing or more general questions that can be answered in a shorter amount of time.

Rhetoric is a way of analyzing different pieces of writing and a way of forming new thoughts and ideas. It’s a way for people to use their language to express themselves. There are three big “topoi” that describe how we convince others of something: logos, pathos, or ethos. Learning how to effectively use these can strengthen our writing and is vital to communicating with others.