Final
Section 1
The following print ad I'm analyzing is by Linh Le. An ad that targets adult illiteracy in the U.S. stating it's never too late to learn how to read. The print ad displays a man that claims to be at the age of twenty-five, successfully being able to read. It mentions the organization which help made this possible, the Texas Readiness Program. This print ad is displayed in black and white, creating the authenticity of a profile. According to this print ad, fallacies such as: appeal to emotions, appeal to people, and appeal to ignorance have been present in placing the spotlight on adult illiteracy in the U.S. The appeal to emotions here us both happiness and pity for Brian, on being to learn how to read until the age of twenty-five. The emotion of happiness for Brian achieving literacy displays a successful future that awaits him. However, feeling pity for Brian is the result of all those years where literacy was difficult for him, followed labels that were placed on Brian. The expression of happiness Brian displays on thus print ad with a smile creates the sensation of freedom from his limits. The appeal to people raises the concern that not only adult illiteracy limits an individual's capabilities to participate in society, but it also affects the population at an international level. Although the quantity of affected individuals with this dilemma is not mentioned, it personifies it through Brian's name, instead of a statistic. However, a statistic would increase the awareness of this dilemma in the U.S. The appeal to ignorance informs the public if the seriousness adult illiteracy has on an individual’s life. The simplicity of Brian's smile displays a sense of purpose that has been brought to his life. Instead of being labeled because of his disability, value has been brought back to him as a citizen after successfully learning how to read. By applying the explicit/implicit/extended meaning analysis for this print ad, it explicitly shows a solution to escaping adult illiteracy, it implicitly creates authenticity on this dilemma with Brian being the face of Texas Readiness Program, and extendedly it confirms that it’s a crisis that affect a human's life.
Section 2
A rhetorical analysis on “Language & Stereotyping" through the explicit/implicit/extended meaning analysis method explains the point where both of these concepts support each other, according to society. The explicit meaning of this blog is that language does not correlate a specific social class, wealth, or intelligence. However, it does explain the different languages that exist, connecting people to each other or differentiating them based on culture. Culture is the origin of a type of language, and a stereotype only generalizes that language to success or failure, based on society. Overall, society has a massive impact on language. Therefore, the implicit meaning of this blog is that language is only an individual’s way of expressing themselves, without the implication of status in society, wealth, or education. There are many forms of expressing yourself, whether it's formal speech or primary discourse speech. A discourse being “a way of acting”, we define primary discourse as “a way of acting through family.” The extended meaning of this blog is that language itself connects people to culture, and stereotypes only isolate them and classifies them to either being superior or inferior, according to societies norms.
Section 3
Three terms I would like to discuss are: FUCT paragraphs, Code-switching, and audience. I believe these terms are important when it comes to creating an argument, thus support each other when improved on. The term F.U.C.T is acronym for Fully developed Unity Coherent Topic sentences. This method is a checklist to creating concrete paragraphs where details, cited sources, organization of information are important. Unity defines itself as an idea being explained completely, and not diverted into another idea without finishing the argument. Following unity is coherence, where transition words allow flow from one idea to another, and does not skip into another idea that seems irrelevant. The topic sentence part of FUCT defines as a complete argument stated in one or two sentence. This is the start and end of the paragraph, where the argument is stated and can be explained through supporting detail, then summarized back again. An example of using the FUCT method for paragraphs can be seen on the blog post of "Code-switching." The first paragraph defines terminology that will be used throughout the essay; meanwhile, citing sources where the definition derived from and the use of transitions allow arguments to support one another. Meanwhile, in the article by James Paul Gee, he also defines the terminology and also creates flow in his paragraphs where coherence occurs from one sentence to another. The term Code-switching defines as a way of acting and doing where they both correlate with each other, a discourse taken. Code-switching is important when it comes to writing for it involves language use according to what action is occurring. Code-switching involves the acknowledgement of the audience. Depending who you're talking to you would change your language, this includes the way you express yourself. According to my writing, every blog post is written for entertainment, so there's a sense of a relaxed format. Audience, one of the important concepts when it comes to writing. The audience is who you're presenting the argument to, this determines the format which it has to be written. Comparing from directly an argument to a professor to a friend, a professor may expect resources that involve statistic as well as detailed paragraphs, whereas with a friend it doesn't have to result in depth research. The keyword here is expectations, the particular audience you are presenting your writing has to their expectation of the paper.
Section 4
From the beginning of the semester till now, my writing became more diverse. The steps taken for research involved stating your topic sentence. The topic sentence will direct to where the argument should be researched and further detailed. Afterwards, comparing articles and using any rhetorical method will explain the point of view of each writer. Understanding the purpose of the paper that is being written will allow appropriate information to be added such as: statistics for research papers, ethos/pathos/logos for persuasive arguments, and fallacies for advertisement posters. The steps taken for a writing process will start with shitty first drafts. According to the article, "shitty first drafts" by Anne Lamott, most popular authors don't have flawless first drafts. To allow ideas to flow, it first has to be written down on paper, and eventually they will be developed. Re-visiting a draft will allow repetitive revision and ideas to be added or discarded, resulting in more ways to improve it. The revisions make sentences more concrete, and every sentence an argument with a topic sentence.
Section 5
1) The audience is critical to what we write and how we write it. According to the audience, we may take a particular discourse. This discourse can be relaxed and casual, or it may be a research based argument that involved every statement to have a topic sentence. The format of the paper can follow a chronological order or from most importance to least importance. The format we express ourselves on paper differs when speaking to a graduate individual and a child. The diction used may be sophisticate or simple, all according to who we are speaking to. What we write can be complex with extended meaning, and resources that back up our argument. It may also take an ethos and pathos approach if personal experience are accepted supporting details. There are different types of writings that can be approached all according to what we are intending to prove in our argument. Overall, our audience determines our approach, where our approach may be a personal based paper, a researched based paper, or a comparative paper, all types of writings that use different formats of expression. 2) All of the world is a text, a phrase that allows use to read the world as we read articles. The world is an article with the absence of words, or an argument. In fact, the world is like a picture, where a picture is worth a thousand words. From explicitly stating what we see, to what the world implicitly shows us, we can construct a new argument every time. We can also read music, from how sound makes us feel, similarly it's applied to reading the world. However, every person will construct a different argument off of reading the world, for this derives from each individual's point of view of the world. It also incorporates how we feel at that very moment we are judging the world, we view particular details and emphasize them more than others. Our mood greatly affects how we read the world, and we may construct specific topics that reach a topic we are concerned about. For example, from reading what the sky shows me at night, I can argue that what we do in this world may seem to affect the population; however, it's nothing compared to the existence in this Milky Way. Theoretical arguments can be conducted, philosophical ones as well. Over all, the world allows us generate ideas without words but through image. 3) Ethos creates credibility that can be used for persuasive writing. It presents a subject that has experience on the topic, as a result it can be categorized as a resource. However, can appeal to authority be a result of poorly used ethos? In fact, the definition of ethos is credibility, an appeal to authority will most likely be a result of ethos due to the level of familiarity this subject has on the topic. An appeal to authority is defined as the subject having a greater knowledge on the topic being discussed, similar as to having ethos on a subject. However, an appeal to false authority can be argumentative, when the subject has trivial knowledge but not an expert on it. This can create opinionated information, and weaken the argument because of false resource. An example of this will be a student learning biology and a doctor. Although the student has general knowledge on the subject, any expertise concerns cannot be direct to him, for his extend on the topic is limited. Overall, there is a limit to an appeal to authority for someone who has ethos on a topic.
Section 6
In literature, a variety of interventions can impact the writing of an individual. The intervention that improved my writing from the start of the semester in ENG 2150 is understanding rhetoric. This method breaks apart a paragraph into topic sentence, the example and supporting detail, and the opposition. It formats every paragraph to have the elements for a concise argument. By arranging the paragraphs to have a set format, it eases the production, knowingly what's to come next. When a paper is organized, it allows for an argument to be well grounded. From the start of the semester, I would produce writing that seemed to state ideas in a manner that jumped to other ideas. However, organizing ideas accordingly to a topic sentence, it's example and details, I was capable to produce credibility, because every sentence supported each other, transitioning smoothly.