Unit 1 Flashcards
Rhetoric
The art of using words effectively in speaking or writing: esp, now, the art of prose composition (writing essays/papers, ect.)
Robert De Nobili
- A young Italian aristocrat who gave up his title and wealth to become a Jesuit missionary in Goa
- Learned that the people in Goa were not converting because the other missionaries were not respecting the people’s main values
- Robert started to dress, eat, and preach to the people in India and gained Respect from the people
- The respect made the people like him and showed that to get people to follow you, you need to kind and respectful to them
Communication
Is more than a message because the speaker and the audience are essential components
Is a message effect communication
A message alone is not effective communication because you have to convince your audience that you are worth listening to
The Rhetoric Triangle
- All three elements (speaker, subject, and audience) are necessary for communication to work
- All three elements are in a dynamic relationship
- If you talk to little kids your voice would speaking changes
Persuasive Appeals
- The Greeks recognized that the rhetorical triangles is key to understanding how audience is persuaded
- Aristotle defined rhetoric: the art of finding the best available means of persuasion in any situation
- 3 different appeals
Logos
Appeals to logic, reasoning, and evidence
Ethos
Appeals based on the trustworthiness of the speaker
Pathos
Appeals to the emotions and deepest held values of the audience
The Larger Context
- The rhetorical triangle is useful but is missing a sense of how the participants happen to be talking about that particular subject at that time in that place
- Many people don’t think about cultural traditions when they are around people of their own culture, but we are aware of the historical dimensions of particular subjects for particular audience
Rhetorical Situations
-Communication is never a neutral situation
The speaker, subject, and audience each bring histories to a particular rhetorical situation
the Writing Situation
The rhetorical situation changed from speaking to writing; more complex
- Writing changed the dynamics of the rhetorical triangle because usually writer and reader are separated by time and space
- Writing changed the nature of the audience and the nature of the speaker in many ways
Simple Audience
When you can easily characterize the knowledge and attitudes of your audience
Multiple Audience
When people with different back rounds read the same document for different reasons
-Need to consider different levels of knowledge of your subject, and different attitudes to you an the topic you are writing about
Audience Knowledge
- Critical to what you write is your audience’s knowledge of your subject
- If the audience is unfamiliar with your subject you should give background information and connect you new information to something the reader already knows
Levels of Expertise in you Audience
- If you are writing for experts you can use technical language
- If you are unsure, you may have to explain technical terms
- If your audience knows nothing about your subject, you need to convince them they should be interested
A Writes Ethos
- A writer must convince their reader that the writers are
1. Knowledgeable about the subject
2. they have the readers needs in mind - Some writers begin with credibility because of who they are, but no matter how much you know about the subject or how good your ideas are, your ethos will be destroyed by sloppy, error filled writing
A Writers Purpose
To have an effective writing you must determine in advance what you want to accomplish
- Reflect on your experience of the experience of others
- May want to inform your readers about a subject
- May want to change your readers attitudes about a subject or persuade them to take action
What the Writer must do to write a good paper
- establish your ethos by doing your homework and discover evidence on your topic
- You have to anticipate critics and objections
- If you can get your reader to consider your position seriously you will have succeeded
Writing: A First Look
People once thought that technology would take over writing but there is evidence that writing will become even more important
How does writing give advantages to both reading and writing
- Give time to reflect and research what they want they want to communicate, and lets them shape and re-shape the material to their satisfaction
- Make communication more precise and effective
- Provides a permanent record of thoughts, actions, and decisions
- Saves readers time. Information absorbs quicker when it is read rather than heard
Where and Why writing is used
- Writing is used in college, jobs, and everyday life
- Writing is usually in response to a situation that will determine the purpose, audience, content, style, and organization of our paper
- To do an effective job you will need to understand different situation that can prompt a piece of writing and respond accordingly
The Purposes of Writing
- When writing a clear purpose should give your efforts. If you don’t know your writing, neither will your reader
- An authentic purpose requires the answer of the question “What do I want this piece of writing to do for both my reader and me”
- Each writing project has its own specific purpose
The Purposes of Writing: To inform
Presenting information is one of the most common writing purposes
The Purposes of Writing: To Persuade
Strong views on many issues and feelings that can impel that you are trying to sway the reader
The Purposes of Writing: To Express Yourself
Almost everything you write offers you a chance to display your mastery of words and to enliven your prose with vivid images and fresh turns of phrase
The Purposes of Writing: To Entertain
Some writing is for entertainment, some write with entertainment with a serious purpose. Humor can help the reader absorb dull or difficult material
The Audience For Your Writing
- Everything you write is aimed at an audience with a purpose of having an effect on the reader
- Purpose and audience are closely linked
Writing operates on a delayed-action fuse
- When speaking to someone you can look at facial expressions and tone to know when to alter your work the audience, but with writing you can’t do that
- Once something is written and published you can’t take it back and fix it for your audience
What you need to Assess about your audience before you start writing
- What are the education level, age, social class, and economics status of the audience I want to reach?
- Why will this audience read my writing? To gain information? Learn my views on a controversial issue? Enjoy my creative flair? Be entertained
- What attitudes, needs, and expectations do they have?
- How are they likely to respond to what I say? Can I expect them to be neutral? Opposed? Friendly?
- How much do they know about my topic?
- What kind of language will communicate with them the most effectively?
The Effect of Audience on Your Writing
-Audience shapes all types of writing in similar fashion, even personal writing
Discourse Communities
-People write for specific communities (Professionals)
*Community share goals, values, concerns, background information, and expectations
(A group of people)
When reading in any professional area, always think
- What are the major concerns and question in this field
- What seems to be common knowledge
- To what works do the writers regular refer
- How do those in the field go about answering questions
- What methods do they follow
- Which kinds of knowledge are acceptable? Which are not?
- What values seem to guide the field
- What kinds of information must writers include in papers
- How are different writing projects organized
- What conventions do writers follow
Communities in writing
- Professional articles often start with a section linking their context to previous research papers
- Communities can involve competing groups, conflicting values, different kinds of writing projects, and varying approaches to writing
- You will ned to understand the goals and rules of any community you enter
- Share you own paper, it’s important that the writing please you as well as your audience
Qualities of Good Writing
- There are 3 qualities you need to have good writing
1. Fresh Thinking
2. Sense of Style
3. Effective Organization
Fresh Thinking
Freshen up writing by exploring personal sights and perceptions. Use your own start
Sense of Style
you should write in a clear style and strengthen it with vivid and forceful would. Use standard grammar,spelling, and punctuation. You will develop a writing style (word types)
Effective Organization
A paper should have a clear beginning, middle, and end that all connect (Pattern)
Writing and Ethics
-few people bother to read a writing that was made to deceive the audience
The Principles of Ethical Writing
- Writing that is perceived as truthful and should be truthful. If not it can hurt both the writer and reader
- Writing should tell the whole truth and not hide anything
- Writing should not be presented as something different that it is
- Writing should be clear, understandable, and accurate, so all readers can understand
- Writing should not be intended to harm the reader
