RHETORIC

LOGOS Not simply “the logical appeal” or “the appeal to reason” The “embodied thought of the text A writer or speaker builds logos, according to Aristotle, using enthymemes or examples How the writer or speaker capitalizes on unspoken assumptions he/she thinks the audience already believes about the issue at hand

Incorporates facts data reasoning perspectives about issue Then substantiates a claim, generalization or point about the issue Logos is the central and indispensable proof.

ETHOS A text can emphasize good will good sense good character Thereby becoming more credible

PATHOS Almost all texts do something to appeal to the emotions or states of life of the reader.

TONE Writer’s or speaker’s apparent attitude toward the subject matter and issue at hand. EXIGENCE – asks the questions of why a writer wrote a particular piece. What hit a nerve? The passion of real writing requires real exigence.

ARRANGEMENT, ORGANIZATION, STRUCTURE How the text is divided into parts What is the function of each part introduce a central idea narrow the focus divide into smaller parts compare/contrast material address possible objections promote author’s credentials add a piece of emotional evocative material, etc.

ARRANGEMENT & STYLE Draw inferences based on arrangement and style diction syntax imagery figurative language

Formal or informal Use of pronouns Contractions Specialized language Sentence length and type Active voice Parallel balance, antithetical balance Tropes, schemes Metaphors Irony, sarcasm

Explain HOW it means HOW it realizes its purpose HOW it achieves its effects HOW it makes clear its exigency HOW it addresses or evokes the audience HOW it announces intentions

Writing is about FUNCTION, not structure. When creating a sequence in writing or discerning a sequence in reading, look at how each idea in each paragraph is conducing to the effect of the whole.

Constitute its WHOLE Analysis involves reacting and generating React to a text by analyzing it, noting how its parts constitute its whole Generating a clear explanation of the analysis Process and create not regurgitate

MODES OF DISCOURSE Transitions, discourse markers, paragraph elaboration Typical modes – division/classification, definition, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, process analysis (can appear with other modes rather than alone) Common paragraph structure – claim, reasoning, evidence, conclusion

If a student is aware that a writer might add, exemplify, counterargue, intensify, digress, or conclude in moving from one paragraph to the next, that student will be a much more savvy reader.

A single text can accomplish one or more of the following: Record information Help someone retain information Explain processes Communicate facts or ideas Explore significant, and/or mixed feelings Figure out what one really means or thinks about a subject

Demonstrate knowledge Share information Persuade others that they should adopt a new course of action or change opinions Evaluate the perspectives of others

Possible influences on the context of any written text Time period the text was written Significant events of that time period Physical or virtual place the text was produced and the primary features of that place Primary methods of communication during that time – consider, for example, the potential differences between a telegraph message and an

Cultural groups involved as subjects of the text and/or as the intended audience of the text Important text(s) to which this text was written in response Responses that the text generated The “speaker” or writer of the text, including any information about his/her personal background

EXAMPLE of CONTEXT “Smiling tentatively, she walked through the door of Jackson High to begin her first day.” What is the meaning of this simple sentence considering the context?

Scenario 1 - Letter to a close friend, written by a divorced mother of an only child who live in a Chicago suburb in 2007, who is now delivering her daughter to an East Coast boarding school near her father as per the terms of a newly signed, shared custody agreement.

Scenario 2 – line from a 1960 small-town Alabama newspaper written by a white male journalist covering the first admission of a black teenage woman to a previously all-white high school.

Scenario 3 – line in a 1980s novel focusing on the experiences of a neophyte teacher or one from a rural background beginning her career in an inner-city high school.

What are audience variables? Does the projected audience really want this information? (use informative techniques) Does the writer feel the projected audience needs this information? (use persuasive techniques)

INDUCTIVE REASONING Examples are provided and then general conclusions are drawn. EX – Every time you eat shrimp, you get a stomach ache; therefore, you will get a stomach ache if you eat shrimp.

DEDUCTIVE REASONING General guiding statement and then specific examples are provded as illustration or evidence of the credibility of that statement. EX – All tortoises are vegetarians. Bess is a tortoise. Therefore, Bess is a vegetarian.

LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES Language difficulties prevent students from hearing the “voice” in the text and voice is the essential link between speaker and hearer, reader and writer, an link that must be forged if students are to succeed with analyses of “old” texts. Prompts on the AP exam usually do not pre- date the Tudor era ( ), but that is not a certainty.

Periodic sentence was common in pre- twentieth century literature. The writer leads the reader to consider the conditions, exceptions, and details that lead to a major point.

Works Cited AP English Language: Reading and Writing Analytically, Professional Development. College Board: 2008.