1. Chapter 6 Public Documents: Codifying Beliefs and Practices

2. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 2 Overview Explores the genre, which includes the public documents that are a part of our daily lives They “articulate the principles and procedures that organize and guide” the lives of a group of people (171). Examples include marriage vows, contracts, wills, codes of conduct, the constitution, and mission statements.

3. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 3 What is the Call to Write Public Documents? Our need to establish institutions (such as schools and churches) Our need to create social order (in our legal system) Our need for interaction These documents also serve to promote social change.

4. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 4 Readings Abraham Verghese, from My Own Country Ellen Cushman, from The Struggle and the Tools

5. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 5 Manifestos Declaration of Independence

6. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 6 Petitions Call for the Human Rights in Russia Jason Pierce, Tiger Woods-Stand up for Equality-Augusta National Golf Club

7. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 7 Policy Statements WPA Outcomes Statement for the First-Year Composition

8. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 8 Writing in a Digital World A memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales Counsel to the President on torture was posted by the Washington Post.

9. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 9 Visual Design Paula Scher, Defective Equipment: The Palm Beach County Ballot

10. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 10 Writing assignment See page 196 for four options: writing an analysis of encounters with public documents as literacy events, doing a rhetorical analysis, or writing a manifesto or petition. Your instructor will let you know whether your class will be doing this particular assignment, and provide you with additional guidelines.

11. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 11 Clarifying Purpose and Genre See pages 197-198 for two questions that will help you determine what genre to use. Background research may need to do some research to clarify the rhetorical situation.

12. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 12 Readability and Design See pages 198-200 for a list of eight things to keep in mind. Features that add readability include: title, logo, white space, headings, bullets, and font styles. There is also a reference to Chapter 19, which gives more information about design.

13. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 13 Tone and Rhetorical Distance Tone establishes relationship to readers. Informal—first person, addresses readers as “you.” Standard—fairly formal, plain. Official—creates the greatest sense of distance with its legalistic style.

14. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.6 | 14 Student Companion Website Go to the student side of the Web site for exercises, chapter overviews, and links to writing resources for this chapter: http://college.hmco.com/pic/trimbur4e