BA 3: AUDIENCE, PURPOSE, & RHETORICAL STRATEGIES

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CRITICAL? NOT NECESSARILY FAULT-FINDING CAREFULLY INTERROGATE A TEXT’S CLAIMS, EVIDENCE, AND SUBTLE FORMS OF PERSUSION

Reading for Audience For what audience was this text created? Are you part of its intended audience? What underlying assumptions can you identify in the text? Are the medium and genre appropriate for the topic, audience, and purpose? What’s the difference between Summarizing a Text and Identifying the Purpose?

Summarizing A summary briefly captures the main ideas of a text and omits information that is less important. Try to identify the key points in the text, find the essential evidence supporting those points, and explain the contents concisely and fairly, so that a reader unfamiliar with the original can make sense of it all.

Identifying the Purpose Asks You to Analyze the Intended Effect of the Text In advertisements, news stories, textbooks, reports, and media of all kinds, language competes for your attention and argues for your agreement. In one important sense, all language use has an argumentative edge.

THREE RHETORICAL APPEALS: ETHOS LOGOS PATHOS

ETHOS The persuasive power of the author’s credibility or character Questions to ask when you’re examining an author’s Ethos: Does the writer seem knowledgeable? What is the writer’s approach to the topic? (Formal or informal? Logical or emotional? )

Logos The persuasive power of the author’s reasons, evidence, and logic. Questions to ask when examining an author’s logos: What perspective does the writer want me to take toward the topic? Do the the writer’s claims, reasons, and evidence convince me to take this perspective or position?

Pathos The persuasive power of the author’s appeal to the interests, emotions and imagination of the audience. Questions to ask when examining the writer’s Pathos: How does the text influence the reader to identify with the writer? How does the text influence the reader to identify with the topic or issue? How does the text influence the reader to identify with a certain group of fellow readers? How does the text influence the reader to identify with particular interests, values, beliefs, and emotions.

Other Rhetorical Choices Diction: a writer’s selection and expression of words How do the writer’s word choices emphasize certain points over others? How are particular words used to persuade? Ideology: a belief system; a coherent set of values and concepts through which we interpret the world. What are the contrasting ideas (binaries) in the text? On which side does the writer align herself?

BA 3 Works Cited If you use quotes or paraphrases in your BA3, you must cite the page number in MLA format (See chapter 16 of the St. Martin’s Handbook). Your BA 3 should include a Works Cited section at the end that looks like the following: Works Cited:  Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Article Title.” First Year Writing in the Disciplines. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Page Numbers. Print.