1. RWS 100: Writing Paper #2

2. First Up, some bookkeeping…:
Your papers. TAKE THEM FROM ME
Thursday, your second paper drafts are due. BRING THREE HARD COPIES to get credit. Bring a full-realized draft!
My new conferencing times are also up.
Feel free to visit me before then to discuss your paper.
To receive the +5 for visiting the Writing Center, I need to get an from them (evidently, drop-ins don’t get same attention.)
No blog this week. We’ll make it up in Unit #3, but I want you laser-like focused on your papers.

3. Review: What are modes of persuasion? Logos, ethos, logos
What are rhetorical strategies?
Tools that help writers and other communicators craft language (textual) or images (visual) so as to have an effect on the audience/reader.
Strategies are means of persuasion, a way to get the reader’s/audience’s attention.
How does evidence fit in to this?
Evidence is used as part of a rhetorical strategy. For instance, a rhetor might use historical evidence as a part of establishing precedent.

4. Happy happy quiz time!
(get your e-devices out…)

5. Let’s talk about your paper…

6. First of all…do you have any questions about it, or the prompt?

7. Things you Need to Do:
1. Develop a point of view: determine who has written the better, more persuasive text. You might not necessarily agree with it.

8. In your introduction…
Establish the Rhetorical Situation (or context of the conversation), and identify the two texts. Why were they created? Was one a reply to the other?
Identify the purpose of each piece, their main arguments, and their audiences (are they similar/different?)
….then….
Provide a thesis statement which clearly lays out your argument.

9. Thesis examples:
Thompson and Carr both make compelling arguments for the impact of the Internet on our intelligence, however, while Carr’s argument engages his audience through real world applications and historical precedent, Thompson’s text is an awkward mess of unreliable, unverified statistics and evidence that few readers would find convincing.
Thompson and Carr’s arguments are both fatally flawed, their lack of sufficient and credible evidence only reinforce how neither is able to look past their own prejudices about the impact of the internet on how we think; however, Thompson’s argument is ultimately more persuasive for his audience because he expertly tailors it to answer their specific questions and concerns.

10. Your thesis must say who you found more convincing, and a basic summary of why. Your thesis lays out the overall argument that you are about to make in your body paragraphs.

11. In your body paragraphs…
Start every paragraph with a topic sentence that includes rhetor, rhetorical strategy, audience, and an assessment!
Examples:
Thompson uses cause and analysis to effectively to convince his skeptical, older audience of how the Internet is helping them think more efficiently.
Through expert testimony, Carr attempts to prove to millennials that authorities in the field are terrified of the implications of the Internet, although the experts he cites are obviously prejudiced and not credible.

12. Write that down!
Start every paragraph with a topic sentence that includes rhetor, rhetorical strategy, audience, and an assessment!

13. In your body paragraphs, it’s up to you if you want to compare one rhetorical strategy by each author together, or break it up, although it’s probably easier to break them up.
In other words: 1. Thompson and Carr both use prolepsis, but Carr does it better (one longish paragraph). [Explain how each uses it, while comparing with the other.]
…or…
Thompson uses definition well. [Explain how he uses it, why it works so well.]
Carr sucks at using definition. Then a sentence or two saying how Thompson was better. [Explain how he uses it, why it doesn’t work. Then say why Thompson wins.]

14. Connect the rhetorical strategy and the evidence to the audience!
Successful rhetors always choose their strategies and evidence with their audience in mind.
Explain why they chose their evidence (and/or if they chose poorly) and the effect it will have on their intended audience!

15. In your conclusion… Briefly summarize the points that you have made.
Look at Carr/Thompson’s argument as a whole, demonstrate how their good/crappy use of rhetorical strategies influences their individual arguments…
…and how that led you to your conclusion that one is better than the other. Be sure your reader knows exactly WHY you think one author has made a better case, based on the evidence you have given in your body paragraphs.

16. BE CRITICAL.
Neither text is perfect, and it’s boring if you just say one is, and one isn’t.
Think, if you were Thompson or Carr, trying to convince their audiences, what you might have done to make your case stronger!

17. A Reminder, from Dee Snider, that:
No paper for Unit #2 will have a passing grade without identifying the Rhetorical Situation…
…or a properly formatted Works Cited page. Period. (If you’re not sure of either, ask your classmates, ask your teammates, see your instructor during his office hours.)

18. Finally…