1. The Language of Composition
Chapter 1

2. An Introduction to Rhetoric
“faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”
“a thoughtful, reflective activity leading to effective communication, including rational exchange of opposing viewpoints”
Lou Gehrig’s speech on pp.1-2

3. Audience: Context: Purpose: listener/observer/reader
“the occasion or the time and place it was written or spoken”
Purpose:
“goal that the speaker or writer wants to achieve”

4. Thesis (claim, assertion): Subject: Rhetorical Triangle:
“a clear and focused statement”
the author’s (speaker’s) opinion
Subject:
Topic
Rhetorical Triangle:
“interaction among subject, speaker, and audience”

5. Speaker
Audience
Subject

6. Ethos:
character
speaker emphasizes shared values between speaker and audience
“the speaker’s ethos—expertise and knowledge, experience, training, sincerity, or a combination of the these—gives the audience a reason for listening”
Important term: tone

7. Logos: reason “speaker uses clear, rational ideas”
“idea must be logical”
acknowledge the counterargument (concede and refute)
Important terms: assumption, counterargument, concede, refute

8. Pathos
emotion
speaker chooses language that engages the emotions of the audience
connotations of words becomes especially important
propagandistic in purpose
Important terms: connotations, propagandistic, polemaical
Essay: We Can Afford to Give Parents a Break, pp. 6-8
Assignment on pp. 9-10

9. Visual Rhetoric
The same elements of rhetoric that apply to written and spoken works can be applied to visual texts.
Political cartoons
Satire: a literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.

11. Assignment
Analyze a political cartoon in terms of the rhetorical triangle and its appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos. Note where the cartoon first appeared and describe the source’s political leaning (part of the context!). Examine the interaction of written text and visual images. (p. 12)

12. Arrangement the Classical Model Introduction Narration Confirmation
Refutation
Conclusion