Purpose

Here's a discussion question/issue for this week . . .

One of the overwhelmingly common problems in these Critiquing rough drafts was a misunderstanding of the speaker's purpose.  Often, you confused the speaker's purpose with his strategies.  Yes, he was apologizing.  But that was not his purpose.  Yes, he wanted to say that he was sorry, and maybe he wanted to explain his decisions.  But that was not his purpose.

The purpose is more than that.  Think about what the speaker wants to gain (or maybe what the speaker wants NOT to lose).  Specifically, think about what the speaker wants from the audience.

He is delivering the apology, rationalizing his decisions, and scrambling to restore his shaken reputation to achieve that purpose.

He uses appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos to achieve that purpose.

He chooses specific words and phrases to manipulate the audience in specific ways to achieve that purpose.

So first, we need to determine what that purpose is.  Then, we can explain and analyze his strategies.  And finally, we can look at the outcome--the audience's response--to determine whether or not he was successful.  (That's generally where your research proved to be most useful.)  If he achieved his purpose, then no matter how ludicrous his strategies, how fallacious his reasoning, or how pathetic his approach, we have to admit that he was successful.  If he didn't, then he was unsuccessful.

So here's the question:  Do you believe that everything we write has a purpose?

Share your thoughts.

Colloquialisms

Here's a new discussion topic:

I have found that technology has changed the way we communicate in writing, and it has affected tone most obviously. I don't expect you to write like an astrophysicist (please don't), but we do want to keep an academic tone, not a colloquial one, in our academic essays. The tone of our essays should be different from the tone of our casual emails and text messages.

Generally, the most significant factors in regard to tone are pronouns (particularly second-person reference--you, your, yourself) and colloquialisms (vocabulary we'd use during a conversation over lunch with a friend).

It is difficult to recognize colloquial language, particularly slang and cliché phrases, because we use these words so often that they don't sound colloquial anymore. Here are some examples:

• lay it on the table 
• right off the bat 
• buy into it 
• in the long run 
• pull it over on them 
• a lot 
• screw up 
• plain and simple 
• get the point across 

But do you see how these phrases could easily be replaced with more academic vocabulary for a more elevated tone?

• be honest and forthright 
• immediately 
• agree with 
• ultimately 
• deliberately deceive or manipulate 
• often, several, many 
• err, make a mistake 
• simply 
• convince

These are just a few examples. I want you to think of more, and share them in this thread. Specifically, share one colloquial word or phrase (maybe use it in an example sentence), and then also give an alternative word choice to create a more elevated tone.

Criteria

An important part of developing an evaluative or critical essay is establishing clear criteria.  What are criteria, and why are they important in a critique or evaluation?

What are some other general types of evaluations that we read regularly?  Restaurant reviews?  Car comparisons?

Do you "do your homework" before making a purchase?  In other words, do you read critiques and evaluations on several similar products (digital cameras, for example) before you decide on the one you want?  Do you consider consumer feedback and reviews on products?  What helps you make this decision? 

How do established "criteria" work in your decision-making process?

Critiquing Essay Prompt

For this assignment, we are going to critique a speech based on its rhetorical strategies and fallacies.  Personally, I like apology speeches because they are full of elements to critique, so here are my three all-time favorites:

Jimmy Swaggart’s apology sermon of February 21, 1988

Richard Nixon’s resignation address of August 8, 1974

William J. Clinton’s prayer breakfast remarks of September 11, 1998

The transcripts of these speeches (linked here) are found in a wonderful online collection called American Rhetoric, which was created and is maintained by Dr. Michael Eidenmuller, a communications professor at UT Tyler.  There are hundreds of speeches in this database (www.americanrhetoric.com), and the transcripts are not copyrighted against our academic use, as far as I can tell.  If you would rather complete this critique assignment using a different speech, you may do so, as long as I approve it first.

1.   Remind yourself of the Aristotelian appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos from your logic, philosophy, and freshman English classes.  You could do a Google search for these terms and find lots of basic information on other instructor pages.  Here’s an example from a web-writing course at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York:  “The Art of Rhetoric.”  And here’s a great article by teacher/speaker Andrew Dlugan, found on his Six Minutes blog:  “Ethos, Pathos, Logos:  Three Pillars of Public Speaking.”  You can find many more articles like these online.

2.   Remind yourself of the common rhetorical fallacies, which you also probably learned in lower-division gen-ed classes.  A Google search for “rhetorical fallacies” or “logical fallacies” will yield pages of results, and some are more helpful than others.  Purdue University has a good one:  “Logical Fallacies.”  University of North Carolina does also:  “Fallacies.”

3.   Select one speech to critique.  You can choose one of the three I linked above, or you can select one of your own desire, as long as you get my approval first.

4.   Critique the speech, using the outline below:

I.         Introduction (1 to 2 paragraphs)

1.    Proper introduction of the speech and speaker

2.    Background information regarding the circumstances

a.   relevant biographical information about the speaker
(Please do not go back to the beginning of time)

b.   circumstances/controversies surrounding the speaker at the time of the speech

c.   speaker's purpose for giving this speech

(What does he want?)

d.   intended audience for the speech

      (Who is he talking to?)

II.        Summary (1 to 2 paragraphs)

1.    What did the speaker state directly?

2.    What did the speaker imply but not state directly?

III.       Analysis (the majority of your essay)

1.    Evaluation of the speech

a.    accuracy of the statements made and/or implied

b.    any fallacies you noted

c.    any bias you noted

2.    Evaluation of the effectiveness on the intended audience

a.    success of argumentative strategies chosen

b.    success of speaker in achieving his overall purpose

5.   Keep in mind that you need to incorporate two to four sources in this essay.  Those sources should not be handouts on fallacies and appeals.  Rather, they should be sources from your own research that contribute to your critique in some way.  Here are a few possibilities:

• Articles that offer biographical information about the speaker
• Articles that offer historical information about the circumstances surrounding the speech
• Articles that offer information about the accuracy of the statements made
• Articles that offer information about the outcome of the speech (whether or not the speech was ultimately effective in persuading the audience)

Remember . . .

Tertiary reference sources are not acceptable for our assignments.  This includes encyclopedias and dictionaries, as well as online versions like Wikipedia and WebMD.  This also includes other people’s Master’s thesis papers and dissertations.  Please avoid all of these types of sources.

Also remember to format your in-text citations and References/Works Cited page in either APA or MLA format, and use consistent formatting throughout.  Please let me know if you have any questions about sources or how to cite them.

Finally, remember to check this blog, read each other’s response posts and questions, and post your own responses and questions.  I will be checking and adding to the conversation randomly every week.

I hope you will have fun with this assignment.  Please contact me with any concerns.  Have a great week!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for our English 305 course.

I hope that you feel comfortable with this venue, and if you've never blogged before, I hope you'll jump in feet first and learn about it with me.

So what is the purpose of a blog in an English class? (I know you're wondering that.) Well, it's my desire that you will find this to be more inviting, more user-friendly, and even more visually appealing than the boring message boards we've traditionally used through WebCT and Blackboard. Because this is an online course, we won't have the live conversations that you're used to in face-to-face courses. So this, in my opinion, is the next best thing.

I will post the essay assignment prompts to this blog, so make sure that you read the prompts before you begin writing. I will also post a discussion question every week. For each posting, I want you to respond in some way with a post of your own: you can respond to my initial question or prompt, you can respond to other students' responses, or you can generate your own questions requesting response. You can also post parts of your essay so classmates can give you feedback. Essentially, you can ask and/or answer essay-related or research-related questions of any sort.

The only requirement is that your posts must be substantive and must keep the conversation flowing.

If you have any questions at any time, please let me know. Also, questions directed to me personally should be sent to me by email (English305@bak.rr.com). This blog is intended for you to interact more with your classmates than with me.

Please post a quick response to this Welcome note as soon as you have created your profile and logged in, so I will know that you are ready to go.

I'm looking forward to a great quarter!