Anger

People make appeals to their relationship with their parents all the time. People across the country understand this. For example, a lot of guys these days claim to be a 'momma's boy.' Yet, I have always truly been a daddy's girl. When I was 6 years old, my parents divorced. I rarely saw my dad, and the situation worsened when he was driving home from work early one morning and crashed into a drunk driver who had swerved onto his side of the road. The crash broke my dad's neck and my mom later told me that he "died" 3 times in the hospital. This may seem like an appeal to sympathy because I have probably written it that way, but my rhetorical appeal should be anger. I lost my dad in many ways when he and my mother decided to divorce, which was a choice between two adults. When I almost lost my dad because someone couldn't sleep in a car or call a friend or just not get in their car, I was angry. That was not my dad's choice. Two adults did not make that decision. The crash and divorce occurred around the same time, but I am still angry about the crash. I can't rhetorically write about it in order to sell the 'anger situation', but losing your father is definitely one in which people can relate.

A great article with strong ethos: West Virginia's promise was broken from the very start

I read a great article in the DA about the PROMISE scholarship. As a recipient, I care a lot about the PROMISE. However, I'm glad that I graduate this May because of the always-changing requirements and suggested caps.

The writer of this article, West Virginia's promise was broken from the very start, definitely knows how to develop ethos by providing facts, describing previous experiences, word size, and qualifiers.

First, word size, or rather specific financial words, such as "fiscally conservative" and subsidy" appeals to the reader. The writer shows that they do not underestimate the reader.

The writer next uses two techniques to show good sense: the facts throughout the article and the absence of qualifiers. The disadvantages are clear in this article. When the "cost of the PROMISE Scholarship Fund, which, by 2011, will purportedly grow to some $46,200,00" exceeds so much, the high number is astonishing. Also, although the scholarship is supposed to encourage residents to stay in state, "evidence shows that a whopping 97 percent of PROMISE graduates would have attended college without the subsidy, while 71 percent would have attended college in West Virginia." The author concludes by acknowledging "The stated purpose of the PROMISE is to be a “merit-based scholarship program designed to keep qualified students in West Virginia by making college affordable,”" although people who can afford college still receive the scholarship. Then, the absence of qualifiers creates a definite, these-are-the-facts type of ethos. Using statistics instead of qualifiers is a great way to appeal to a readers good sense. For example, instead of saying most PROMISE recipients would have attended college anyway, the writer uses the statistic 97% of scholars. The writer has clearly done their homework and provides solutions for the state although they are a direct beneficiary.

Finally, the writer can obviously relate to these PROMISE related issues because he or she is a recipient. I would not write about ways in which scholarship money can be better distributed when I am a recipient of that scholarship if I were not linked to a good cause.

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How do they convince you that they are intelligent and well informed?
Tactics for good character?
Goodwill towards readers?

ethos: attempts to persuade the audience through appeals to the rhetor's character.
good sense: knowledge about the subject; thought carefully about the issue
good will: relationship to the audience; don't talk over their heads
good morals: linked to a good cause.
Describe previous experiences with the topic
Provide relevant facts, data, testimony
1st, 2nd, 3rd person creates different distance
word size
qualifiers
voice

Questions about the ethnographic report

1. If you did not have a computer, how would your work day differ?

Most of the work he does involves a computer. Some examples are developing informational packets and building the website. Even communication is often technology based because e mail is the most dominant mean. This is important because part of my focus is technology and how its use is valuable to writers.

2. What is your educational background? What types of writing did you study in high school? College? What specific writing projects did you complete? Do you feel that these skills developed since you graduated school and worked in fields associated with writing?
3. Do you use any of the skills you learned from your academic career in your work today?

Establishing a base, or even a comparison to my education, is important. I want to know if skills that a writer learns during school carry on to the work place. Does an academic setting prepare writers for professional writing and editing or is the work place a better environment for developing skills?

Better to be Safe than Sorry

"According to Aristotle, maxims are general statements which deal with human actions that should be chosen or avoided" and "are generally accepted by the rhetorician's community." Maxims seem to be cliches that are based on common sense. I found an implied maxim in an article in the DA titled "Student Health takes measures to prevent meningitis." As everyone on campus knows, a WVU student recently died from meningitis and the entire student body and their parents are in an uproar. The article I read was published on March 3, the day she was hospitalized. It seems that the unversity took it seriously because Student Health distributed free vaccine pills, which normally cost $90, to 20 people whom she may have infected. The pills were free of charge.
The university claims it has exhaulted all means to prevent the spread of meningitis on campus. The article first explains its symptoms, then goes on to explain how all freshman students have been required to receive the vaccination since 2006. I transferred to WVU in 2006 and not only was not required to be vaccinated but was never advised about the risks of meningitis from university personnel.
Nice try on the university's part to downplay this tragedy. The article details the sickness of the female student, explains its symptoms, and professes it attempts to warn or vaccinate students. The pill was free to 20 people, but others should pay for the vaccination soon. After all, better safe than sorry.

Opinions: Fact or Political?

Look around you and listen. Where do you find people practicing rhetoric. Do people try to support these arguments with facts? Or do they use other means of cinvincing people to accept their arguments?

I've just left my Civil Liberties class on Monday night when I start blogging for Writing Theory. So, along the lines that presidents and members of Congress are good sources for rhetoric, I've been thinking about the way US Supreme Court Justices use rhetoric. Most people would think that the justices use fact to determine each case. When judges look to precedent, the details and outcome of cases decided before them, they do use fact. However, some justices pretend to judge cases based on fact but really base their opinions on politics.

A reoccuring tool my political science class and I have studied in the past few weeks is the creation of a test to determine if a particular case meets an established standard. For example, when talking about free speech, Justice Powell created the substantial interest test that determines if the issues at hand dealt with the first amendment, related to substantial government interest, and advanced these interests. Justice Rehnquist uses the test to reject a policy and then one year later uses the test to uphold a policy. The relevant question asks how rhetoric is being used. Can justices use fact to reject and uphold cases or do Supreme Court decisions mirror Crowley and Hawhee's explanation that opinions can no longer be held as fact?

Interview Abilities

Zach's description of our interview is very accurate. I noticed that he used a lot of quotes,which could mean one of two things. He was either very interested in what I had to say and felt that he must quote me or he was very proud of himself for making correct assumptions. Learning to ask the right questions can be a great skill.

I have several strengths and weaknesses as an interviewer. First, I was correct in assuming that Zach uses his bookbag to carry his books to class and for other trips. I was also correct in noticing the brand. Timberland's products are usually expensive and durable. Zach has carried this bookbag since the 9th grade. Finally, I have a strength in asking every question I could think of. Asking a lot of relevant questions provides you with a lot of answers. Doing this will help you piece together information even when there isn't much significance in the pieces.

I failed to think of the standard bookbag. If I had inititally done so, I would've noticed the missing handle, which surely would've been a sign that this bookbag is different. My assumption that he had purchased the bookbag from a store interefered with my ability to predict other aspects. For example, because I own one bookbag, I assumed this is the only one Zach owns also. In fact, he owns several. Because he loses the others and keeps this one would suggest that he likes this one because it has lasted the longest. I had also expected the bag to be sentimental to him because it belonged to his brother who left for the Navy. I would've felt some sentimental connection to such an object. When my brother left for the Army and was in Iraq for a year and a half, everything that he owned was senitmental to me. My experience prevented me from seeing the practical reasons of keeping this bookbag.

I should definitely change a few things the next time I interview someone about an artifact. First I should think objectively about the object and think of the stadnard for that object. Doing so would provide a basis for comparison. And second I should ignore my assumptions. Associating my feeelings with another person's object prevents me from seeing the association between the object and its owner.

Zack's Bookbag

Choosing a classmate's artifact was challenging because most students don't carry around objects with culturally significant backgrounds and complicated uses. So when I first looked at Zack's bookbag I thought it looked like any other bag that students carry around campus. And I was right, but there's something to be said about the objects we use and why we use them.

My first impression revealled a few details about this ordinary bookbag. Zack's typically sized bookbag is black and grey with red trim. It has a lot of straps and at least three pockets so he must like to be organized. The straps are torn from what must be years of use. I also inferred the bookbag's long use because of the Timberland brand which usually isn't cheap.

I immediately made a few basic assumptions. I assumed that he bought it at a store so he could more easily carry his books as he goes to class and maybe to use when he takes a trip or other activities. Bookbags must seem appropriate to Zack and his means of travelling to and from class. I don't like bookbags because I have to walk a lot to and from campus and it makes my back hot. I carry a bag on my shoulder instead. However, Zack might drive to class or maybe bookbags don't affect his travel to. Also because of its wear and tear I assumed that he uses the bookbag for other activities. In fact, he does carry it on trips (to Germany) and to the shooting range. Finally, I guessed that he had carried the bookbag for a long time; otherwise it would look new.

When Zack told me his bookbag once belonged to his brother who had left for the Navy, I assumed it had sentimental value. This is not really the case. There are several other practical reasons he chooses this bag. First you should know that Zack owns several bookbags. He apparently forgets them at various places, such as his home. So when Zack couldn't find one of his unnumbered quantity of bookbags, he stole his brother's. The torn straps and missing handle were actions of his brother and the bag has remained in the exact same condition since his junior year of high school. The bag is only important because it has carried his books, pens, cough drops, and whatever else for so long. Zack even purchased a new bookbag, but his old one already houses his things and he doesn't want to switch.

If you own a newer version of an object, why would you use the older one? The answer could be the association of the older version to a part in a person's life. The ordinary bookbag I first noticed is a one-of-a-kind bookbag (figuratively) to Zack because it is the one he doesn't lose and it doesn't fall apart. It could also literally be one-of-a-kind because I looked up Timberland bookbags online and did not find Zack's bookbag listed. Maybe its not important that his brother owned it or that it probably costed between $40 and $180 (this was the range on the Timberland website), but the fact that he will carry this bag throughout his college career and whatever else.