Day22: Understanding Rhetorical Situations

Objectives: We will be able to...

• Recognize what constitutes rhetorical situations and how the elements interact with each other in communication.
• Analyze the rhetorical situation of a text in terms of author, audience, purpose, text, and context.
• Understand the guidelines of rhetorical analysis assignment and its objectives.

Warm-up: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Situations
Introduce the concept of rhetoric and rhetorical situation.

List 2 or 3 different kinds of writing that you have written (private/public, formal/casual, long/short, complete/incomplete) recently on different devices (paper, laptop, cell phone, sticky notes, etc.)

Look at three pieces of my writing and discuss the following questions:

1) What kinds of differences did you notice in terms of language (and formatting)?
2) Why do you think there are such differences? 

Components of Rhetorical Situations - Rhetorical Triangle 
Understand the rhetorical triangle.

It is important to note that there is a "bi-directional" interaction among author, audience, purpose, text, and context (e.g. the author not only influences the audience with his/her writing, but the writing is also influenced by how the author thinks the audience will understand/accept the message better). 

Let's look at The Rhetorical Situation PPT by Purdue OWL (2000) to better understand each component of the rhetorical triangle (writer, purpose, audience, topic, context) in detail. 

Analysis of Rhetorical Situations
Take a look at Eunice's Writing Samples.
Use Analysis of Rhetorical Situations Worksheet. Fill out the analysis chart on the worksheet based on 2-3 pieces of writings. You can ask these following questions below:

• Who is the author? (What is your position as an author?)
• Who is your audience/reader for these different kinds of writing? In other words, to whom or for whom are you writing? What was your relationship to that person?
• What is your purpose? What did you hope to achieve?
• What is the topic of your writing?
• What is the context of your writing? What was the situation that generated the need for writing (e.g., time, location, current events, social customs, etc.)?

Homework due NEXT CLASS
1. Read and Analyze. 
Read the article: Why the School Day Should Start Later for Teenagers.
Annotate as you read it.
Complete the Analysis of Rhetorical Situations Chart for the article.
Bring it to the next class.

Homework due Oct. 17th, Thursday, 11:59PM
2. Writing a Reflection Paragraph

Writing Prompts for Avoiding Plagiarism

Task: You will think critically about your writing experience in completing the Paragraph Portfolio Project.  You will ask yourself the following questions: 

• Compare and contrast the previous knowledge and current knowledge about avoiding plagiarism.
• What experiences were most meaningful or influential in your writing and why?
• What was the most challenging part and why? Is there anything still unclear or difficult for you?
• As a result of learning, how can you apply what you have learned to your future writing?

Formatting Requirements: This is at least one paragraph of around 300 words.  It should be typed in Font Times New Roman, size 12, and double-spaced. Name the file "Reflection_YOURNAME" and save it to the Unit2 subfolder in Google Drive. 

Source Requirements: You are not required to use any source material, but you may reference any of your writing or your instructor’s feedback. Plagiarism Disclaimer: Plagiarism is unacceptable.  Any essay that contains plagiarism, even if unintentional, will lose many points and likely result in a conference with the instructor over the ramifications of the plagiarism.

Grading Rubric

Homework due Oct. 20th, Sunday, 11:59PM

NOTE: Please use the template for Paragraph Portfolio 

Name the file "Unit2_Paragraph_Portfoilo_YOURNAME" and save it to your Unit2 subfolder of Google Drive.

3. Please READ my comments in your folder. 

    Complete the final versions of
              1) Compare/Contrast
              2) Cause&Effect
              3) Process

• Please include at least ONE strong version of paraphrase in each paragraph using the information from reading articles. 
• Do not forget to use APA In-text citation.