What Is Rhetoric? Writing Handout Series Rhetorical Concepts

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

What Is Rhetoric? Writing Handout Series Rhetorical Concepts The Learning Hub What is Rhetoric? Writing Handout Series Rhetorical Concepts In today’s media, we often hear terms like “divisive rhetoric” or “bad rhetoric,” which often gives a negative perception of rhetoric even if someone may not understand what it exactly is. At its core, it’s a term that has its roots dating back to ancient Greece. Back then, they focused on persuasion techniques and speech rather than written text. Now, rhetoric encompasses not only speeches and written works, but also visual rhetorics such as images and film. To this day, scholars are still debating the definition of rhetoric and everything it incorporates. Below is The Learning Hub’s working definition of rhetoric, which explains how it can improve your writing and also the world around you. What is Rhetoric: A Working Definition • Rhetoric is the way in which you communicate in The Rhetorical Situation everyday life. These communications can be persuasive in nature and can be made of text, images, video, or any other type of media. • Rhetoric requires an understanding and control of language and knowledge of culture, the rhetorical situation (pictured on the right, which includes the purpose, audience, topic, writer, and context), genre, and other aspects to achieve an intended purpose. In many cases, rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) can also contribute to this intended purpose. Why is Rhetoric Important? • Since everyone can use rhetoric, an awareness of its prevalence can be empowering and can help you become a more critical consumer and creator. • It helps you as a writer and reader understand the different and interrelated influences surrounding your writing and how it will be received and interpreted. • Rhetoric gives you a framework to think critically about your writing and reading choices. • Knowing how to use the tools of rhetoric can improve your communication and can help more people to agree with your perspective. • Rhetoric is a careful way of channeling your creative energies and incorporating written/visual/audio compositions to create, affirm, and improve the world around us. On the next page, we will look at a tweet to demonstrate how these features can be rhetorically analyzed. When conducting a rhetorical analysis, generally writers are asked to examine how a particular message is conveyed. This means looking at different aspects or parts of the media to determine the intended effect on the audience. Last Edited: 7/12/2017 [email protected] | (217) 206-6503 By: AA BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub #thehub Analyzing a Tweet from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Twitter Page TONE AND AUDIENCE The term “SanFranHam” speaks to ADDITIONAL RESOURCES the more casual nature of Twitter The link to the YouTube and is directly addressing an video allows viewers to audience familiar with the Hamilton learn more about the musical’s updates and shows. contest while still adhering to the 140 character limit. PURPOSE When Miranda talks about seeing Hamilton with his parents, he is building a more personal relationship with his followers as he invites them to join his family. Literally. COMPOSITION The center framing and natural lighting puts all focus PURPOSE WARDROBE CHOICES on him, and his casual, easy half-smile is welcoming and “Did you miss me?!” Expresses Miranda’s Hamilton shirt a bit goofy, which appeals to enthusiasm, but also hints that if is a purposeful choice to an audience interested in Miranda is followed on these platforms, advertise the show in learning more about him. more contest opportunities may addition to the contest. become available since this is not the first time a contest has been offered. Rhetoric is everywhere and is a way to enact change in your world; however, it takes practice to recognize and use rhetoric. Check out our linked resources to learn more about using rhetoric as a tool in your everyday life. Remember—rhetoric can be a catalyst for change in your world and the lives of people in it, but it is up to you whether or not to harness this power. Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Win tickets to see SanFranHam opening night with my parents. They are fun…” Twitter, 2 Mar. 2017, twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/ status/837363185518854145. Last Edited: 7/12/2017 [email protected] | (217) 206-6503 By: AA, SC BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub #thehub .
Recommended publications
  • Historians of Technology in the Real World: Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History
    Historians of Technology in the Real World: Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History Richard F. Hirsh Technology and Culture, Volume 52, Number 1, January 2011, pp. 6-20 (Article) Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/tech.2011.0039 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tech/summary/v052/52.1.hirsh.html Access provided by Virginia Polytechnic Inst. __ACCESS_STATEMENT__ St.University __ACCESS_STATEMENT__ (Viva) (6 Feb 2014 13:11 GMT) 02_52.1hirsh 6–20:03_49.3dobraszczyk 568– 1/22/11 7:49 AM Page 6 Historians of Technology in the Real World Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History RICHARDF.HIRSH Nearly all historians writing about their craft begin by explaining the value of studying the past. According to the authors of a popular primer, history represents a collective memory that provides an awareness of past events, helping us shape our present and future.1 History has great practical signif- icance, notes another academic, because “intelligent action” draws on past experience.2 As a consequence of the way pedagogues extol the relevance of their work, many high-school students can paraphrase Santayana’s dictum that “[t]hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”3 Despite widespread acceptance of the notion that history provides tan- gible benefits, historians usually remain reluctant to apply “lessons” to real- world situations, especially in the realms of public and business policy. Eager to be viewed as unbiased, dispassionate observers of events, most aca- demic historians seem happy to write primarily for their peers.
    [Show full text]
  • Everyday Life Information Seeking
    Everyday Life Information Seeking Reijo Savolainen Department of Information Studies and Interactive Media, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland Folksonomies Ethiopia– Abstract Information seeking may be analyzed in two major contexts: job-related and nonwork. The present entry concentrates on nonwork information seeking, more properly called everyday life information seeking (ELIS). Typically, ELIS studies discuss the ways in which people access and use various information sources to meet information needs in areas such as health, consumption, and leisure. The entry specifies the concept of ELIS and characterizes the major ELIS models. They include the Sense-Making approach (Dervin), the Small world theory (Chatman), the ecological model of ELIS (Williamson), ELIS in the context of way of life (Savolainen), the model of information practices (McKenzie), and the concept of information grounds (Fisher). ELIS practices tend to draw on the habitualized use of a limited number of sources which have been found useful in previous use contexts. Since the late 1990s, the Internet has increasingly affected the ELIS practices by providing easily accessible sources. Even though the popularity of the networked sources has grown rapidly they will complement, rather than replace, more traditional sources and channels. INTRODUCTION THE CONCEPT OF ELIS Information seeking is a major constituent of information Thus far, a rich variety of themes have been explored in behavior or information practices, that is, the entirety of ELIS studies. They have focused on people belonging to ways in which people seek, use, and share information in diverse groups such as the following: different contexts.[1,2] Information seeking may be ana- lyzed in two major contexts: job-related and nonwork.
    [Show full text]
  • Reality IT Technology & Everyday Life
    ISOCIETY JULY02 JAMES CRABTREE, MAX NATHAN & RICHARD REEVES Reality IT Technology & Everyday Life 0.0 REALITY IT – TECHNOLOGY & EVERYDAY LIFE Contents CHAPTER 1 // pgs 1-9 Introduction – Pulling Power Pragmatic Evolution CHAPTER 2 // pgs 10-13 Ask the Audience – Research Approach Stage 1: Technological Diaries – Tracking Everyday Life Stage 2: Focus Groups – Examining Technology on Everyday Life Stage 3: Quantifying Technology in Everyday Life Stage 4: Statistical Analysis – Clustering Attitudes to ICT CHAPTER 3 // pgs 14-19 Who’s Afraid of ICT? Fun, Function and Fear Fun: Toys Are Us Function: Utility Players Fear: And Sometimes Loathing CHAPTER 4 // pgs 20-30 Enthusiasts, Quiet Pragmatists Confidence and Ownership and Aversives Cluster Tendencies Enthusiasts Quiet Pragmatists Aversives CHAPTER 5 // pgs 31-43 Majority Pursuits – PCs A PC-owning Democracy To Buy or Not to Buy? Type, Browse, Mail Dial Up for Data - Home Internet Use Time Online E-mail -Unloved but in Demand CHAPTER 6 // pgs 44-55 Mobiles and Middle England Buying Mobile Phones ‘I’m on the train’ – Mobile Phones and Social Networks Frequently Dialled Numbers Text Messages – The Joy of Text Messages and Mates CHAPTER 7 // pgs 56-59 Kicks and Flicks - Digital Television (DTV) DTV Domiciles Deciding on Digital Purchasing Passivity Peter Runge House CHAPTER 8 // pgs 60-63 3 Carlton House Terrace, Conclusion – The Invention London SW1Y 5DG of Convention t. +44 0 20 7479 1000 Endnotes f. +44 0 20 7479 1111 www.theworkfoundation.com ISOCIETY JULY02 REALITY IT – TECHNOLOGY & EVERYDAY LIFE 1 CHAPTER 1/ PULLING POWER Chapter 1 Introduction – Pulling Power The peculiarity of what is close-to-hand is that, in its handiness, it must, as it were, MARTIN HEIDEGGER1 withdraw in order to be handy...That with which we have our everyday dealings are not the tools themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • The Significance of Religion and Spirituality In
    Sociology of Religion Advance Access published July 25, 2014 Sociology of Religion 2014, 0:0 1-13 doi:10.1093/socrel/sru043 “Hidden in Plain Sight”: The Significance of Religion and Spirituality in Secular Organizations Wendy Cadge* Brandeis University 1 Mary Ellen Konieczny Downloaded from University of Notre Dame Through examples from our own research and that of others, we argue that there is much to learn http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/ about religion through the study of its presence in secular organizations where it is “hidden in plain sight.” Making “invisible religion” visible furthers arguments about why sociologists should care about religion and shows how religion can be conceptualized to help us understand religious history, social change, and social processes. Additionally, we show that better understanding how individuals piece together a bricolage of meanings, including those forged from religious beliefs and practices, will come only from also paying attention to the social contexts—many of them secular—that contribute to shaping individual lives. We conclude by suggesting that sociologists of religion model how sociologists of gender and race have conceived of gender and race at individual and structural levels in ways that integrate their concerns more thoroughly with the discipline of sociology. by guest on July 30, 2014 Key words: organizations; healthcare; chaplains. At the 2013 American Sociological Association Annual meeting, the two of us met to have a discussion beginning with the question: how do sociologists ap- proach and conceive of religion outside of what are usually thought of as its most common locations, such as in congregations, other religious organizations, and social movements? We immediately thought of recent groundbreaking research that focuses on examining individuals’ religious and/or spiritually oriented prac- tices and narratives in various facets of everyday life (Ammerman 2014; Bender 2010; McGuire 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Advocacy for an Everyday Life Disclaimer
    Advocacy for an Everyday Life Presented by: KEPRO SW PA Health Care Quality Unit (KEPRO HCQU) December 2017 eh Disclaimer Information or education provided by the HCQU is not intended to replace medical advice from the individual’s personal care physician, existing facility policy, or federal, state, and local regulations/codes within the agency jurisdiction. The information provided is not all inclusive of the topic presented. Certificates for training hours will only be awarded to those attending the training in its entirety. Attendees are responsible for submitting paperwork to their respective agencies. 2 1 Objectives • Discuss the importance of promoting equal treatment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) • State ways for caregivers to practice advocacy for persons with I/DD in all interactions • Recall ways that caregivers can help an individual to make choices and enjoy an “Everyday Life” 3 What is Advocacy? The act or process of supporting a cause; pleading in favor of something (American Heritage Dictionary, 2011) 4 2 The Need for Advocacy for People with I/DD • Historical treatment of people with I/DD • Stigma associated with having a disability • Disparities between people without disabilities and those with a disability 5 Results of Advocacy • Protection of the individual’s civil and constitutional rights • Improved services to meet individual preferences and desires 6 3 Results of Advocacy – continued • Full access to and participation in community life • Recognition of people with I/DD as valued and contributing members of society 7 Tools to Promote Advocacy • Self‐Determination • Positive Approaches • Everyday Lives • Laws • People First Language • Education 8 4 Self‐Determination • Freedom • Authority • Responsibility • Support (Self‐Advocacy Association of NY State, n.d.) 9 Everyday Lives • Choice • Freedom • Control • Success • Quality • Contributing to the Community • Stability • Accountability • Safety • Mentoring • Individuality • Collaboration • Relationships (PA Dept.
    [Show full text]
  • Technology in Everyday Life: Conceptual Queries Joerges, Bernward
    www.ssoar.info Technology in everyday life: conceptual queries Joerges, Bernward Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Joerges, B. (1988). Technology in everyday life: conceptual queries. Journal for the theory of social behaviour, 18(2), 219-237. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-54762-2 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY Lizenz (Namensnennung) zur This document is made available under a CC BY Licence Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden (Attribution). For more Information see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/deed.de Journal for the Theory of Social Bchauiour 18:2June 1988 0021-8308 $2.50 Technology in Everyday Life: Conceptual Queries BERNWARD JOERGES AN ISSUE AND A THESIS According to Norman Macrae, an editor of The Economist, the world had produced, in the 40 years since World War 11, seven times more goods than throughout all history.’ This is well appreciated by lay people, but has hardly affected social scientists: they do not have the conceptual apparatus for understanding accelerated material-technical change and its meaning for people’s personal lives, for their ways of relating to them- selves and to the outside world. Of course, a great deal of speculation about emerging life forms in industrialised societies exists. And social scientists with a futuristic bend have projected their diverse visions upon public debates, ranging from the Efficient Hedonism of “post-industrialist” society i la D.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief Analysis of Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and Second Life
    A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE AND SECOND LIFE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY NİL MİT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY JANUARY 2014 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Saktanber Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assist. Prof. Dr. Fatma Umut Beşpınar (METU, SOC) Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal (METU, SOC) Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağrı Topal (METU, BA) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Signature : iii ABSTRACT A Brief Analysis of Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and Second Life Nil Mit M.Sc., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal JANUARY, 2014, 126 pages As a result of the rapid advancement of internet today, millions of people are spending a considerable amount of time in virtual environments created via computer technologies.
    [Show full text]
  • City-Region Planning for Everyday Life Experiences from Four Nordic City-Regions
    NORDREGIO POLICY BRIEF 2015:7 • PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2015 PHOTO: NORDEN.ORG/YADID LEVY & KAREN BEATE NØSTERUD City-region planning for everyday life Experiences from four Nordic city-regions Whether cities can provide a high quality of life for their inhabitants is an increasingly pressing question, especially in the light of rapid urbanization and climate change. However, recent research from four Nordic city-regions —which include Malmö, Stavanger, Aalborg and Tampere, and the areas around them—shows that detailed knowledge about inhabitants—permanent, temporary, new, multi-generational, or otherwise—in every part and subset of the city-region is lacking in spatial planning. If knowledge about the lives of those living in the city-regions is insufficient, then, how can specific spatial structures for a city-region be proposed as responses to different sustainability chal- lenges? As a response, this policy brief proposes that, city-region planners should adopt Everyday Life Theory, (1) to influence everyday life practices in support of city-region sustainability; and (2) to better connect spatial structure/ urban form with existing sustainability challenges. By adopting Everyday Life Theory, we mean that planning should be based on empirical knowledge about the needs and experiences of different groups of people in relation to four different dimensions: employment, housing provision, mobility and social reproduction. There is an ongoing debate about the body of literature, including feminist propose, in a recently finished re- role of the compact city, and more literature, criticises the prominent search project1, that spatial plan- generally densification, in achiev- role of the compact city concept in the ning should be centred around ing sustainability.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender, Urban Space, and the Right to Everyday Life
    Journal of Urban Affairs ISSN: 0735-2166 (Print) 1467-9906 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujua20 Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life Yasminah Beebeejaun To cite this article: Yasminah Beebeejaun (2016): Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life, Journal of Urban Affairs To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2016.1255526 Published with license by Taylor & Francis.© Yasminah Beebeejaun Published online: 23 Dec 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1062 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ujua20 Download by: [UCL Library Services] Date: 21 February 2017, At: 07:49 JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2016.1255526 Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life Yasminah Beebeejaun Bartlett School of Planning ABSTRACT Gender remains a neglected focus for theory and practice in shaping cities. Given women’s continuing economic and social marginalization and the prevalence of violence against women, how can this be the case? Despite several decades of feminist scholarship, dominant perspectives within the “the right to the city” literature pay little attention to how “rights” are gendered. In contrast, feminist and queer scholarship concerned with everyday life and the multiple spatial tactics of marginalized city dwellers reveal a more complex urban arena in which rights are negotiated or practiced. This article suggests that a fuller recognition of the contested publics that coexist within the contemporary city and the gendered media- tion of everyday experiences could enable planners and policy makers to undertake more inclusive forms of intervention in urban space.
    [Show full text]
  • Power, Politics and Everyday Life: the Local Rationalities of Social
    Power, politics and everyday life: the local rationalities of social movement milieux Introduction: the cultural roots of political conflicti Everyday language readily identifies social movement activity - campaigning, protesting, holding meetings, issuing statements - as "politics"; perhaps not in the sense of parties and parliaments, but politics none the less. Much academic literature shares this view of social movements as "politics by other means", from resource mobilisation and political opportunity structure approaches to analyses of social movements as expressions of economic interests (for an overview, see Diani 1992a). It is interesting, then, that precisely in continental Europe, where contemporary social movements have arguably made the greatest impact on the party system and engaged in the sharpest confrontations with the state, theorists have tended more and more to stress the cultural aspects of social movements. One theme sees movements as rooted in specific sociocultural milieux: largescale, ñlifestyleî responses to structured experience of inequality, with differing issues and priorities (Vester et al. 1993, Hradil 1987); and local ñmovement milieuxî within these, and the shifts in class habiti that can be identified between generations here (MÙller 1990). Another approach identifies a shared culture as a structural element of social movement activity: as an identity enabling the networks between organisations, groups and individuals that make up a movement (Diani 1992a, 1992b); or as ñcognitive praxisî combining worldview, issue-specific knowledge and modes of organisation (Eyerman and Jamison 1991). Thirdly, social movements can be analysed as cultural challenges: movements may struggle to control the cultural definition of ñhistoricityî, societal self-production (Touraine 1981, 1 1985); their structural form may itself be a symbolic message to the wider society (Melucci 1985, 1989, 1992); or there may be a division between ñpoliticalî and ñculturalî movement strategies (Raschke 1985).
    [Show full text]
  • Culture and Everyday Life
    CULTURE AND EVERYDAY LIFE How should we understand what we do in everyday life? In what ways are our everyday habits and routines shaped by culture? What is ‘culture’ and how does it impact on everything we think and do? If we want to understand how people in different parts of the globe think, feel, value, act and express themselves, we have to examine the cultures that they create and are in turn created by. This lively and accessible new book reconsiders the different views as to what culture is, how it operates and how it relates to other aspects of the human (and non- human) world. Key areas covered include: • Culture and nature • High culture versus popular culture • Modern and post-modern culture • Globalization and culture The book discusses many of the major thinkers on culture, from Matthew Arnold to Bakhtin and Bourdieu. Theoretical arguments are illustrated with everyday examples from sport, art and the mass media, to car culture and global cuisine, making this a highly informative guide to the sociology of culture that will be indispensable reading for students of sociology and cultural studies. David Inglis is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Aberdeen. He writes in the areas of the sociology of culture and social theory. He has authored numerous books and articles in these areas, including Confronting Culture: Sociological Vistas (Polity, 2003, with John Hughson), and he is editor of The Sociology of Art (Palgrave, 2005). THE NEW SOCIOLOGY SERIES EDITOR: ANTHONY ELLIOTT, UNIVERSITY OF KENT, UK The New Sociology is a book series designed to introduce students to new issues and themes in social sciences today.
    [Show full text]
  • Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Can Experience Traumatic Stress a Fact Sheet for Parents and Caregivers
    Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Can Experience Traumatic Stress A Fact Sheet for Parents and Caregivers The Intersection of IDD, Trauma, and Mental Wellness Studies1 indicate that children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience trauma and stressful circumstances or events at higher rates than children without these disabilities. For caregivers, including parents, family members, and others who support children with IDD, awareness of the impact of trauma on their children’s mental health and wellness can greatly improve a child’s opportunities for recovery from a traumatic or stressful experience. This fact sheet is designed to provide an overview of IDD and trauma and to: Help caregivers understand issues related to trauma and its impact on children with IDD and their families. Provide caregivers with information and resources that can help them improve the well-being of children with IDD who have experienced trauma. Help caregivers know the questions they should ask about traumatic stress and the treatments, services, and sup- ports to expect for children and families. Promote awareness of the need to address the mental health and wellness of children with IDD. With this guidance, we hope that caregivers will be able to better access services and advocate for their child. This project was funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), US Department of Health and Human 1 Services (HHS). The views, policies, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS. 1 What Are Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities? Intellectual and developmental disabilities is an umbrella term that refers to intellectu- al disabilities and also other disabilities that are apparent during childhood.
    [Show full text]