About This Course

This on-line writing and research course was taught in the Summer of 2008. For an overview of this course’s shared inquiry, informal and formal assignments, assessment methods, and course policies, please peruse the course syllabus and unit schedules. This course blog was used primarily as a discussion platform; please visit forum discussions and various posts on front page for a peek into class discussions. Via the Blog Roll, you can also explore students’ individual blogs, which functioned as their research portfolios.

Response to Postings from Forum Question #3

Hi all. I am so impressed by the passionate, sincere, concerning, and discerning observations made about this film in all of your responses to WHY WE FIGHT. I would have like to be in a traditional classroom so that we could have held this discussion in person. I hope all of you will read over each others’ comments and continue this conversation, as you all raise very provocative questions worth thinking much more about.

I want to begin my own response to your comments by reiterating the point that Peter made in that this film is rhetorically engineered. It is so persuasive because of the strong and effective rhetorical strategies the editors and director made in creating this documentary.  It is worth watching a second time just to see what rhetorical choices were made to pull this documentary off.  It’s rhetorically savvy, to say the least.

With that sad, I want to point out again how such a simple question, “Why Do We Fight?,” can generate such an interesting line of inquiry, research, and argument. Think of this documentary as a model for the Sustained Researched Argument you will write in Unit 2. As this film demonstrates, the question you begin your research with can be very simple if it is one that forces deep research, convoluted speculations, a complex array of diverse opinions, and no one answer. The best lines of inquiry that can be generated to research about are ones that ask why or to what effect or how rather than one that generates a yes or no question. A good research question is one that demands you research what others say and then stimulates you to come up with your own informed speculation. Keep this point in mind as you generate inquiries at end of Unit 1 formal essay, which you plan to explore in Unit 2.

The main question I walked away from watching this film with, and it is a question raised by some of you, is: “Why Don’t We Fight?”…for what we believe to be true? for what we want as a country? as a democracy? The implication here is that we have become a rather apathetic society, but I feel that implication is warranted. A student last semester compared the protests to Vietnam War to the protests to Iraq War and speculated why there hasn’t been much protest by the American public against the Iraq War as there was against Vietnam and why not much effect has resulted from the protests that have occurred. I think we really have to starting asking ourselves a.)  is our democracy really waning?  b.) did we ever really have a democracy?  c.) if we really believe our democracy is waning, why is that? Who is to blame? The government or Ourselves?????  Or other reasons?  What are those reasons?

And how does education play a factor in what seems to be a waning democracy, if that is the case? What does critical research have to do with all of this? What does rhetoric have to do with all of this?

Another line of thinking that erupted for me in watching this film is: Who are we as a country??? That is a simple question that Michael Moore (I know I am really showing my liberal side here. Hah!) brought up in SICKO when he was pointing to the lack of health care our nation provides our citizens. I think the question is just as applicable here. Who are we as a nation? Who do we want to be? And how can we manifest that reality?

Lastly, I want you all to think about the design of this course. How is the curriculum rhetorical? What is the rhetorical purpose of this course? What message am I trying to get ya’ll to realize? What strategies have I used thus far to persuade you to consider that message? This last line of thinking is important to think about as we enter Unit 2.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how this conversation continues…

Forum Question #4

As a model for this assignment, trace the moves the writer makes in performing his formal rhetorical analysis.  To trace the moves, print out the essay and identify what the writer does in each paragraph.  For instance, in paragraph 1, the writer introduces the topic of advertising with logos to the reader and narrows down to the specific topic of his essay:   Blackwater’s alteration of their logo to enhance their image in public mind.  In paragraph 2, the writer explains who Blackwater is, describes its old logo, and illustrates why it was made in mind to achieve certain rhetorical goals for its audience.  Tracing what writer does will help you figure out how to create and organize your own formal rhetorical analysis.

After you have traced rhetorical moves, then pay strict attention to how research is used in this essay to deepen the rhetorical analysis of Blackwater’s logo.  How does the writer of “Blackwater:  American Demon or Hero?” use research in his essay to enrich his analysis?  Give specific examples of how he uses research?Answer these questions on your group’s page and articulate what you find strong and weak about this essay.  Thanks.    

General Feedback to Freewrite #3

Hi all. 

 I hope you will carefully read over the following feedback that I offer in addition to the individual feedback I gave you on freewrite #3 (See MY GRADES for that feedback.) The following information can be considered the words I might say in a traditional classroom on the day we analyze the Turnley photo essay and thus are important to understanding how to perform a strong rhetorical analysis.  Please post questions below, as we can all learn from questions.  Thanks.

Role of research in Rhetorical Analysis:

1.  Helps identify audience and what author/designer assumes their values, beliefs, biases might be.  Audience best identified by where artifact is published.

2.  Helps identify author/designer what his or her values, beliefs, biases might be based on past research and projects.

3.  Helps identify relevant contextual issues occurring in time and space in which essay was published and consumed.  

4.  Grounds analysis in research rather than simply your own opinions, beliefs, and values.  Grounds analysis in research rather than just textual evidence as well.   IMPORTANT:  Grounds purpose of visual artifact in social, cultural, political, or economic context.  Provides evidence as to what purpose is, which prevents interpretation from being solely grounded in your own hunches..  

5.  Creates ethical appeal in your own argument.  Establishes credibility of you as writer.  Doing your homework; speaking from informed position earns trust of your own reader.

6.  Provides evidence for your own claims in your rhetorical analysis.

7.  Deepens your own analysis.  Pushes your own thinking and analyses.

8.  Explains exigency as to why artifact was published at time it was; Explains what artifact might have been responding to in terms of what was happening in certain time and place.  

9.  Acts as emotional or logical appeal in your own argument.  

10.  Satisfies criteria of assignments in this course. 

Rhetorical Analysis is Persuasion

When writing a rhetorical analysis, you are trying to persuade your own audience to consider your own interpretation of a certain artifact. You are making claims as to 1.) what the main message and purpose of the visual artifact are; 2.) whether or not the designer/author succeeds in achieving his or her rhetorical goal; what the most effective or ineffective rhetorical strategies are that operate in visual artifact in attempt to achieve rhetorical purpose.  Your goal is to persuade your reader to consider your point of view.  

Recommendations:

Read over formal rhetorical analysis assignment and sample rhetorical analysis posted on Blackboard now rather than later to get an idea of what rhetorical analysis entails.  Formal rhetorical analysis assignment is located in ASSIGNMENTS, UNIT 1 FOLDER.  Sample rhetorical analysis if located in DOCUMENTS, UNIT 1 FOLDER.  

Get used to researching….

Play and take risks with your analysis.  Push your own thinking on the page.

Get comfortable using discourse from readings.

Practice eksphrasis.

Realize that rhetorical analysis is a form of primary research.  You will employ this form of primary research in writing your sustained research argument in Unit 2.  

More general feedback to come…

 

 

 

General Feedback on Freewrite #2

Hi all. 

 

I hope you will carefully read over the following feedback that I offer in addition to the individual feedback I gave you on freewrite #2 (See MY GRADES for that feedback.) The following information can be considered the words I might say in a traditional classroom on the day we analyze the Army Strong ad and thus are important to understanding how to perform a strong rhetorical analysis.  Please post questions below, as we can all learn from questions.  Thanks.

 

1.  Context:  I think many of you misinterpreted what the question on historical context in the Checklist was asking.  The question is:  In what country and at what historical moment was the advertisement produced?  How do the demands of context shape the persuasive appeals at work in the ad?  How does the ad reflect, comment on, challenge, or reinforce contemporary political, economic, or gender ideology?  How does this commentary situate it in terms of a large trend or argument?

 

Identifying what is going on politically, socially, culturally, and/or historically at the time any visual text is produced (and consumed if different) is important for understanding why the visual text was constructed the way it was.  For instance, in his freewrite, Richard wrote:

 

According to Representative Charles Rangel, “A disproportionate number of the poor and members of minority groups make up the enlisted ranks of the military, while most priv­ileged Americans are underrepresented or absent” (Rangle, 2008). If this was in fact the Army’s target audience, I believe they did a fine job creating a commercial that would appeal to this demographic.

 

Knowing that the Army typically recruits underprivileged U.S. Americans helps to explain who this ad might be targeting and why the ad was determined to emphasize strengths, attributes, experiences, and skills that will be gained in Army yet provide a more successful civilian life as well.

 

Also, as Lisa (and a few others) noted in her freewrite, the ad excluded realities of war.  Lisa cited a statistic, which stated how many injured and deaths have occurred since war began; she also drew on documentaries from both Alive Day and Ground Truth to illustrate realities of war the ad did not show.  She used this context to show how exclusion or omission was a rhetorical strategy used in ad and to explain why it was used. 

 

As I hope you can see from the examples above, researching the context in which ad was produced helps to deepen your rhetorical analysis.  A strong rhetorical analysis depends on strong research of context! 

 

2.  Appeals:  Many of you claimed that this ad relied strongly on emotional appeals, which it certainly did.  I want to make sure that you realize though that it is not enough to say this ad or this strategy made strong emotional appeals.  You need to identify which emotions are triggered by certain rhetorical strategies. For instance, in his freewrite, Wayne writes:

 

 But overall this ad is successful not because it was able to provide analysis that proofs army strong is stronger than normal strong, it was successful because of emotional attachment it creates with the audience- the sense of pride and honor, which is what pathos is about. If you look closely at almost every video clips and images, you would notice that are all portrayal of soldiers who are concentrated in their work and doing something that normal people have never done it. Their incredible focus and that nothing is impossible kind of looks develops a kind of image that says soldiers are strong and competent individuals. In addition to the use of captions that helps verbalized their point, the videos and images glorify US army and create the feeling of honor and pride. It creates a sense of excitement in audience, especially for those who are young and looking to do something that can proof themselves. Watching this video certainly makes you feel like you want to be one of them; wearing dirty but honorable uniform; carrying riffles or driving military vehicles ; overcoming obstacles and being part of the team; or simply just standing with pride and honors. These are the effects that the designers intended to make the audience feel.

 

Notice how Wayne identifies the emotions of patriotism, honor, pride, excitement, desire, etc.  Also notice how specific he is in identifying what image conjures up what emotions.  Remember, it is important to always provide evidence for your main claims.  Like the ad used images to support the text, you want to provide examples from visual texts to support your claims.

 

What I also want you to realize is that emotional appeals trigger certain emotions in order to get people to think or act a certain way.  Therefore, it is important to take analysis to furthest point; in this case, the ad was intended to trigger feelings of patriotism, pride, honor, excitement in order to make viewers realize how beneficial the Army can be and encourage them to sign up. 

 

In terms of ethical appeals, realize that ethical appeals are largely made to establish credibility of designer/author/organization/etc. so reader will trust them and want to listen to what they have to say.  In your own writing, you can establish a strong ethos in the academic eyes by providing strong research, using vivid, specific language to make thought-provoking claims, by writing in complete sentences, etc.  So when we look for ethical appeals, we are looking for ways in which author/designer gets us to trust him or her or it…and/or to establish their credibility.

 

In terms of logical appeals, realize that logical appeals make us to think about and/or realize something.  In this ad, for instance, the contrasting definitions of “strong” were used to make target audience realize that the Army will make them unequivocally strong and thus persuade them hopefully to sign up.  So when we look for logical appeals, we are looking for ways in which the author/designer attempts to get us to realize something.

 

Understand, lastly, that rhetorical strategies such as color, font, definition, images, etc. are all used to trigger emotional, ethical, or logical appeals. Therefore, when performing a rhetorical analysis, it is never enough to say ad made emotional appeals.   You need to identify which strategies were used to trigger what kinds of emotions and then explain how that was done and why.

 

3.  Discourse:  Remember that one of your tasks of this first unit is to begin to absorb and employ discourse you are learning from course readings and my handouts.

 

4.  Analysis:  Many of you will notice in margin comments that I ask “Why?” a lot in your freewrite.  That “why” should indicate to you that you need to engage in analysis to explain what effect writer/designer hopes to accomplish by using that particular strategy.  As you will read in course readings, strong rhetorical analysis entails:  specific identification of rhetorical strategy + vivid description of it at work + deep analysis of what effect is hoped to be achieved.  It is not enough to do only one of three.

 

5.  Structure of freewrites:  In future freewrites, please write in essay form.  I want you to begin practicing writing a rhetorical analysis.  Seeing how you structure your thoughts into coherent paragraphs will help me identify structural needs in your writing.

 

6.  Grading:  Up until now, I have been assigning full credit for completing these assignments.  Grades up until now have not really reflected the apparent effort you put into your work nor the quality of your work.  From now own, however, I will be grading freewrites on your effort and quality of work.  The highest grades in freewrites will be given to those who I see addressing the writing needs I identify in their earlier freewrites.  For instance, if I suggest for you to use more vivid descriptions, your grade will be in part determined by how well you make an effort to be more descriptive.  If I suggest for you to be more concise and precise, I will look for ways in which you attempt to be more concise and precise.  This pressure to apply lessons about your writing will hopefully help you improve your ability to write and perform a rhetorical analysis.  Blog posts will be graded uniquely according to each task assigned.  You should realize thought that in this class called Critical Research and Writing, effort will largely be determined by amount of research you put into work, the level of analysis you engage in, and the sincerity  and complexity in which you engage with peers in group. 

 

Please post any questions you have below.  Thanks so much.  Laurie  

Forum Question #3

Think about the question that generated the impetus for the research in this documentary:  Why do we Fight?  This question is simple yet leads to a network of speculations that arises from research and leads to some very interesting claims.  When it comes time for you to begin your Sustained Research Essay, the questions generated from your own rhetorical analysis might be just a simple….What other simple questions arose for you as you watched this film that you might want to investigate in future?  Pretend you have chosen a scene or the entire film to rhetorically analyze for your first assignment.  What inquires would be generated?  Please take time and space to share what thoughts and questions were derived for you when watching this film.  Feel free to simply share your initial response to this film as well….

Forum Question #2

What is the main point(s) Turnley is trying to get across in this photo essay?  What audience do you think he is targeting?  What is the purpose of this photo essay for that target audience?

Forum Question 1:

Please write a 250 word response to Alive Day Memories in which you describe which scene triggered the strongest emotions in you, what realizations you had while watching this film and visiting the website, and what you think the main points were that the director was trying to get across. Please give reasons for your answers and be specific with details. Also, I want you to think about the direction of the film. During the scene that triggered so much emotion in you, for instance, what was happening with camera angles, sound, clips, etc. that caused your emotions to be triggered? What about in the parts of the film, which really made you realize something? Try in other words to identify what the director did to make you think or feel a certain way? Lastly, how did visiting the website alter your perspective about soldiers and/or war in any way?

Please post your response under your group pages.