Notes on Rhetoric

An Example of Rhetoric from Literature

- Rhetoric is by no means limited to nonfiction. Poetry, fiction, and drama also try to persuade.

- Example from Illiad, old and conquered meet young and conqueror to retrieve a body for    burial: Priam uses Pathos to get a feeling in Achilles of remember father-son relationship.    He uses Logos to conclude to tell his real purpose after getting on Achilles' soft side.

Arrangement

- using rhetoric, you have to arrange your argument or thesis with its reasons

- intro, developmental paragraphs, and conclusion

- structure depends on purpose and effect

- The Classic Model

- 5-part structure

- intro- ethos, introduce subject matter, draw reader through various ways

- narration- facts and background on subject, use pathos to evoke emotion about    subject matter

-confirmation- proof of one's position, LOGOS, lot of detail to explain your thoughts

-refutation- counterargument, LOGOS, position in essay may vary when necessary

-conclusion- brings essay to close, PATHOS, reminds of earlier ethos, sums up   everything, reader usually remembers last words.

- ex. :Not by Math Alone, Sandra Day O'Connor

- Patterns of Development

- arrangement can be done by purpose

- Narration

- telling a story, recounting series of events

- chronology needed, detail, point of view, other elements like dialogue

- it supports your thesis

- often used to enter into topics

- Description

- many specific details like narration, emphasizes senses by painting a picture

- establish mood or atmosphere

- Process Analysis

- how something works, how to do something, how something was done

- be clear with steps

- Exemplification

- takes a bunch of examples from the general idea into a concrete one

- argument made more clearer and persuasive

- induction of Aristotle- logical proof which leads to conclusion

- Comparison and Contrast

- juxtaposing two things to show similarities and differences

- used to analyze info carefully, reveals nature of info

- organized in 2 ways: subject by subject, or point by point

- Classification and Division

- sort materials and ideas into major categories

- break down larger concept into parts

- Definition

- lay foundation for common ground or identifying areas of conflict

- defining a term is usually first step in a debate or disagreement

- Cause and Effect

- analyzing the causes to a certain effect, or effects that result form a cause = powerful  foundation for argument

- carefully trace a chain of cause and effect to provide clear logic

- do not jump to conclusion of only one cause or effect, do not mistake an effect for an underlying cause