TODAY

1) Seems like sort of a Inquiry Three Day2) But first… a little rhetorical fun3) Inquiry 3– lead-in, overview4) Free-writing5) Discussion of free-writing6) Homework7) If you have the time, come to see Dr. Selfe!

FUN WITH RHETRORICMostly for fun, I wanted to give you something to look at and critique just a bit before we start into Inquiry 3 in earnest.

This is, once again, a clip from Saturday Night Live.

Pay close attention, because I’m going to use it to introduce you to another idea to consider as you work.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/401533

WHAT?

What, exactly, was happening there?

What’s the rhetorical thrust?

Genre:

• Note, before starting– GENRE is more complex than just this bit. This is a just a start.

• It’s the root for the word “generic,” obviously.• See my “generic” white slide? • But, seriously, genres are used as classifications

or to create relationships between things (think about the signs at a video store or book store– horror, drama, comedy, etc. are genres)

MORE COMPLEXGenre is also the term we use to denote what type of writing something is. This get’s slippery in a hurry, because, for example, the genre of what I’m writing right now is “definition” (loosely), “PowerPoint slide,” and “lecture notes.”

But the trick with the SNL bit is that they’re using a genre. The genre is “political ad” (but you could also classify their product as “comedy” or “satire”). The reason the genre matters here is that the humor of the sketch results from the use of the genre’s conventions.

YOU MIGHT THINK…

…of a genre as a set of rules, like a game.

This is not “literally” correct, mind you, but genres do have rules, and the suggestion to think of them as game-like is my way of reinforcing to all of you that genres create slack wherein you can do interesting work.

We will talk much more about this in Inquiry Four, but you will start to see major implications of genre as we look at public arguments.

Generic White Slide

For Transition Purposes Only.

http://dailyinspiration.nl/infographic-the-college-vote-obama-vs.-romney/

INQUIRY 3In inquiry 3, we will be entering into a consideration of public debate by looking at… public debates!

This project is two parts: a research memo and a researched argument.

Your goal is to pick an argument that is somehow related to the Presidential campaign– my only requirement being that at some point either the Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate on each side have commented on it. My second requirement, for your own sanity, is that it not be something ill-conceived or petty, like the “Birther” argument.

YOUR PRODUCT…

…for this inquiry will be a pair of approximately five page texts. You can choose to compose them together (with a big line in the middle) or as two separate documents.

The first piece is a research memo on the topic. In this piece, you will gather all the information you can about your chosen topic and synthesize it into a report. This will be packed with information and contain NO– I repeat NO– signs of your own opinion. In the report half of this, you’re neutral , writing as a good news writer or as an amazing researcher. It’s just the facts, Ma’am.

YOUR SECOND PRODUCT……is a five page argument for your point-of-view.

It should be based on facts, and draw citations from your research memo, but this piece will be all about your stance on the issue. This is where you move from being a critic of rhetorical strategies to utilizing them yourselves. How will you build ethos? Do you want to make an pathos based appeal? Logos in the house? Do you want to utilize something symbolic? Is it time to get hyperbolic and kick this to the curve? You decide.

The first part of this is about being fair and sticking to research and known facts. This second part is about, to quote my dear friend Charlie Sheen, “winning, duh!”

YOUR AUDIENCE

Your audience for this inquiry is the voting population of our great state of Ohio. I’ve chosen it because we live here and many of us grew up here or near here, but beyond knowing the terrain, Ohio is what is called a “battleground” state.

Sadly, this doesn’t mean there will be actual battles (first rule of Fight Club– never make a PowerPoint slide about fight club!). What it does mean is that the population of the state is split in such a way that most views have a counter-balance. For every conservative, a liberal. For every pessimist, an optimist. For every Bengals fan, a Browns fan.

Rubric, this time from 150

1) Is the researched memo portion of the project properly researched, properly cited, and free from opinion/bias? 50 2) Is the argument portion a clear staking out of a position by the author? 25

3) Is the author’s position rhetorically sound? Is there evidence of the learning from class and the use of the skills we’ve developed? 50

4) Are citations used correctly and prudently, and is outside research used to enhance and support—but not to overwhelm—the argument? 25

DUE DATES

Workshop of rough draft: October 18th

Due for grading: October 25th

Free-writing

On the next several slides are free-writing prompts. You may respond to these on your Tumblr (if you want me to look), in a Word or other WP doc (if you want to save them for later on your machine) or on paper with a pen or pencil (if you’re old school).

Please remember, though– keep going until I stop you, even if you feel you’re writing something mundane. More ideas WILL come to you. Trust me!

Prompt 1

Let’s start with something incredibly hard to think about but hopefully easy to generate a list from.

What matters to you? To be more literal, what things are most important to you in terms of major ideological concepts? What do you value?

Prompt 2

This might be a little heavy-handed, but I had someone ask me to write this once in a writing course and what I came up with was sort of astonishing (to me). So… let’s try it.

Make a list of things you’d die for.

Prompt 3

Take a deep breath. Exhale. Now look at the list of things you’d die for, and as hard as this is to imagine, try your very, very hardest to believe that a moment has come and you really have to give– or at least risk– your life for it.

Cross off anything you no longer feel belongs on the list.

Prompt 4

Now it gets less Dead Poets Society and more current events.

Make a list of all the things you can remember any candidate for President or Vice President making a stand on.

Prompt 5

Look at all your lists.

Where is there crossover between the things you believe in and/or the things you would die for and your list of issues mentioned by candidates?

Remember, these can be uneven relationships, or serious stretches.Make a new list of the combined things.

Prompt 6

Look at your combined list.

Ask yourself this question: would I feel interested enough in this topic to spend a month researching and writing about it?

Cross off anything you can answer “no” to.

Prompt 7

Look at what remains of your most recent list.

Rank them in order from “the one I think seems the best” to “the one I think would be the least fun/educational/awesome.”

If you have more than three, spend some serious time looking at the ones after three to make sure they don’t deserve to move up the list.

Prompt 8

Take the thing you ranked #1.

Do you believe one candidate on each side has spoken about it? If so, begin writing about the topic, listing everything you know or know has been said.

DO NOT SHARE YOUR OPINION.

Prompt 9

Take the thing you ranked #2.

Do you believe one candidate on each side has spoken about it? If so, begin writing your stance on the topic.

DO NOT REFERENCE ANYONE OR UTILIZE ANY EXTERNAL FACTS.

Prompt 10

Take the thing you ranked #3.

Do you believe one candidate on each side has spoken about it? If so, begin writing the opposite of your stance on the topic.

DO NOT REFERENCE ANYONE OR UTILIZE ANY EXTERNAL FACTS.

Free-writing

Look over the three pieces of writing you have. Ideally, I’d like you to pick one of them to work with, but I’m not going to force you to make that decision until next class.

File the three pieces away. Think about them over the weekend. Bring them back with you on Tuesday (or better yet, put them on your Tumblr).

HomeworkFor Tuesday: No specific reading, but please locate a political cartoon (probably online, though print is fine, too). Bring it with you to class.

Forum post: Early rhetoricians like Aristotle and Cicero related the skillful use of rhetoric to ones value as a citizen. As we begin an inquiry based around the upcoming Presidential election, what does it mean, to you, to be a “citizen” of the United States, of Ohio, of Oxford (or of your hometown, if you don’t feel like Oxford is home yet)? What is “required” to be a citizen? What do you “get” from being one? What do you give?