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Rhetoric and Writing Your Introduction

+Rhetoric is the study of effective speaking and writing. And the art of persuasion. And many other things.

+Persuasion, according to Aristotle and the many authorities that would echo him, is brought about through three kinds of proof (pistis) or persuasive appeal Logos

The appeal to reason.

Pathos

The appeal to emotion.

EthosThe persuasive appeal of one's character.

+Logos

+Ethos

+Pathos

+The compass that guides your rhetorical decisions:

kairos (the opportune moment);

audience

decorum (fitting one's speech to the context and audience)

+Opening lines of Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer.

"It was true that at the age of twenty-five he had never left the country, that he had never got more than three days' march from his birthplace, no more than a day and a half of horse and carting or one long afternoon's locomoting. On the other hand, Gyuri mused, how many people could say they had travelled the length and breadth of Hungary naked?"

+Opening statements should fill the following criteria:

Go beyond a simplistic rewording of the topic question.

Be original and attention grabbing.

Avoid sweeping generalizations.

+Opening line of Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins.

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables."

+Consider using one of the following techniques to begin your essay:

Allusion

Analogy

Anecdote

Definition

Description

Facts and Figures

Background information                            Question

Quotation

Startling Statement

+Opening lines of Typical American by Gish Jen.

"It's an American story: Before he was a thinker, or a doer, or an engineer, much less an imagineer like his self-made-millionaire friend Grover Ding, Ralph Chang was just a small boy in China, struggling to grow up his father's son."

+Meanings of Terms

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication

A figure of speech is a use of a word diverging from its usual meaning, or a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it such as a metaphor, simile, hyperbole or personification.

+Opening lines of I Was a Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block.

"If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model with collagen-puffed lips and silicone-inflated breasts, a woman in a magenta convertible with heart-shaped sunglasses and cotton candy hair; if Los Angeles is this woman, then the San Fernando Valley is her teeny-bopper sister."

+Additional Meanings

Hyperbole --- an exaggeration

Metaphor--analogy comparing two things

Simile-- analogy comparing two things using like or as

Personification--metaphor in which a thing is represented as human

+Exercise:

Write your introduction for Essay #2.

After you are finished, read the work out loud to a partner and identify the writing strategies employed to engage the reader achieve decorum.