Language and Composition Outline 1

Language of Composition Chapter 1 THESIS: Using rhetoric is sometimes difficult, but this chapter explains how to use rhetoric correctly and what all needs to be in a piece of writing. Appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos is the large part of using rhetoric. This chapter also explains how to organize a piece of writing when using rhetoric. I. Rhetoric often gets referred to as trickery or to be deceptive. A. Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any case the available means of persuasion” 1. Rhetoric is an activity that leads to effective communication. 2. Rational exchange of opposing views. B. If you could appeal to the audience you would find yourself in a position of strength and also be able to persuade readers or listeners. 1. Rhetoric is always situational. a. It has context. b. It has a purpose. c. Have to have a clear subject 2. Lou Gehrig’s speech that he gave on Appreciation day in 1939 was a great example of rhetoric and all the things that have to be in it. C. The word rhetoric may also suggest deception. D. You have to make a clear main idea also known as a thesis, a claim, or an assertion. II. The rhetorical triangle, also referred to as the Aristotelian triangle described the interaction among the subject, speaker, and the audience, as well as how the interaction determines the structure and audience of the argument. A. B. The writer must choose a subject and evaluate what they already know about that subject. C. The character that the speaker creates when he or she writes or speaks is called the persona. 1. You need to find out what you’re speaking as. 2. You also have to think about the audience and how they would react. III. After you analyze the relationship between the speaker to the subject, audience to speaker, and audience to subject the writer is going to have to make some strategic choices.