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Rhetoric

I used to think that rhetoric was clearly communicating ideas that a writer has, but after working on the paper all semester, I have a new interpretation of rhetoric that is more specific than that which i formerly held. Rhetoric is tailoring information and arguments to a target audience in order to make them receptive to the information being presented, which has also been tailored to ensure that it appeals to the selected audience in a way that convinces them of the issue being presented. Gathering relevant information about a topic is no longer the main challenge in writing like it was in high school. The challenge is selecting the appropriate audience, the appropriate selection of information for that audience, and the appropriate language to address that audience. This new form of rhetoric that I have employed is a higher-thinking version of my basic definition, the applied usage of an over-arching paradigm. Originally, when I just started writing my research paper, I was nervous that it would have had to have been a 30 page paper due to all the relevant information, statistics, studies, journals, etc I found about my topic, but that was before I took into account the adapted definition of rhetoric that I was supposed to use for the first time on this assignment. It's obvious to me now how selective I have to be when arguing a point or even just presenting an idea to a group of people. The way the world is nowadays, using the words that are not appropriately selected for your audience will not only ensure that they aren't convinced by your ideas, it will also probably emotionally wound them beyond all rational thought, and allow them to harbor ill will towards you and your ideas forever. While this soft attitude is a thorn in the side of society, it is also a "survival of the fittest" situation. Whoever practices rhetoric the best and can communicate facts or, God forbid, their opinions will continue to be able to do so, and those who are tactless in speech and writing will be shunned along with all their ideas. Fight club prepared us well to present viewpoints on controversial issues. Even though there wasn't a great risk of truly offending anyone in class as the different sides of the arguments were usually assigned, some of the debaters' true sentiments shined through their arguments, which is an important aspect of rhetoric that should never be forgotten. An appeal to emotion is the most difficult tool in rhetoric to use the right way. Use a lackluster emotional appeal, and the audience will be largely unimpressed. On the other hand, regardless of the side you are arguing for, and emotional appeal that is too overstated will result in a breakdown of logic in the audience, causing them to actually be less receptive to the ideas you're presenting them with.

Rhetoric Part 2

The art of rhetoric, when I first came into English this freshman year I didn’t really know what to expect. During high school I found myself aware of the word rhetoric but I don’t think I truly understood what it meant to write a rhetoric paper. Rhetoric as defined at the beginning of the year is the “art of effective expression” and after writing numerous papers in English 1900 I feel like I know a little bit more about the idea of rhetoric.

I found that as a course English 1900 primarily focused on the argumentative aspect of rhetoric, as most of the major graded writing pieces focused on this sector of rhetoric. Other aspects of the course however did focus on other aspects of rhetoric for example: this blog post that I am currently writing and the numerous other blog posts that I have written through out this first semester here at Saint Louis University. Throughout my time the amount of writing that I have done has really helped both my growth and understanding of rhetoric as a whole. The amount of practice I have had constructing and crafting argumentative style rhetorical papers has helped my growth as a writer. I have learned a lot about the  construction of an argumentative paper, and more specifically the organization of a rhetorical paper is the part of rhetoric which I think I’ve learned the most about.

            The biggest and probably most important thing I learned was the construction of an argumentative paper. I learned that the most important part of any paper is relating the topic sentences of each paragraph back to the thesis statement, and that the order of such paragraphs is crucial to the audiences understanding of your argument. The next most important thing is sources; a writer must establish his credibility to the audience through the use of credible and reliable sources. Not only must he find reliable sources, but the author must properly use and explain his sources to further support his argument as a whole. Following these steps is crucial to developing a well crafted argument, and make up the bulk of what I’ve learned about writing rhetoric in English 19000 this current semester. Helpful sites like those written by Dr. Gideon Burton really helped me to understand the canons of rhetoric as well. Sites like the forest by Dr. Burton really showed the proper ways to create a rhetorical paper. On top of explaining the canons of rhetoric the page also went into detail on Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. These three modes of persuasion are very important in regards to crafting a well-versed argumentative rhetorical paper.

            In the end I learned a lot about the strategies of rhetoric in my semester of English 1900 here at Saint Louis University. The practice I had while writing numerous rhetorical papers has helped grow my further understanding of the art of rhetoric. Looking back now it has been a very productive semester as a whole and I’ve both learned and grown immensely as a writer.

Rhetoric Round 2 - Underdog vs. the Champion

Rhetoric is a tricky word to describe. It is not in everyday vocabulary. Only the select few who truly understand the word know how to incorporate it within the sentences they speak. Before this class, I only had a vague idea of what rhetoric was. Now, however, I understand the word completely. Throughout this English class, each of us has had the wonderful experience of using rhetoric by the vocab, fight clubs, and the papers we typed.

One of the biggest impacts of rhetoric on me was the three Greek words: logos, pathos, and ethos. Previously in my schooling, I knew what each stood for but I never added them to the papers I wrote most of the time. But for the final paper for this English class, I made sure to include all three of these ideas. Each different meaning of the word added to my paper by being logical, ethical, or emotional. Foe my proposal paper, I made sure to use examples which reflected the definition of these words. By doing so, the paper had a stronger presence among a wider audience. For example, if I only used logic examples, certain people would understand and some would not. However, by also incorporating ethical and emotional examples within the text, the same people who did not understand the logical approach would rather see the ethical or emotional approach instead. These Greek words make up a big part of what rhetoric is.

Another aspect of rhetoric is being able to catch the use of it within movies, newspaper articles, and music. For example, in class, we depicted the differences between two versions of the song Bad Blood. In Taylor Swift's version, she seems mad and hateful. On the other hand, Ryan Adam's rendition sounded laid back and peaceful. This is only one example of how rhetoric is within the world, who knows how many songs contain rhetoric?

English 1900 has helped me learn the deeper meaning of rhetoric. As I mentioned before, by using rhetoric every day in the class by the vocab, fight clubs, and blog posts, my intellect towards rhetoric has been increased. Since this class has ended, I will make sure to continue to use rhetoric within my future papers and arguments. Rhetoric is not a simple word with a simple definition, one has to research to grasp the meaning behind such the elaborate, unique vocab word. During my time is this class, knowledge has grown to new proportions with the help of rhetoric.

Some Final Thoughts on Rhetoric

At the start of the semester, I said, after examining the definition of rhetoric from Merriam-Webster and Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University, "Rhetoric is writing or speaking that serves either to inform or persuade an audience." And as the semester went along, I just thought rhetoric as nothing more than "another tool in the drawer" and a very broad, vague concept; something that is boring and invariable. However, when I started looking at the infamous vocab list and saw rhetoric defined as "the art of effective expression," my preexisting belief that rhetoric belonged to the mundane world of English was shaken but at the same time, was only further a reinforcement that the definition of rhetoric is vast as the sea because now rhetoric was defined as an art form, and I had a hard time accepting this. 

By defining rhetoric as "the art of effective expression," one could say that definition is the singularity of any creation ever (as long as in some way, shape, or form, this theoretical creation could be considered art and something expressive). For example, being a long-time musician who expresses himself by playing notes on a guitar with some friends on stage, I could say that this example is one of rhetoric because music is a form of art, and I am effectively expressing myself since playing guitar and composing songs/guitar parts for a song is how I express myself, therefore, rhetoric. The main theme I am trying to get at is that as long as something can be considered an art form that accurately (therefore effective) expresses the artist, it is rhetoric. Technically, yes, when a writer composes a piece of literature or an essay of some kind, according to the incredibly loose definition of rhetoric, this is art and a form of effective self-expression, therefore, rhetoric. This newer definition and understanding of rhetoric demonstrates the problems with my old definition and the common understanding of rhetoric.

One of the main issues that word rhetoric has is that it has a connotation that assigns it to only a realm of English. This is evident by when somebody says a rebuttal of, "Oh, that's just rhetoric" because the person saying this confines and restricts the definition of rhetoric to a world of manipulated words. Nobody wants to admit that music, painting, any form of art or self expression, is rhetoric.  By saying that these forms of art are rhetoric (something with a rather ho-hum connotation), this seems to detract from some of the inherent value and colorful aspects that these art forms provide. This might be due to the mindset that many people have the idea that rhetoric is something seen in an insipid and vanilla court room or in a high level literature or philosophy class in the world of academia, not something that could be in the bright, colorful, fun world of music, painting, etc. However, this is not the case. 

I have been enlightened to understand that rhetoric is not some other vapid instrument that belongs in a closed drawer full of similar constructs, rather, rhetoric is just as beautiful and bright as any other form of art. I have grown to understand that writing a story or a blog post is just as creative in its own unique way as sculpting a beautiful sculpture out of marble and limestone, or writing a passionate song from the inner thoughts of a human mind; both of these elements are beautiful and human in their own way. I realized that writing a story involved creativity since one has to map out a story line, yet, I never considered this a form of self expression because I could not directly associate the relation be between composer and creation. But as the semester wore on and I was further exposed to the ways of rhetoric, I began to use my strong sense of intuition and fondness of thinking imaginatively to connect the myriad of floating ideas I had in the clouds about rhetoric to the ground. If there is one thing I have learned from this course, it is that rhetoric is much more than what I had originally constricted it to be. 





P.S. Professor Strickland, I hope that if you've read this, you feel a certain sense of excitement since one of your students (who is primarily of the brain of "I want hard facts and quantified data derived from complex equations that state specific things.") has grown to develop a deeper understanding of such a fundamental yet simple, therefore (as used in the fields of Physics and Math) elegant word and has let his naturally curious and always thinking mind run free with the bulls in the world of English and rhetoric and now see it as something fun and different than what he used to see it as: boring. 

Definition of Rhetoric 2.0

            Throughout this class, I have had many opportunities to practice my rhetorical skills and really learn what rhetoric is through practice. After this semester, I would say that a good condensed definition for rhetoric is the definition used for this class in vocabulary quizzes, “the art of effective expression.” However, I think this definition can be expanded upon.

            One of the most important facets of rhetoric is audience. One has to take into consideration the kind of people that will be listening to a particular speech or reading a particular text. If the audience were a group of pre-school aged children, then one would need to use smaller, simpler words and concepts. However, if the paper is part of one’s doctoral thesis, the words, sentences, and concepts can be a bit more in-depth and complicated for that particular level of work. One would not use the same kind of words for both of these audiences, because one style would not always be appropriate for the other audience. Audience determines almost everything about how one forms their essay, speech, presentation, or other persuasive piece.

            Another important aspect of rhetoric is diction. The words used are very important in order for an argument to be understood. The concepts of audience and diction are very intertwined; the type of words and phrases used in order for communication to be effective can differ based on who will be listening to or reading that particular communication. Just as described above, different words and ideas would be used based on who the argument would be aimed towards.

            Finally, another important aspect is the type of appeal towards the audience that is used. Ethos, logos, and pathos can all be used to help persuade an audience on a particular subject. Ethos is the appeal to the audience by proving the credibility of a source or author, and can be used to show that information is reliable and valid. Logos is the appeal to logic, which can be used to show the logical, reasonable side behind an argument. Pathos is the appeal to the audience’s emotion, and forms an argument that evokes an emotional response from the audience. Each of these appeals towards the audience can be used, depending on who the audience is. These appeals can also determine the kind of diction used as well, which makes all three of these aspects rhetorically intertwined.

            There are many ways that I have learned everything that is involved in rhetoric, particularly in this class. Fight Club has helped me learn argumentative tactics for oral argumentation. Blog posts have helped me argue for or against certain topics and take into consideration my audience and also write in a more informal manner than would be used in a formal essay. Finally, this class has helped me successfully write a long argumentative essay. I have never written a paper this long before, and this class made me confident that I can write a paper of this length without detracting from the strength of my argument or being too repetitive.

            In conclusion, my definition and understanding of rhetoric is “the art of effective expression, in regards to audience, diction, and tactics of appeal.”

What is rhetoric?

             When starting English class this year I never fully understood what rhetoric was. In the past, I was always taught that rhetoric was a skill that many public speakers possess, but I was never told exactly what it is. In addition, the word rhetoric always had the same connotation to me as the word rhetorical, which now I know they aren’t the same. Throughout the course of English 1900, I believe that I’ve been able to create my own definition of the word. I believe that rhetoric is art of effective speaking and presenting. The issue with the definition is that the word deserves so much more than a simple definition. Throughout the course we’ve learned how to effectively express our own arguments through writing and in speech. Through fight club we were able to organize our own list of pros and cons and then were given the task of arguing for a certain side. This allowed us to effectively formulate an argument and be able to clearly and effectively explain it to our adversary. As we had more and more fight clubs, we as a class were able to learn to skills in the art of argumentation. Through time we were able to explicitly explain ourselves instead of babbling about a topic we barely know. I know that by the end of the year, I was able to articulate my side of argument clearly and was able to have solid conversations with my opponent that helped find a correct answer for the conversation. In addition to doing well with rhetoric in the public speaking aspect, we also improved our rhetoric throughout the paper. When we started the paper, we basically wrote down what we believed was a correct argumentative paper. In reality, as we went along in the year, we took our paper brick by brick. We began with finding who the correct audience was. We learned how to clearly propose what our solutions are. We learned how to correctly research and find information to support our clearly proposed solution. In addition, we learned through They Say, I Say to tie all of work together in order to fully flow and correctly combine our argument into one perfect essay. Once we finished these steps, the purpose was to easily be able to fully address our solution clearly, to the right audience, with resourceful and purposeful tasks, while being able to fully flow to the point that others fully understand what you are trying to say. That is what I believe is the definition of rhetoric. I believe the course was set up to help learn this definition in a long but successful class. Most of us didn’t know what the word meant but by the end of the semester, everyone in the class is able to define what rhetoric means. Now and days, everyone in the world needs to be fluent in rhetoric, because that is a concept that we are involved with every day. We must be fully prepared to express ourselves and our words correctly and effectively.