One of the many mantras you will come across in this course is, “There is no such thing as good writing; only good rewriting.” Here, you will come to learn that in order for you to tap into your potential as a good writer, fall in love with the process, and steer away from the idea that many students only write for the sake of submission. In other words, you’re only writing because you want the grade. You only write in order to submit, so you can earn your desired grade, and wait for the next assignment…only to repeat this horrid process.

In this section of the course, my hope is that we work on Writing Strategies that will help you become a good writer in this course and every other course you take here and at any other institution of higher learning. Below, you will come to find the major approaches we will work on together:

Rhetorical Analysis

A rhetorical analysis considers all elements of the rhetorical situation–the audience, purpose, medium, and context–within which a communication was generated and delivered in order to make an argument about that communication. A strong rhetorical analysis will not only describe and analyze the text, but will also evaluate it; that evaluation represents your argument.

1. Description: What does this text look like? Where did you find the text? Who sponsored it? What are the rhetorical appeals? (i.e. calm music in the background of a commercial establishes pathos) When was it written?
2. Analysis: Why does the author incorporate these rhetorical appeals? (For example, why does the author incorporate calm music? What is the point of the pathos?) How would the reception of this text change if it were written today, as opposed to twenty years ago? What is left out of this text and why? Should there be more logos in the ad? Why?
3. Evaluation: Is the text effective? Is the text ethical? What might you change about this text to make it more persuasive?

Rhetoric Defined

• Classically, “the art of persuasion”.
• “About using language purposefully, in order to get something done in the world” (“What is Rhetoric”).
• “Something that allows you to formulate ethical reading strategies […] but also to invent your own responses to the world” (“What is Rhetoric”).

SPACECAT

Charting:

Adapted from the work of, initially, Katie Hughes, but ultimately, Missy Watson (The City College of New York, CUNY).

Here, you have to understand that, many young and inexperienced writers (especially in the academic world) have a hard time analyzing a document. These writers often write what the author says, as opposed to what the author did. These rhetorical moves are what separate you from the novice writer and one who is well-trained. For a more detailed description, please see the hyperlink above.

Charting involves annotating a text in order to show the “work” each paragraph or section (made up of multiple paragraphs) is doing. Charting has many benefits: it helps students to identify what authors are doing in various parts of the text rather than simply what s/he is saying (and this helps students to move away from summarizing and into analyzing); it can serve as a way to thoroughly understand in a detailed way how a text is put together; it brings rhetorical awareness of the specific choices and deliberate “moves” made by authors throughout a text.

How do we do charting?

Break down texts by section or paragraph to analyze what each section/paragraph is doing for the overall argument. Ask, what is the purpose of the section/paragraph? What is the author doing, how, and why? It’s important to select strong verbs to describe what authors do. 

Here are some additional sample verbs to draw on (avoid thinks, believes, says/states, discusses): 

Try this format: The author [VERB]  [IDEA]   by   [EXPLAIN HOW].  

Acknowledges	Complicates	Eaggereats	Justifies	Reframes
Adcovates	Condedes	Examines	Outlines	Ridicules
Amplifies	Concludes	Explains	Parodies	Satirises
Analyzes	Contrasts	Extends	Predicts	Stresses
Argues	Contradits	Forecasts	Problematizes	Summarizes
Asserts	Presents a Counterargument	Frames	Proposes	Supports
Assumes	Debates	Identifies	Sets up a parallel between A & B	Synthesizes
Attacks	Decontricts	Illustrates	Qualifies
Challenges	Defines	Introduces	Questions
Claims	Defends	Implies	Rebuts
Clarifies	Discusses	Infers	Refines
Compares	Distringuses between A & B	Investigates	Repeats