Monday, January 8th

Rhetoric
● The available means of persuasion, a tool used for convincing
○ Lying, crying, guilt tripping, etc. to get what you want
● Aristotle classical appeals
○ Pathos - Appeal to emotion
○ Ethos - Appeal to character and credibility
○ Logos - Appeal to logic and reason
● Modern Rhetoric
○ Text
■ Literal words shown without meaning, explicitly what is spoke or written
■ The “Stop” on a stop sign, not the meaning behind it
○ Subtext
■ Hidden meaning, what’s under the surface or what is implied.
■ What the writer is trying to communicate to the reader.
○ Motive
■ The goal, what is wanted from the exchange or communication.
■ A preferred outcome.

Male, 18, just graduated from high school. Want to become teacher, get a job working at
daycare center (A+). Second day, 10 kindergarteners. Texting your friend, hear a scream from a
kid falling from a jungle gym head first with a cut on cheek. Take child to first aid, you gotta write
a letter to the parents abt what happened. Construct a letter with the subtext of it was not my
fault, motive is don’t get fired and don’t get sued. Consider: length, decide on whether or not to
apologize, order of information, specificity.

Wednesday, January 10th

Grammar vs. Clarity; not mutually exclusive

● Sentence includes a subject phrase and a verb phrase
○ Fragments have only one or the other, missing half of the components
■ Avoid (Sp.) and (Vp.) at all costs
■ Subject[, or ;] subject - Comma splice, not allowed in academic writing
but can be used outside of college is acceptable
● Semicolon; used to express juxtaposition, or opposites. Often
used with “however”
■ S, [and/but/or/etc.] S. Is allowed in academic writing
■ Sentences are similar to independent clauses.
● All sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period,
some independent clauses do not, but are otherwise made of the
same components.
 ■ Dependant clause - dependant marker + group of words [if, when,
although, even, which, on, etc.]
● DC. is a fragment
● DC, IC. is not a fragment
○ “If you build it, he will come.”
○ When it rains, the roof caves in.
● DC, IC DC.
○ If the pizza is late, he fights the delivery guy even though
he always loses.
● IC DC. is not a fragment
○ “John the peepee boy who lived next door” Subject phrase, the descriptors
modify the subject, ‘John’.
■ Fix. John the peepee boy who lived next door peed his pants again.
■ Ex. Batman, protector of Gotham City, ate lunch at Burger King.

Argumentation
● Two different claims or opinions, not necessarily a fight
● Every paper must have your own unique opinion or claim
○ Claim;; state or assert something typically without providing evidence or proof,
an assertion of your own truth (an opinion but Stronger)
■ Valid claim: claims that have a reasonable chance of swaying the reader
■ Invalid claim: claims that have no chance of swaying the reader
● Ex. The movie was awesome [Invalid]
● Ex. Taking Vitamin C will benefit you [Invalid, too vague]
● Ex. The economy will rise 5% in the next year [Valid]
● Ex. The product contains 12 chemicals known to be harmful
[Valid]

Wednesday January 17th