11/6 Class Notes

Research Question: What does the graffiti artists' composing process look like?

Step #1 create your thesis

1) Other than the overall idea, the artists' compostion is based on play by play decision-making. (series of forks in the road)

11/6 Rhetorical Activities 2 and 4 ARCS p. 283

2) Most definitely, yes. Many people, when they walk into my room, think I have cake cinnamon buns in my room. However, it is just a candle that I keep burning to ensure that my room doesn't smell stale. In this case, I do believe that this "emperical evidence" is convincing, but it doesn't make it definitely accurate. One of the major findings that support this theory is Pavlov's theory. With his dog, he would ring a bell to signify eating time. Automatically, the dog became conditioned to hearing the bell and would salivate. One day, Pavlov rang the bell and the dog began salivating, but he did not give the dog food. He rang the bell again, and the dog continued to salivate. The bell served as emperical evidence for the dog, but the evidence did not lead to the conclusion of food.

4) There are many online sites that I use for research in my other classes (Business Admin, and Poli. Sci). I never use a website that is not academically accredited. As ARCS would say on p. 281, my source would be reliable.

10/30/08 Rhetorical Activitices 1,4, & 6 (ARCS, p.263)

1) This is an example of how I would attempt to persuade fellow WVU students to participate in my fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network.

Imagine a mother and child that just got into a car accident. The mother was fine, but when she comes to, she looks over in the passenger seat and realizes that her daughter's airbag did not deploy and she is unconscious. She calls an ambulance and the two are rushed to the hospital. One of the nurses asks what insurance policy the mother has, she replies, "I don't have any. My husband left me and my daughter, and my job doesn't provide healthcare." The nurse then explains that the proper proceedures that the doctors need to perform cannot be do without the health insurance. Her daughter may have mild retardation, and minor paralisase on her left side. What is the mother to do? She can't afford the proceedures, and she doesn't have the insurance to rehabilitate her daughter back to normal health.

The audience will want to know what can be done to help the mother. They will now be able to sympathize with the cause.

4) They do indeed. The latest Old Spice "Swagger" commercials insinuate that the product defines the boundaries between geek/dqeeb/dork/nerd from hero/suave/alpha male. This plays on the hopes and fears of many males in society.

Rhetorical Activities 1 & 3 (ARCS, p. 186)

1) In today's DA(10/23/08), there is an article on whether or not Obama will make an appearence in West Virginia. As of now, Obama has no intentions of visiting the state. His campaign manager establishes this through the us of an enthymeme. Because McCain leads the recent polls, and because Biden will be in Charleston on Friday, Obama will has no intentions as of now to visit WVU. Because the article is so short, there is no use of any other proofs.

3)

Plan for analyzing the information from my interview and on-site observation

The first thing that I want to look for and get a sense of the writing process that my subject takes. Evaluating his objectives, plan of attack, and means of rhetoric all are important to understand when look at his writing as a whole. Because my research will focus primarily on the use of rhetoric and general appeal, I will consider what the subject stated in the interview, "I write as if I am verbally presenting the report/proposal/etc." This gives insight to the actual writing process (ex. word choice, sentence structure, subject ordering, paragraph structure, etc.) When looking at his writings, I want to put myself into the reader's/audience's shoes and read his work as if it were addressed to me. What are the focal points? Why should I believe and agree with him? What does he use to back up his argument? Does he establish any rhetorical tools? From there I want to start making inferences (ex. He uses ethos to reinforce X; he establishes kairos here to emphasize Y)

10/2/08 Taking this week's lectures and applying them to my project

Obviously, analyzing genres, level of details, and explanations for details are important to any facet of writing. For me, these analyses will unquestionably be applied to my own research. It is important for me to establish ethos in my reports and papers, because this will show how I have kept my project under control.

FreeWrite: Observation Process

When I observed the three girls writing, there were many generalities and common trends that occured throughout the process. For instance, each girl had a specific role in the process. One girl would pose the questions to the group and wait for a response. The other two girls would be the ones to state their opinions on the proper answers and the first girl would repeat what they would say trying to refine their words. She would then type the groups answer on the computer while reading what she typed alloud. That way, if any of the other two girls disagreed with the final thought, she could alter it. In one instance there was an answer that one of the other two girls thought could be reworded. The typist repeated what the girl said to varify and made the alterations.
What I found pertininant in this process of observation is that it is important to pay close attention to detail- not only to ask myself what the are doing, but how and why are they doing it. Most people would think "duh, of course that's how it's done," but it is easier said than done while your are actually doing it. Small details like the efficiency of specialized tasks, repeating questions, or even thinking out loud are all important to someone who plays the role of observer.