(Week 3) Everything's an Argument and Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis

          Everything’s an argument has many good proposals about finding evidence, what’s credible, and how to look for it. Evidence when supporting an argument should match the time and place in which you make your argument. Quantitative data may be the best evidence to use. Students often overestimate their ability to use data, books, films, documents from sources located in libraries, databases, and online. Ask the librarian to guide you through these resources. The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are standardized words and phrases that are used to classify the subject matter of books and articles. Advanced search is another great way to maximize using the internet, and don’t just search for data in the first box. Understanding the difference between academic and popular sources is key.

            Taking steps towards Rhetorical Analysis is not all about always making assumptions and running with it. The more we know about how to analyze situations and draw informed conclusions, the better we can become when making judgments, the people, situations, and media we encounter. Understanding Rhetorical messages is essential to helping us become informed consumers. When one posts a blog or tweet we are using rhetoric. What we decide to wear gives off an image that we are trying to portray to others. Asking questions about the writer can help the reader determine whether she or he is credible and knowledgeable. The purpose of a piece of rhetoric helps you understand what the rhetoric is trying to achieve through discourse. Logos is commonly defined as arguments for a reason and it usually appeals to an audience’s intellectual side, with organization being the real contributor to ethos. The tone of the writing and weather the tone is appropriate for the context helps build a writer's ethos, as does the accuracy of the information or visual presentation of the rhetoric. Take into consideration the visual appeal of the rhetoric, like the font, page layout, types of paper, or images. Rhetorical analysis asks how discourse functions, in the setting in which it is found. Persuasive discourse is political cartoons, scholarly articles, speech, photograph, and PowerPoint presentation.