User:AlviraA/sandbox



Group name: C.A.R.S.

Topic: Rhetorical Strategies:

Group members:

Alvira

Weng Shun

Haiqiao Huang (Cherie)

Yuen Tin Yan (Agnes Yan)

CCT and our topic, "Rhetorical Strategies"

CCT 110, is a course about “The Rhetoric of Digital and Interactive Media Environments”, and is it offered at University of Toronto Mississauga. According to professor McEwen, “We critically examine visual, aural, and dynamic rhetoric as it pertains to communication across a range of digital and interactive media discourse”. CCT 110 focuses on writing, and so it requires students to improve their writing skills in certain ways. Students also need to know how to avoid making grammar mistakes and use correct punctuations, etc. Moreover, there are three important goals in this course which provides a solid technical foundation in various modes of writing for students to practise their critical analyse on writing, and enhance their rhetorical skills successfully in digital and interactive media careers. Students who enrol in this course also need to attempt both lectures and tutorials. Overall there are four different assignments which include: five annotated bibliographies, second draft of an essay, term paper and team writing assignment on Wikipedia. These numerous writing practices are in order to help students improve their comprehensive writing abilities.

There are different kinds of rhetorical strategies in writing; these strategies have different effects to help readers easily understand what the writer is talking about. Relatively, CCT 110 focuses on writing and provides information for students to learn strategies that help improve their writing skills. Thus, Rhetorical Strategies ultimately would help students who plan their future in digital and interactive media studies.

Contribution For this assignment

Our group decided to branch off of the topic of 'Rhetoric' and created a new article on 'Rhetoric Strategies'. We have equally done parts in writing and editing this article, performing great teamwork. Other than working on our topic assignment, we had additionally made contribution (edit and reword) towards other Wikipedia articles. By making the various contributions outside our assignment through teamwork, it has also helped us gain more resources relating term “Rhetoric”. The experience of editing on wikipedia and creating a new article helped our group work better as a team and helped us gain a better understanding of 'Rhetoric'.

-Start of our article-Main article can be retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_Strategies

Rhetorical Strategies

A rhetoric strategy refers to the efforts made by the authors to persuade or inform readers. Rhetorical strategies are employed by writers and describe the different ways to persuade the reader. Before deciding which rhetorical strategy to use in any specific situation, a writer needs to consider a few questions to determine the strategy that best suits the text to be written. Such questions might include: In addition to these and other questions, consider also the choice of words to use. In some respects this is a part of bearing in mind the intended or target audience. However, it’s also important to remember that word choice can influence the development of an argument or a position and can affect the reader’s emotions.
 * Who is the intended audience and what is the writer’s relationship with them? For example colleague-to-colleague, teacher-to-student, salesman-to-client, etc.
 * Do you want to prove an argument? If so, will you include counter arguments?
 * Do you want to simplify the issues?

Process Analysis Strategy
This type of rhetorical strategy could be summarized as describing steps towards achieving an effect or result, for example a report of a science experiment in a laboratory, ending with a result and a conclusion. The process analysis strategy also includes works where the aim is to help the reader understand how something is made to happen or how something works. This strategy is generally called comprehension-based process analysis. Then there is a third type of strategy, less common in academic writing, but prevalent in magazines, that tells readers how to do something; such as change their behavior in order to be slimmer, fitter, less depressed, etc. A published example of writing on process strategy is by Langley who wrote Process Thinking in Strategic Organization.

Argumentation Strategy
According to Gray, there are various argument strategies used in writing. He describes four of these and gives examples found within philosophical literature:

Argument from analogy
This strategy compares two different things to emphasize their relevant similarities. For instance, the actions of kicking and punching could be described as analogous – similar violent physical attacks on another person, even though one is using feet, the other fists. One example of a published philosophical analogy was by Singer in The Life You Can Save, in which he argues that a professor who sees a child drowning in a pool and can save the child’s life at minimum cost is obliged to do so – and we all have a duty to give to life-saving charities at minimal cost to ourselves for the same reason – because we have obligations to do good when it is at little or no cost to ourselves. The professor who could save the child and everyone who can give to charities are in analogous situations insofar as they can all save lives at minimal cost.

Thought experiments
These are imagined situations that can be used to illustrate a point, perhaps to prove a theory to be inconsistent. An example of such a thought experiment was when Aristotle mistakenly assumed that heavier objects would fall faster than lighter ones, and thinking so, concluded that it must therefore be true. The point of this example is that it might seem logical to have that belief, but we know that it is not true.

Argument from absurdity
This strategy is used either to provide evidence to disprove a belief or argument, or to prove the truth of something when to deny it would be absurd. An example might be if someone were to argue that if all humans are mammals and all humans are animals, then all mammals are animals. Whilst the two ideas are correct, the conclusion isn’t.

Inference to the best explanation
In this strategy, all viable explanations are considered and contrasted to determine the most likely to be true. Strengths and weaknesses of each may be considered to see which is best. However, merely inferring which explanation is the best is insufficient proof, because it may be that other explanations are plausible. Nonetheless, an inference to the best explanation could be helpful even so. An example of inference to the best explanation is the view that germs cause disease. Even though in the days before germs could be seen by using microscopes, they were thought to exist and to be the cause, so doctors routinely sterilized instruments and washed their hands, going some way to proving the hypothesis.

Cause and Effect Strategy
Typically used in writing for the social sciences, this strategy type – sometimes called causal analysis – focuses on the ”why” of an issue and the consequent effect(s). For example, why women typically get paid less than men doing the same job, and how that affects their position in society. The writer using this strategy should take into account there may be multiple and/or more complex causes and effects for what might at first sight seem a simple issue.

Divisions Strategy
This strategy may be used to deal effectively with a broad and/or complicated topic which – if divided into more manageable parts – would be easier to explain and to understand. This strategy is sometimes expanded to be called Classification / Division. Grouping ideas or topics into categories is classification; separating the subject into parts is called division. An example of division would be discussing the each of the key elements of a top sports team. An example of classification would be to discuss the common denominator between (say) eggs, Swiss cheese and ice cream.

Compare and Contrast Strategy
Under this strategy, two basic formats are common: subject-by-subject and point-by-point. Both discuss the similarities (compare) and the differences (contrast) between the subjects being discussed. In the subject-by-subject approach (probably best for shorter essays), each subject is discussed and examined individually. So in comparing two sports teams, for example, start with an introductory paragraph covering both teams, then use the next paragraph(s) for the first of the two teams, before continuing with about the same number of paragraphs about the second team. The point-by-point approach works well for longer or more in-depth essays. With this type of structure the reader can more readily keep track of all the points raised. Staying with the example of two sports teams, you might want to discuss tactics of each team. After the introduction and your thesis statement, present each subject point-by-point, but covering both teams for each point before moving on to the next.

Narrative Strategy
Narrative writing tells a story. Its principal feature is that it spans time. A narrative often (but not always) is written in chronological order. The thesis of a narrative essay is the telling of the story – usually a true story for a narrative essay, which might be for example, a case study, or a historical account. However, a narrative essay usually has an objective other than simply telling the story, perhaps using the specific account to illustrate a wider picture or series of events.

Description Strategy
The description strategy entails writing essays to create an involved and vivid experience for the reader, who should find the account so real that they almost feel they could touch the object, person or place being described. Good descriptive essays achieve this by including really detailed observations and descriptions. Sometimes a descriptive essay focuses on a memory or experience, in fact descriptive writing can be about anything that you can perceive or experience.

Exemplification Strategy
The strategy of writing an exemplification essay typically involves providing a number of examples to support a generalization about something (the essay thesis). The examples – which can be brief, comprehensive, or both – act as supporting material, either to explain or to clarify the general subject.