Enc1101 Drafting Unit 1

DRAFTING UNIT ONE

Part one

DRAFTING UNIT ONE

AudiencePurpose Genre

WHO ARE YOU WRITING FOR, AND WHY?

Write a 1-2 sentence thesis statement that summarizes your argument. What are you trying to show, and why?

CLARIFY YOUR ARGUMENT

Keith Grant-Davie, “Rhetorical Situations and their Constituents” RACE: rhetor, audience, constraints, exigence Exigence is important Any of the constituents can be plural Rhetorical analysis helps students

Margaret Kantz, “Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively” Facts and opinions are both kinds of claims Rhetorical awareness will help you as a writer Use sources to make an argument, not a summary

Minor points: plagiarism and revision Christina Haas and Linda Flower, “Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the

Construction of Meaning” More experienced readers tend to use more rhetorical strategies when reading It’s important to connect what you already know to what you don’t know Sometimes identifying the structure/function of a piece of writing will help you

to learn more about it

LET’S REVIEW

Grant-Davie RACE: rhetor, audience, constraints,

exigence Exigence is important Any of the constituents can be plural Rhetorical analysis helps students

Kantz Facts and opinions are both kinds of

claims Rhetorical awareness will help you as a

writer Use sources to make an argument, not

a summary Minor points: plagiarism and revision

Haas and Flower More experienced readers tend to use

more rhetorical strategies when reading

It’s important to connect what you already know to what you don’t know

Sometimes identifying the structure/function of a piece of writing will help you to learn more about it

What elements of each of these articles are relevant for your argument? Jot down each of the scholars’ names. Next to each name, write how you would use each article to support your argument for your particular audience.

Share with a partner. Discuss: are there any other relevant points that might be important for your audience? Are there any points you included that might not matter to your audience?

USING SOURCES PERSUASIVELY

Rhetor: meAudience: this classExigence: to help you learn rhetorical situation,

prepare you for your unit 1 paperGenre: lectures/discussions/activitiesStructure:

Grant-DavieKantzHaas and Flower

Why?

STRUCTURING YOUR ARGUMENT

Audience: Florida voters, lawmakersExigence: to argue that the FCAT should be given less emphasis in schools

Genre: letter to the editorHow would you structure this? Why?


Audience: President of UCF, John HittExigence: to convince him to allocate more of the budget to composition classes

Genre: letterHow would you structure this? Why?


Audience: Exigence:Genre:How are you going to structure your argument, based on your

audience, exigence, and genre? Create an outline (or web, notes, etc. Whatever works for

you.)Share with a partner. Discuss ways to improve your

organization. Revise or elaborate as needed.


Audience: Florida voters, lawmakersWhat mode(s) of persuasion would be most effective?

Pathos, ethos, logosWhat kind of tone should you adopt?

Formal, informal, conversational, humorous, scholarly, argumentative, etc.

What kind of evidence will be most persuasive? Quotes from articles, summaries of articles, personal examples,

statistics, etc. What kind of language should you use?

Sophisticated, simple, playful, strong, etc. What genre conventions do you need to consider?

Length, citation style, opening and closing, structure, etc.

MAKING RHETORICAL CHOICES

Audience: John HittWhat mode(s) of persuasion would be most effective?








Audience: YOURSWhat mode(s) of persuasion would be most effective?








Each paragraph: Topic sentence presenting a supporting claim that connects to

your argument Enough context to set up your evidence Evidence to support your claim (quotes, paraphrases,

summaries, examples) Analysis of the evidence that connects to your argument (can repeat context>evidence>analysis if you have more to

include in this paragraph)

USING EVIDENCE EFFECTIVELY

Choose a paragraph/section of your paper to begin drafting. Write a topic sentence presenting a supporting claim that

connects to your argument. Example:

“Because teaching rhetorical reading is a difficult task, more money should be allocated to UCF composition courses to provide additional training for instructors.” Claim: it’s important to train teachers in rhetorical reading strategies so they can

teach it to their students, and UCF should fund this training. Assumptions: rhetorical reading is an important skill, your audience knows what

rhetorical reading strategies are, UCF has money to spend, training will help teachers teach rhetorical reading more effectively, teachers are willing to be trained


Now give some context to set up your evidence, and provide evidence to support your claim (quotes, paraphrases, summaries, examples) Example:

“Christina Haas and Linda Flower, themselves experts in rhetorical reading strategies, recognize that teaching students to think rhetorically is ‘genuinely difficult’ (136).”

Gives the reader the context they need Supports the claim in the topic sentence that teaching rhetorical

reading is difficult


Now analyze the evidence to connect it to your argument. Example:

“If even renowned scholars like Haas and Flower acknowledge that teaching rhetorical reading is difficult, then typical faculty members would likely struggle to help students with this concept, as well. Additional training would provide them with the support they need to teach students effectively.”

Puts your own argument/spin on the articles


REPEAT FOR EACH PARAGRAPH Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis

+context>evidence>analysis as needed


What should your introduction do? Depends on your genre Set ideas up Articulate your argument Frame the structure of your paper

What should your conclusion do? Sum everything up; don’t repeat, but be sure to emphasize your

main points all together Point to the bigger picture; if your argument and claims are true,

what should/will happen? What are the implications for your readers, for the world at large?

OPENING AND CLOSING

Introduction Include a genre-appropriate opening and your argument

Claim 1 Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis [repeat context>evidence>analysis as needed]

Claim 2 Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis [repeat context>evidence>analysis as needed]

Claim 3, 4, 5…(repeat for each claim that you have)Conclusion

PART ONE: THE BIG PICTURE

Part two

DRAFTING UNIT ONE

Remember our rhetorical reading heuristic? Who wrote this? Who is their target audience? What genre is this? Where was it written, and in what form? What kind of language choices are they making? Why are they writing? What is their purpose/exigence?

Start brainstorming by asking yourself some similar questions about part one. (worksheet)

BE A RHETORICAL READER…OF YOUR OWN WRITING

Take a look at your completed worksheet. What stands out to you? Are there patterns that you’re noticing?

Draft a tentative thesis statement. Remember, your goal is to demonstrate that you were aware of

your rhetorical situation and made the best choices for that situation.

You should try to focus your argument a little, and identify the specific claims you will be making.

Example: “The personal examples I use as evidence, my argument-driven

organization, my polite but assertive tone, and my use of logical appeals all contribute to a rhetorically effective letter to President Hitt.”

(You can use your thesis statement in your intro if you want to)

FOCUS YOUR ARGUMENT

Draft an outline of part two. Try to organize by main points, so that you can make connections between the scholars.

Use of evidence Organization ToneTypes of appealsLanguageConstraintsEtc.

STRUCTURE YOUR ARGUMENT (AGAIN)

Under each point in your outline, jot down:Evidence from part one that supports your claim

Concepts from the articles to analyze each piece of evidence

Use of evidence Quote from Haas and Flower

about “genuinely difficult” Kantz: using sources to make an

argument, not just to summarize Grant-Davie: audience, constraints

Example from personal experience Haas and Flower: using personal

knowledge to construct meaning Organization

Structure of part one as a whole (main claims) Kantz: organizing claims, not a

narrative Tone

Mixture of polite and assertive language (quote specific examples) Grant-Davie: constraints as an aid to

writing, understanding audience

SORTING YOUR EVIDENCE

Each paragraph in the body of part two will follow roughly the same structure as part one: Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis

The one significant difference is that you will be using material from the articles to analyze your evidence

DRAFTING PART TWO

Choose a paragraph/section of your paper to begin drafting. Write a topic sentence presenting a supporting claim that

connects to your argument. Example: “In order to convince President Hitt to devote more money to the

composition program, I used quotes from the scholars and examples from my own experiences, framing the evidence with analysis and interpretation to emphasize my argument.”

DRAFTING PART TWO

Now give some context to set up your evidence, and provide evidence to support your claim (quotes, paraphrases, summaries, examples) Example:

“For example, in order to support my claim that teaching rhetorical reading is a complex task, I used an excerpt from Haas and Flower’s article, writing, ‘Christina Haas and Linda Flower, themselves experts in rhetorical reading strategies, recognize that teaching students to think rhetorically is “genuinely difficult” (136).’”

Notice that a direct quote from part one is used as evidence; summaries and paraphrases are okay too, but be sure to use some kind of specific evidence

DRAFTING PART TWO

Now analyze the evidence to connect it to your argument: explain why you did what you did. Be sure to connect your rhetorical choices to concepts from the readings. Example:

I used a direct quote because I wanted to demonstrate that teaching students to read rhetorically is not easy; teachers will need to be trained how to do it, and training costs money. Quoting the exact language Haas and Flower used lends credibility to my assertion, because they state so clearly the challenges of teaching rhetorical reading. I set up their quote with a little bit of context because I imagined that my audience, President Hitt, would not know who Haas and Flower are, and I wanted him to know that they are reliable. As Keith Grant-Davie explains, “the roles of rhetor and audience are dynamic and interdependent” (110). In this case, my choice to provide some explanation about Haas and Flower was dependent on the role that I imagined for my audience: a university President who doesn’t read specialized composition scholarship.

As you can see, the analysis part of your paragraph will probably take up the most time and space. Provide lots of detail, and connect everything back to the scholars.

DRAFTING PART TWO

REPEAT FOR EACH PARAGRAPH Topic sentence Context Evidence from part one Analysis (connect to scholars!)

+context>evidence>analysis as needed

DRAFTING PART TWO

What should your introduction do? Set ideas up; maybe make some generalizations about your

experiences in this class so far to lead in to your argument Articulate your argument Frame the structure of your paper

What should your conclusion do? Sum everything up; don’t repeat, but be sure to emphasize your

main points Point to the bigger picture: how will you be able to use your

rhetorical skills in the future? In this class, other college classes, work, life, etc.?

OPENING AND CLOSING

Introduction Include an opening and your argument

Claim 1 Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis (connect to scholars) [repeat context>evidence>analysis as needed]

Claim 2 Topic sentence Context Evidence Analysis (connect to scholars) [repeat context>evidence>analysis as needed]

Claim 3, 4, 5…(repeat for each claim that you have)Conclusion

PART TWO: THE BIG PICTURE

Education

Enc1101 Drafting Unit 1