Unit 1
RWS 100 Fall 2015
San Diego State University
Instructor: Susan Lee Duba
Let’s Review
What we’ve learned in week one – some basics:
 Why we study argument
 Developing a rhetorical self consciousness
 Thinking about texts rhetorically (what they do, not
what they say)
 “Text” can mean anything that can be “read” (yay
visual rhetoric!)
 Rhetoric is everywhere and multi-faceted depending on
purpose
More Week One - Rhetoric Basics
 Rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) – remember
that an appeal is NOT the strategy, but the result of a
strategy the author uses
 Rhetorical Triangle (rhetor, audience, argument)
 Rhetorical Situation (context around the argument)
 Rhetor, message, audience, social and historical
context, and the broader conversation
Argument
 Elements of an argument
 claims
 subclaims
 evidence,
 strategies
 assumptions
Claims and Assumptions in Kristof
Claims
 Par. 2
 Par. 4
Assumptions
 Par. 2 – that guns should be regulated
 Par. 4 – that the way things are handled now isn’t rational
 Par. 15 – that the audience will be persuaded by examples
from other countries
 Par. 15 – that there is a correlation between regulation and
a reduction in gun crime/death
Macro-charting of Kristoff
 Par. 1-7: Placing gun violence in a framework of
public health
 Par. 8-10: Rebuttals
 Par. 11-19: Solutions
 Par. 20: Conclusion
 Some other things in Kristoff:
 Prolepsis (addressing and countering a possible
opposing argument)
 Par. 9 & 10
 Appeals to pathos (not a strategy)
 Par. 11
 Par. 20
An introduction to
Clive
Thompson
Technology writer for the New York
Times Magazine and columnist for
Wired, Mother Jones and Smithsonian.
Specializes in the technology and
how the average person uses them
About his book: Thompson on CBS
This Morning
Homework due Wed 9/2
Read Chapter 2 (pp. 27-38) in EOA
Reading Response on Thompson (on BB Discussion) (due
9/2)
 Identify and explain Thompson’s main claim and
subclaims
 Identify and explain three types of evidence Thompson
uses to support these claims
 Identify and explain the techniques
Working with Thompson
Wednesday, September 2
 “Public Thinking” is an apologia (a written defense)
 Project: an apologia/defense of the phenomenon of
the new writing being produced online
 Larger conversation: technology and writing and the
overall effect of one on the other, and on society as a
whole
Macro-charting Thompson
pp. 45-51 (middle) – Introduction and background of
conversation and situation
pp. 51-58 (middle) – First four subclaims
pp. 58-61 – Last subclaim and a concluding claim
pp. 66-69 – continuation of previous claim support
Toulmin Analysis of “Public Thinking”
Primary Claim: The vast increase in public writing inspired by the
internet is good for society.

Claim written another way: The increase in internet writing is a
good thing

Data/Reason/Grounds: because it stimulates public thinking.

Warrant (unspoken assumption): We believe that good thinking
is connected to good writing.


Another warrant: Public thinking is valuable to society &
culture (a basic democratic value) (collectivist concept more
valuable than individualist)
Backing (the support for the warrant): belief in democracy and
that people’s ideas are important
Micro-charting Thompson
In small groups, micro-chart your group’s assigned section.
Focus on identifying claims, subclaims, evidence, and if you
see any rebuttals. If you notice something makes an appeal,
make a note of it on your text.
Group 1: 45-47
Group 2: 48-51 (middle at the break)
Group 3: 51-57 (up to new paragraph)
Group 4: 57 (middle) – 61
Group 5: 66-69
Micro-charting Topics
 Main argument in Thompson
 Five primary claims
 Subclaims
 Evidence for each claim
 How does he establish ethos through the text?
 Techniques
Homework for Fri 9/4
1. Finish charting/annotating Thompson (can be a chart
on the text, argument map, list, rough outline).
Doesn’t have to be everything in the text (just do a few
for now), but bring something to Friday’s class.
1.
Claims, Evidence, Rebuttals
2.
Techniques
3.
Potential problems with the text (if you notice any)
2. Read TSIS Part One (pp. 1-51) on paraphrasing,
quoting, and summarizing
* Very important for writing paper
Working with Thompson
Friday, September 4th
Some of the claims in Thompson
Public thinking is good for society because it:
1.
clarifies our thinking (epistemic – related to knowledge –
nature of writing (51)
2.
is audience centered (52), which can be transformative (5657)
3.
improves memory (57)  a throwaway
4.
creates audiences in non-democratic countries (57), starting
with small talk (58)
5.
enhances connections (theory of multiples) (58), although
most of these examples come from pre-internet times (58-9)
Rhetorical Situation of
“Public Thinking”
Some questions to consider:
1.
Who is Thompson and what type of writer is he? What
stance is he taking? What are his beliefs, values, and
assumptions?
2.
What is the text’s message? How is it constructed? How
does the text create meaning? How are these meanings
influenced by Thompson?
3.
What is Thompson’s audience? Why? What is the purpose
for writing?
4.
In what historical context was the text written? How does
the context affect the text’s meaning?
Potential problems with the text?
 Democratizing china – argument of direction
(although not a negative outcome like usually thought
of with slippery slope fallacy)
 Qualifiers (Probably, etc.) – can be helpful or hurtful
depending on what you expect
 Non-democratic countries and internet connection
doesn’t always work
 ISIS uses social media for recruiting (Used for non-
democratic means)
Paper 1 Prompt
In “Public Thinking,” Clive Thompson considers the role
of social media, particularly blogging, in changing the way
we create, share, and think about arguments in civic
discourse.
In this essay, you will be identifying important features of
Thompson’s argument and evaluating the extent to which
those features help him persuade his audience to accept
the argument’s main claim.
Your essay should be in the 4-6 page range and engage in
the following work:
First, describe Thompson’s argument, including what you
see as his central claim and the most important or
interesting sub-claims leading up to that larger idea,
explaining how those sub-claims relate to the overall
claim.
Second, identify and analyze three different types of
evidence Thompson uses that are connected to those
claims. Evaluate both the strength and weakness of each
particular piece of evidence in the context of the subclaim it supports and the argument as a whole.
Third, analyze the ways in which Thompson uses two
different techniques to develop and/or organize his text
and evaluate the extent to which those techniques help
guide the reader’s understanding of the argument and
persuade the reader to accept Thompson’s argument.
These techniques might include:
 establishing significance
 answering possible objections
 responding to the larger conversation
 use of metadiscourse and transitions, etc.
Important Dates:
 September 11th: hard copy of rough draft due in class
for Peer Workshop
 September 14-16th: Conferencing – Class canceled on
Sept 14th and Sept 16th (draft must be a revision from
the rough draft – no credit if same as rough draft;
bring both rough draft and revised draft to conference)
 September 18th: Final draft due to Turnitin (Bboard)
and hard copy in class
Homework for Wed 9/9
Due: Complete outline or map of your paper with:
Selected claims, evidence, and techniques you will
analyze
(Bring a hard copy to turn in to me at the end of class.)
Drafting Paper One
Wednesday, September 9th
Last time:
 Group work breaking down the text into the major claims,
evidence, and some techniques in “Public Thinking”
Today, you should have brought with you:
A complete plan, map, or outline of your paper with:
 selected claims
 accompanying evidence
 and specific techniques you will analyze
Plan for today:
 How to turn your plan/outline into paper one
 What a rhetorical analysis paper looks like
 Introductions
 Using quotations
 Conclusions
Drafting Paper 1
Turning your outline into a paper:
Your paper should have all the basic elements of an
academic paper such as:
Introduction (rhetorical moves in the intro are important)
Body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, textual
evidence to illustrate your points
Conclusion
Rhetorical Analysis Body Paragraph Structure
1.
Topic sentence establishing the main point of the paragraph
2.
Context to guide the reader (explain the claim you’re analyzing from Thompson,
and the identification and explanation of the connection to his overall argument
should be explained here, which sets up the example you’ll provide)
3.
Quote sandwich (still applies even for summary and paraphrase, but different)

Will be the example from the text to illustrate your point (will need some context from
the text because quotes shouldn’t be too long)

Explanation of the illustration – what do you want your readers to get out of this
example? Use the prompt to guide you (you can explain three claims and three pieces
evidence, as in one per claim, or have one claim with three pieces of evidence, or a
combination) How many claims will dictate how you structure your essay
4.
Explain how the claim you’ve identified, even if it’s the same one – making that
connection for your reader about the claim and the evidence is important.
5.
Conclude each paragraph by discussing the effectiveness of that piece of evidence
as it supports the argument as a whole
Sample Paragraphs online
Quote Sandwich
Top slice = introduction & framing
(advance your point or interpretation of the
author’s claim, or what the author is doing)
The meat/tofu = the actual quotation
Bottom slice = explain, restate, discuss
significance. Why is it important, and what
do you take it to say?
Writing Introductions
Specifically, based on conventions for introductions in
academic writing, you will:
Introduce to the topic and its significance
Introduce Thompson’s project text and central claim (including
him, the title of the text, and his overall argument)
State your own clear thesis (a thesis about the text – you may
not have this for the first draft so use a placeholder)
and a project statement, which clearly says what you will do in
the paper (In this paper, I will analyze…)
Quick Guide to Quotations
1. Choose Carefully - Choose what you want to use carefully. Make
sure you need the quotation to illustrate your point, and that it
connects closely with the point you are making.
2. Introduce or “frame” - You should ‘set up’ or introduce
quotations – don’t just insert them into your text without providing
some background. This means they should be introduced with your
own words. You should use introductory phrases that provide context
or say what the author is doing in the section of the text the quotation
comes from– for example, “Author X is concerned about global
warming, and describes her alarm in the following terms. She writes,
[insert quotation]…
3. Integrate - Make the quoted words fit the language (part of speech
and verb tense) of your writing. You may need to carefully select parts
of the quotation to do this.
4. Explain and analyze - EXPLAIN the relevance of any direct quote
you include to the analysis you’re doing within that paragraph or
section. Never just leave a quote hanging on its own (aka the
“dangling” or “drive-by” quotation, as Graff and Birkenstein put it.)
5. Always Cite - Always cite the text, author, page number, etc. you
are using..
6. Maintain Your Voice (handle attributions) - Sometimes when a
writer is paraphrasing the ideas of others the viewpoints get mixed up
and the reader finds it difficult to know who is saying what. The
writer needs to provide good "cueing" so that the reader always
knows the difference between what the writer believes and what the
source believes.
Writing Conclusions
All conclusions will:
 Reiterate the topic and the significance (so what?),
highlighting the ways that this essay has made that
clear. Don’t summarize the paper or restate the thesis.
Specifically, this prompt requires you:
 Conclude with an evaluation of Thompson’s overall
argument and its significance
Fri 9/11
Due Friday:

Before you begin writing, read TSIS Ch 7 (“So What? Who
Cares?”

Bring a completed rough draft hard copy of your paper for Peer
Workshop. Only papers that meet this requirement will be given
full credit.

It must include an MLA header, page numbers, and be stapled

Do NOT lose this paper once your peer returns it to you –
you turn it in to me with the final draft for credit.

There is NO credit for missing the Peer Workshop and
having someone else review it outside of class. Also, your
final paper grade will suffer if you miss the workshop/don’t
do a rough draft.
Don’t forget to turn in your outline
plan homework
Paper One
Peer Review Workshop
Friday, September 11th
Peer Review Workshop
To receive full credit for the workshop, remember to:
 Have a full draft for your peer to review.
 Write your name on the worksheet (Author: Name)
 After exchanging both documents, write your name as the
reviewer at the top of the first page of the paper and sign
and date it next to your name (Reviewer: Name). Also
write your name as a reviewer on the worksheet.
 Bring the worksheet your peer completed and your paper
with comments to your conference.
Next Week:
 Conferences in lieu of class Monday and Tuesday
 If your conference is Wednesday, I expect a more
complete revised draft than if it’s Monday. You’ll only
have two days to revise again before it’s due.
 Friday: The final draft of Paper One is due – online to
BB’s Turnitin and hard copy to me in class. Failure to
bring the hard copy or to submit the Tii version will be
considered late and it will affect your grade.
 Library Day – Will not be on Friday, so meet in
normal classroom. Library Day date TBD.
Submitting to Turnitin
 Go to BB
 Select “Assignments” from the left panel
 Click “View/Complete” and upload the FINAL draft
of your paper
Submitting Hard Copy:
 Follow MLA, particularly heading in the upper LEFT
corner of paper, include page numbers with your last name
in upper RIGHT of the HEADER (do not manually type
this on every page).
 Staple it. There are staplers in the library and at the
bookstore. Buy one if you do not have one.
 Include a Works Cited page (not bibliography or references)
 Include your first draft with peer comments, peer review
worksheet, and the revised draft with my comments from
conference along with your hard copy final draft. Put them
in order from newest to oldest.