11.20/11.23
• Due: You brought Five Steps and
worked through the rhetorical
analysis section.
• warm-up: valid or invalid?
• activity 1: vocab. 5 quiz.
• activity 2: enthymemes! You
know what I meme???
• activity 3: How I make good FRQ
out of Englisher wordings?
• close: YOUR FACE IS A LOGICAL
FALLACY!!!!
FRI/MON
11.20/23: Vocab. 5 quiz
11.24/11.30: FRQ (graded)
12.3/4: Argumentation quiz 2
(enthymemes, logical fallacies,
syllogisms)
12.11/14: Vocab. 6 quiz
12.15/16: Argumentation test
12.17/18: Argumentation FRQ
11.20/23 warm-up: VALID/INVALID?
• What’s wrong with these?
• EXAMPLE 1
• All people are born with equal rights
• Some people are, however, born with physical disabilities
• Therefore some people are not equal
• EXAMPLE 2
• Equal rights must be a guaranteed right
• Some people are denied equal rights
• Therefore all people must have their equal rights guaranteed
• EXAMPLE 3
• Burning fossil fuels causes global warming
• Kampolmi drives a car that burns fossil fuels (that jerk!)
• Therefore Kampolmi is responsible for global warming (get him!)
11.20/23 warm-up: your face is a logical fallacy
• EXAMPLE 1: This is called equivocation. I have used the same word (equal) but two
different definitions of the word. That’s not right of me. I shouldn’t be so fallacious.
• All people are born with equal rights
• Some people are, however, born with physical disabilities
• Therefore some people are not equal
• EXAMPLE 2: This is called begging the question or circular reasoning. A = C because
C = A.
• Equal rights must be a guaranteed right
• Some people are denied equal rights
• Therefore all people must have their equal rights guaranteed
• EXAMPLE 3: I done jumped to a conclusion! This is probably a little post hoc but it is
stronger hasty generalization—it’s a small sample size theater!
• Burning fossil fuels causes global warming
• Kampolmi drives a car that burns fossil fuels (that jerk!)
• Therefore Kampolmi is responsible for global warming (get him!)
11.20/23 warm-up: your face is a logical
fallacy
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One more?
All archaeologists can be trusted to report accurately on ancient history
Ken Barson is not an archaeologist
Therefore I should believe him when he says that his “own personal theory
is that Joseph [of the Old Testament] built the pyramids to store grain.”
• Hmmmm . . .
• This is called appeal to doubtful authority.
• Unless, of course, there is visual evidence to confirm his first hand
knowledge of these theories . . .
11.20/11.23 warm-up: Logical fallacies
• Here are the fallacies you need to
know (some are in the book; some
aren’t):
• Begging the question/circular
reasoning
• Ad hominem
• Hasty generalization
• False dilemma
• Equivocation
• Red herring
• Tu quoque
• Appeal to doubtful authority
• Post hoc
• Non sequitur
• Slippery slope
• Bandwagon
• Next class we’ll work these and get
working definitions for them.
11.20/11.23 quiz: Vocab. 5
• Usual quiz procedures.
• POST QUIZ: enthymeme practice next page
11.23 post-quiz: Enthymeme
• Identify what is missing from each enthymeme: the major premise,
minor premise or the conclusion.
• “He must be un-American because he supports progressive
immigration reform.”
• “Josh will succeed in life because he studied rhetoric.”
• "I wanted to serve as President because I love this country and
because I love the people of this Nation.“ -- Jimmy Carter, 1980
Concession Address
11.23 post-quiz: Enthymeme
• Why use an enthymeme?
• Statement is obvious.
• Revealing statement may weaken the force of the argument.
• It might be better to let the audience infer the argument.
• How do you recognize enthymemes?
• They often are compound sentences, with the two clauses linked by
words such as for, so, therefore, consequently.
• They may also be complex sentences with the clauses joined by words
such as since or because.
11.20/11.23 post-quiz: Enthymeme practice
• He must be happy because he’s
smiling all the time.
• Syllogism 1
• People who smile all the time are
happy
• He smiles all the time
• Therefore he’s happy
• OR
• Syllogism 2
• People who are happy all the time
smile
• He smiles all the time
• Therefore he’s happy.
• What’s wrong here?
• We can’t deduce exactly what he is
based on the evidence.
• (Yes, we can try to work something
like “Some people who are happy
smile all the time” but the
conclusion still is wonky.)
• And that’s why deduction can’t be
perfect.
• Induction works much better here
and you should be able to structure
that.
• So why don’t you?
11.20/11.23 post-quiz: Enthymeme practice
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Syllogisms are rigid.
That’s what they’re supposed to be.
They have a few basic structures.
All, all, all
All people are mortal; all students are people; all students are mortal
No, all, no
No AP students have “F”s; all of you are AP students; no one in here is failing.
All, some, some
All AP students take APUSH; some of you are AP students; some of you take APUSH.
et cetera
This is starting to get into symbolic logic, but can be useful in its own way, right Wikipedia?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism#Examples
Linked to my website. Use these structures if you feel like you need to test the validity of
your arguments.
• You won’t be quizzed or tested per se on these structures, so please don’t memorize them.
• Let’s move on to FRQing.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
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So again, the essays are graded on a nine-point rubric.
It’s helpful to think of it in terms of grades.
9 = 100
8 = 95
7 = 90
6 = 85
5 = 80
4 = 75
3 = 70
2 = 65
1 = pictures of food
This is how I’ll represent the grades in the gradebook then.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• Turn to p. 70.
• The book suggests the following:
• 1-3 minutes reading and working
the prompt.
• 5 minutes reading and annotating
the passage
• 10 minutes outlining
• 20 minutes writing
• 3 minutes proofreading.
• I’m probably more like . . .
• 1 minute for the prompt
• 10 minutes reading, annotating
and outlining
• 20-30 minutes writing.
• Proofread? I ain’t got time for that.
• If you’ve already finished your
other two essays, then heck yeah
proofread.
• But the graders know to expect a
rough draft, so don’t worry about it
too much.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• So let’s work the prompt!
• The following paragraphs are from the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
After carefully reading the excerpt, write a well organized essay in which you
characterize Capote’s view of Holcomb, Kansas, and analyze how Capote conveys
this view. Your analysis may consider such stylistic elements as diction, imagery,
syntax, structure, tone and selection of detail. (Take that Oxford comma!)
• So the book annotates it this way:
• The following paragraphs are from the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold
Blood. After carefully reading the excerpt, write a well organized essay in which
you characterize Capote’s view of Holcomb, Kansas, and analyze how Capote
conveys this view. Your analysis may consider such stylistic elements as diction,
imagery, syntax, structure, tone and selection of detail.
• So in other words the whole thing.
• What do you actually need out of this thing?
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• The following paragraphs are from the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. After
carefully reading the excerpt, write a well organized essay in which you characterize
Capote’s view of Holcomb, Kansas, and analyze how Capote conveys this view. Your
analysis may consider such stylistic elements as diction, imagery, syntax, structure, tone
and selection of detail.
• Capote’s view Holcomb and how he conveys it.
• That’s it. Your answer two questions, then.
• What is his view on Holcomb? What rhetoric does he use to convey it?
• And it’s always this, regardless of the wording or the writer.
• What’s his view? How does he convey it?
• Answer those two questions now.
• Now let’s go into the prompt and annotate that tasty sucker for everything it’s worth!
Once more into the breach (that’s from 2 Henry IV the superior sequel to the
Shakespeare play you’re reading in a few months. Rats.).
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
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Paragraph 1
“plains are a lonesome area.”
“ ‘out there.’ ”
“hard blue skies”
“barbed accent”
“views are awesome”
“horses, cattle, elevators are Greek
temples”
• What stands out among this evidence?
• Paragraph 2
• “Holcomb, too can be seen, but not much
to see.”
• “aimless congregation of buildings”
• “haphazard hamlet”
• “streets are unnamed, unshaded,
unpaved”
• “irrelevant sign”
• “dirty”
• “ramshackle”
• So what do you notice about the diction
choices here that compares (and
contrasted) with the first paragraph?
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• Paragraph 3
• “melancholy”
• spec. people mentioned.
• What connects them?
• Paragraph 4
• “And that is all”
• money is outside of town
• Paragraph 5
• transition with “Until”
• similes connect back to
paragraphs 1-3
• “ordinary life”
• moves away from description
• So what do I make out of all
this?
• It’s not that different than what
the book says.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• Paragraph 1: Emptiness and isolation of
the impressive landscape, a landscape
that inspires awe and dwarfs everything
else.
• Paragraph 2: C&C with the town of
Holcomb which is insignificant. It is, in
fact, “irrelevant.” But the setting suggests
something almost akin to a “Greek”
drama, something important will happen.
• Paragraph 3: The people are tiny, small,
“meagerly supplied” with information
from the outside world. Description
description description.
• Paragraph 4 I’m basically going to ignore.
I don’t see what I can do with that
because it doesn’t fit into my scheme.
• Paragraph 5: Similes connect the events
that will happen in the town back to the
impressive, dominating landscape, the
insignificant and somewhat backwards
people.
• Now answer the two questions.
• What is Capote’s view? How he do that?
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• What is Capote’s view of
Holcomb?
• Lonesome and isolated
• Flat and extensive
• as a Greek temple
• insignificant people, irrelevant
town
• something important happened
but not because of the town or
people
• What techniques does he use to
convey that view?
• Description
• Description
• Simile
• C&C
• Simile
• I should have enough now to
write my essay.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• Intro checklist:
• Include the author’s name and
title.
• Capote’s view of Holcomb.
• Specific mention of techniques he
uses to convey this view.
• Write your intro now
• Body paragraphs checklist:
• Claim: Begin with a claim that relates
directly back to thesis. Claim will tell
your audience what you’re trying to
prove.
• Grounds: Support reading of the text
(your claim) with evidence.
• Warrant: Connect that back explicitly
to your thesis if needed. At the very
least, explain your evidence.
• No evidence in claim (probably).
• Don’t end with evidence.
• Make sure all evidence connects and
support claim.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• It’s mythic, those wide open spaces of the American west. Images of
cowboys and mountain ranges dot our American imagination. But it’s also a
lonely, isolated existence for those who have to actually live there. Truman
Capote seems to understand this dichotomy in these open paragraphs from
In Cold Blood. Vividly describing the solitude and beauty of the Kansas
plains, Capote compares this mythic description to the ordinary, “irrelevant”
nature of life in Holcomb, Kansas. Holcomb figuratively takes on the
paradox of American life: we live ordinarily in an awesome landscape.
• BP 1: Capote’s description of the “high [ . . . ] plains” elevates the landscape
to one worthy of praise. Capote notes that while “lonesome” and “ ‘out
there,’ ” there is something about this “hard” landscape that is mythical. He
compares the “awesomely extensive” views to graceful “Greek temples” as if
this landscape is ambered in time. Capote’s diction suggests the promise of a
boundless but hard American vision. It’s tough to imagine anything living
fulfilling the promise of this landscape. By contrast, any life lived here would
have to be ordinary.
• Identify my claims, ground, warrant.
11.20/11.23 notes: Writing FRQs
• Vividly describing the solitude and beauty of the Kansas plains, Capote
compares this mythic description to the ordinary, “irrelevant” nature of life
in Holcomb, Kansas. Holcomb figuratively takes on the paradox of American
life: we live ordinarily in an awesome landscape.
• CLAIM: Capote’s description of the “high [ . . . ] plains” elevates the
landscape to one worthy of praise.
• GROUNDS: Capote notes that while “lonesome” and “ ‘out there,’ ” there is
something about this “hard” landscape that is mythical. He compares the
“awesomely extensive” views to graceful “Greek temples” as if this landscape
is ambered in time.
• WARRANT: Capote’s diction suggests the promise of a boundless but hard
American vision. It’s tough to imagine anything living fulfilling the promise of
this landscape. By contrast, any life lived here would have to be ordinary.
• I have given myself space to transition into my second BP.
• I’d like to see you write it.
11.20/11.23 CLOSE: Enthymeme practice
• Create a syllogism for each enthymeme.
• Because 29.8 percent of James Thurber’s sentences are simple sentences, we can say
that a good part of his essay is easy to understand.
• He must be happy because he’s smiling all the time.
• Because 29.8 percent of James Thurber’s sentences are simple sentences, we can say
that a good part of his essay is easy to understand.
• Syllogism 1:
• Some simple sentences are easy to understand.
• Some of Thurber’s sentences are simple.
• Therefore most of his essay is easy to understand
• Syllogism 2:
• All essays composed of simple sentences are easy to understand.
• Some of Thurber’s sentences are simple.
• Therefore some of Thurber’s essay is easy to understand.
CLOSE and HW
• So I’ll have these paragraphs you
wrote back to you by the beginning
of next class.
• FRQ next class.
• Anyhow.
• Get definitions for all those logical
fallacies from the beginning of class.
Here they are again.
• Don’t forget: the firs three pages of
your rough draft are due on
12.1/12.2. You will still have HW
during this time period, but you
won’t have any over Thanksgiving
besides reading one tiny essay.
Please make sure you have a works
cited with your draft.
• (If you want to start, it’s “The Singer
Solution” in Shea’s.)
11.20/11.23
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Begging the question/circular reasoning
Ad hominem
Hasty generalization
False dilemma
Equivocation
Red herring
Tu quoque
Appeal to doubtful authority
Post hoc
Non sequitur
Slippery slope
Bandwagon
http://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resource
s/fallacy-definitions