Rhetoric Quiz
Question 1: Of the three choices I gave in the example of asking for an extension, which would you be most likely to choose and why? What does that say about you as a student?
Question 2: On the slide of the Powerpoint titled “Practicing Rhetorical Analysis”, choose one of the questions I asked and do a brief rhetorical analysis. (2-4 sentences max)
Question 3: What are the Five Canons of rhetoric and which of these still apply to modern day communication? Explain your reasoning.
Question 4: What does the term ‘epistemic’ mean? How does that impact the definition of rhetoric that Covino and Jollifee give us?
Question 5: Which image from my Powerpoint did you like the most?
***Note: Please see the attached PowerPoint to answer these questions. Thank you!
Rhetoric Power Point
Part 2
Covino & Jollifee’s Formal Definition of Rhetoric
“Rhetoric is a primary verbal, situationally contingent, epistemic art, that is both philosophical and practical and gives rise to potentially active texts” (Covino and Jolliffe 328).
This definition is accurate, but difficult to understand.
Let’s break it down into parts to get a clearer picture of what they are trying to say.
“Rhetoric is a primary verbal, situationally contingent, epistemic art, that is both philosophical and practical and gives rise to potentially active texts”
Rhetoric is a
primarily verbal
situationally contingent
epistemic art
We’re going to leave this alone. This is self-explanatory.
This translates into ‘mostly spoken’. I don’t 100% agree with this, but, in general, we tend to talk more than we write.
This means it depends on the context. In each situation, the message, delivery, or tone might change.
Epistemic refers to knowledge-creating and art is, well, art. Formally, it is something that is aesthetically interesting that can also evoke emotion.
“Rhetoric is a primary verbal, situationally contingent, epistemic art, that is both philosophical and practical and gives rise to potentially active texts”
that is both philosophical and practical
and gives rise to
potentially active
texts
Philosophical means something that is thought about or studied (in this case) whereas practical means something that is applied or used in the real world.
This antiquated phrase means it creates something.
Potentially lets us know that something can be active (or doing something), but that is does not necessarily actually do that thing.
Texts refer to anything that creates a message or meaning. Traditionally, we think of books or print, but videos, songs, even clothes and hairstyles are considered texts.
Our new Definition
We started with “Rhetoric is a primary verbal, situationally contingent, epistemic art, that is both philosophical and practical and gives rise to potentially active texts” (Covino and Jolliffe 328).
But, now, it can read like this:
Rhetoric is a mostly spoken, context-dependent knowledge-creating artform that is both something we can study and observe as well as something we actually do in the real world and it has the power to create texts that have the possibility of doing something.
Macias’ definition
Rhetoric is the study and practice of texts that might do stuff.
Seriously.
Wait.
What?
Yes, rhetoric is difficult to define as Covino and Jollifee mention in the beginning of their piece, but it also isn’t the worst thing.
You do rhetoric all the time.
You many not call it that or study it, but you know already the differences in how you might ask for information in different contexts, how you might alter your speech patterns for different audiences, and how your method of delivery might change based on time, place, or other conditions.
Let’s take a look at another great quote in Covino and Jollifee’s piece by George Kennedy on page 327.
“Rhetoric in the most General sense may perhaps be identified with the energy inherent in Communication: the emotional energy that impels the speaker to speak, the Physical energy expended in the utterance, the energy level coded in the message, and the energy experienced by the recipient in decoding the message.”
While this looks once again intimidating, it is really just a matter of describing the energy we put into making messages for an audience and how that energy is transferred.
The important part here is not so much the energy, but the flow of how rhetoric happens. See the chart I made below.
Speaker
Exigence
Utterance
Creator of Message
Reason for making the message
The message itself
Audience
Who receives the message
Understanding Rhetoric
By looking at this chart, we can see that plugging in an example shows the choices you need to make.
Let’s use the example of asking for an extension.
We will assume that you, as a student, are the speaker.
Next, your reason for asking is that you didn’t finish the paper.
We know that I am your audience.
So then, how might you ask?
Speaker
Exigence
Utterance
Audience
Student
Paper isn’t finished
Macias
?
Different Rhetorical Options
So the most obvious choice might be to send me an email.
But then again, you could also talk to me after class.
You might be even more unconventional than that and find my Twitter and @ me.
However, each of these choices has consequences.
Emails are usually formal and sometimes intimidating for freshmen to write.
Talking after class might be less formal, but also might mean Macias doesn’t remember.
Tweeting @ me is the least formal, but then that might not be taken seriously.
Rhetoric means that we make choices and what happens (or doesn’t) as a result of those choices.
Student
Paper isn’t finished
Macias
Student
Student
Paper isn’t finished
Tweet @
Macias
Paper isn’t finished
Talk after class
Macias
Rhetorical Analysis
You know, that thing you have to do for the next paper…
What is Rhetorical Analysis Then?
Rhetorical Analysis is looking at the choices that others have made in their texts and trying to figure out why they made those choices.
Take a look at the four components from Kennedy (speaker, exigence, utterance, and audience) as a starting point.
You can then analyze each component to see what the result was.
If we go back to Aristotle, he broke down the essential components to a strong text into five parts called the Canons:
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Memory
Delivery (not Digiorno)
See the Covino & Jollifee reading for more information on these (340-343).
Aristotle’s Influence
Though we don’t necessarily use all the canons from Aristotle today, we can still see how they might be useful for a society that based most communication on the oral tradition rather than a written one.
Remember, writing, at this time, was expensive and seen as a passing fad for well-to-do people, not the average person who was likely illiterate.
Today, we have the highest rate of literacy ever and we make good use of it through modern technological applications like social media, texting, and having written sources like news articles at our fingertips at all times.
Questions for Rhetorical Analysis
When doing a strong rhetorical analysis, you should begin by asking these six questions as outlined in Losh & Alexander (61).
1.) Who is the intended audience for the text?
2.) What is the purpose of the text?
3.) Does the author seem credible? Why or why not?
4.) What is your gut reaction to the text? What emotions does it evoke?
5.) How are the elements arranged or organized? Does the arrangement seem logical?
6.) When and where was the text written? Was it timely given the context? Why or why not?
Practicing Rhetorical
Analysis
The main idea with rhetorical analysis is to ask ‘Why?’
Why did the creator/author decide to do what they did instead of something else?
For example, we can rhetorically analyze things like this ad:
Who is the creator?
Why did they use a dog and a bird?
What is the purpose of this ad?
Why did they arrange it this way?
Why is the bird in the front?
Why is the dog in the center?
Why is the product on the right?
By asking questions, we start to reveal some interesting patterns and thus are doing rhetorical analysis.
That’s It!
Now it’s time for your quiz.
It is 10 questions long and all the answers should be available in this Powerpoint.
It is timed, so make sure you are ready before beginning and that you have power…
And in the famous words of RuPaul