Write a letter using rhetorical strategy
Directions: You will choose ONE scenario from below and write a letter.
Scenarios: Write a one-page letter for one of the following:
- You’ve been passed over for a promotion at work by somebody you feel is less qualified than you are. Moreover, this person is related to the boss. You have been working for this company for a long time and you want to convince your boss that you are deserving of a promotion.
- You are breaking up with your significant other after having been with them for a year. You have tried working on your issues with your partner, but they are too busy with other serious obligations (like a demanding job or a family illness) that are taking their attention away from you. You want to write them a letter explaining to them that you want to end on good terms, but you’ve fallen for their supportive friend.
BEFORE writing your letter, use at least three different strategies. (I have chosen strategies to use for writing the letter, see the attached file for explanation)
The first rhetorical strategy that I would use is Cause and Effect analysis.
The second rhetorical appeal I would use is Pathos.
The third rhetorical appeal that I would use is Metaphors, Analogies and Similes
Grading Guidelines:
- Prewriting Assignment: at least three strategies/appeals are discussed with a clear how and why
- Participates in Discussion Board: initial post, responds to one classmate, and selects which letter is most effective
- Writes an effective letter
Clearly geared toward a specific audience with appropriate strategies in mind
In body paragraph, start with a friendly opening and then state your main point. The next paragraph should state importance of main point. And closing paragraph should restate the purpose of the letter and sometimes request for some type of action
Presents a clear message with appropriate tone and details
Meets the technical requirements of whatever genre the student is writing in (letter)Proper letter format for given situation (formal vs. informal)
MLA for PREWRITING Appeals Assignment*
I n t r o d u c t i o n t o R h e t o r i c a l S t r a t e g i e s
Writers don’t just randomly sit down and talk about a topic. They first consider the point that they
want to make—the argument. Next, they consider their audience. Finally, they consider the best way
to put forth that argument to that particular audience.
What types of evidence will they use? What tone will they adopt? What strategies will be most
persuasive to that audience?
Rhetorical strategies are tools that help writers craft language so as to have an effect on readers.
Strategies are means of persuasion, a way of using language to get readers’ attention and agreement.
At times, a professor may ask you to discuss the rhetorical strategies used within a text. In
that case, it’s not enough to simply identify those strategies and to state that they are there.
In your writing or your discussion, you will need to ask and answer certain questions. Why
does the author choose to use that strategy in that place? What does he or she want to evoke
in the reader? How do these strategies help the author build his or her argument? How do
these strategies emphasize the claims the author makes or the evidence he or she uses?
When describing why a strategy is used, you may also want to consider alternative strategies,
and think about how they would work differently. It might be helpful to consider what would
happen if the strategy were left out – what difference would it make to the argument? This may
help you figure out why the particular strategy was chosen.
When Discussing Rhetorical Strategies, Remember to:
1. Identify rhetorical strategies in the text
2. Describe how they work
3. Describe why they are used – what purpose do they accomplish?
4. Always include a discussion of how this strategy helps the author develop and support the
argument.
The following is a list of commonly used strategies and questions that will help you consider
why the author may have chosen to use those strategies.
Authorities or “big names” – Frequently an author will quote from a famous person or well-
known authority on the topic being discussed.
• How does this appeal to authority build trust in her argument that the consensus can be
trusted?
• How does this appeal tap into assumptions about scientific method
Cause and effect analysis: Analyzes why something happens and describes the consequences
of a string of events.
• Does the author examine past events or their outcomes?
• Is the purpose to inform, speculate, or argue about why an identifiable fact happens the
way it does?
Commonplaces – Also known as hidden assumptions, hidden beliefs, and ideologies.
Commonplaces include assumptions, many of them unconscious, that groups of people hold in
common.
• What hidden assumptions or beliefs does the speaker have about the topic? How is the
speaker or author appealing to the hidden assumptions of the audience?
• Who is the intended audience of this piece? What are some assumptions of this
intended audience?
Comparison and contrast: Discusses similarities and differences.
• Does the text contain two or more related subjects?
• How are they alike? different?
• How does this comparison further the argument or a claim?
Definition –When authors define certain words, these definitions are specifically formulated
for the specific purpose he or she has in mind. In addition, these definitions are crafted uniquely
for the intended audience.
• Who is the intended audience?
• Does the text focus on any abstract, specialized, or new terms that need further
explanation so the readers understand the point?
• How has the speaker or author chosen to define these terms for the audience?
• What effect might this definition have on the audience, or how does this definition help
further the argument?
Description: Details sensory perceptions of a person, place, or thing.
• Does a person, place, or thing play a prominent role in the text?
• Does the tone, pacing, or overall purpose of the essay benefit from sensory details?
• What emotions might these details evoke in the audience? (See Pathos)
• How does this description help the author further the argument?
Division and classification: Divides a whole into parts or sorts related items into categories.
• Is the author trying to explain a broad and complicated subject?
• Does it benefit the text to reduce this subject to more manageable parts to focus the
discussion?
Exemplification: Provides examples or cases in point.
• What examples, facts, statistics, cases in point, personal experiences, or interview
questions does the author add to illustrate claims or illuminate the argument?
• What effect might these have on the reader?
Ethos – Aristotle’s term ethos refers to the credibility, character or personality of the speaker
or author or someone else connected to the argument. Ethos brings up questions of ethics and
trust between the speaker or author and the audience. How is the speaker or author building
credibility for the argument? How and why is the speaker or author trying to get the audience
to trust her or him? See the discussion on Aristotelian Appeals in the textbook.
• Aristotle says that a speaker builds credibility by demonstrating that he or she is fair,
knowledgeable about a topic, trustworthy, and considerate.
• What specifically does the author do to obtain the reader’s trust? How does he or she
show fairness? Understanding of the topic? Trustworthy? Considerate of the reader’s
needs?
• How does she construct credibility for her argument?
Identification – This is rhetorician Kenneth Burke’s term for the act of “identifying” with
another person who shares your values or beliefs. Many speakers or authors try to identify
with an audience or convince an audience to identify with them and their argument.
• How does the author build a connection between himself or herself and the audience?
Logos – Loosely defined, logos refers to the use of logic, reason, facts, statistics, data, and
numbers. Very often, logos seems tangible and touchable, so much more real and “true” than
other rhetorical strategies that it does not seem like a persuasive strategy at all. See the
discussion on Aristotelian Appeals in the textbook.
• How and why does the author or speaker chose logos?
• How does the author show there are good reasons to support his or her argument?
• What kinds of evidence does he or she use?
Metadiscourse – Metadiscourse can be described as language about language. It announces to
the reader what the writer is doing, helping the reader to recognize the author’s plan.
(Example: In my paper . . .) Metadiscourse can be used both to announce the overall project or
purpose of the paper and to announce its argument. It also provides signposts along the way,
guiding the reader to what will come next and showing how that is connected to what has
come before. See the discussion of Metadiscourse in the textbook for more details.
• Metadiscourse can signal the tone the author wants to convey. What is the author’s
voice in this paper? How does she enter in and guide the reader through the text?
• What role does she adopt? What voice does she use?
Metaphors, analogies, similes –An analogy compares two parallel terms or situations in
which the traits of one situation are argued to be similar to another—often one relatively firm
and concrete, and the other less familiar and concrete. This allows the author to use concrete,
easily understood ideas, to clarify a less obvious point.
Similarly, metaphors and similes assign help an author frame the argument, to pay attention to
some elements of a situation and ignore others or to assign the characteristics of one thing to
another. For example, see “The Power of Green” by Thomas Friedman in this reader.
• What two things are being compared?
• How does this comparison help an audience view the argument in a new way? How
does this frame shape the argument?
Motive – Sometimes an author may reference the motives of his or her opponents.
• Why we should or shouldn’t trust someone’s argument –(ex. if the CEO of Krispy
Kreme doughnuts argues against nutritional information on product packaging)
Narration: Recounts an event.
• Is the narrator trying to report or recount an anecdote, an experience, or an event? Is it
telling a story?
• How does this narrative illustrate or clarify the claim or argument?
• What effect might this story have on the audience?
• How does this narrative further the argument?
Pathos – Pathos refers to feelings. The author or speaker wants her audience to feel the same
emotions she is feeling, whether or not they agree on the actual topic. That way, because they
feel the same emotions, they are more likely to agree with the author later on. See the
discussion on Aristotelian Appeals in the textbook.
• What specific emotions does the author evoke?
• How does she do it?
• How does the author use these emotions as a tool to persuade the audience?
Precedent – When an author or speaker argues from precedent, he or she references a previous
situation, one that can be compared to the author’s situation.
• Does the author reference any historic instances that he or she claims are similar to the
one being discussed?
• What details about this historic situation help the author’s argument?
Prolepsis – Anticipating the opposition’s best argument and addressing it in advance.
• Readers interact with the texts they read, and often that interaction includes
disagreement or asking questions of the text.
• Authors can counter disagreement by answering anticipating the opposition and
introducing it within the text. Authors then respond to it.
Process analysis: Explains to the reader how to do something or how something happens.
• Were any portions of the text more clear because concrete directions about a certain
process were included?
• How does this help the author develop the argument?
Questions –
Rhetorical question – A question designed to have one correct answer. The author leads you
into a position rather than stating it explicitly.
• What is the most obvious answer to this question?
• Why is it important to have the reader answer this question? How does it help the
author persuade the audience?
Transitional questions – Lead the reader into a new subject area or area of argument.
• What role do these questions play? How do these questions lead the direction of the
argument?
• How is this helpful for the reader?
Structure and Organization
It is important to consider the organization of information and strategies in any text.
• How does this structure or organization help strength the argument?
• What headings or titles does the author use? How do these strengthen the argument?
Some elements of structure to consider:
Type of Organization:
• Topical: The argument is organized according to subtopics, like describing a baby’s bubble
bath first in terms of the soap used, then the water conditions, and lastly the type of towels.
• Chronological: The argument is organized to describe information in time order, like a
baseball game from the first pitch to the last at-bat.
• Spatial: The argument follows a visual direction, such as describing a house from the inside
to the outside, or a person from their head down to their toes.
• Problem – Solution: The argument presents a problem and a possible solution, such as
making coffee at home to avoid spending extra money.
• Cause and effect: Describes the relationship between the cause or catalyst of an event and
the effect, like identifying over-consumption of candy as the cause of tooth decay.
Logical Order of Information:
• Inductive: Moving from one specific example to draw a general conclusion.
• Deductive: Moving from a generalized theory or assumption to decide the causes or
characteristics of a specific example or event.
• Linear: The argument is told in linear order, scaffolding information or reasoning.
• Circular: Supporting the argument using assumptions or information from the argument
itself.
• Recursive: The text consistently moves forward, but circles back on specific points in the
process.
*Portions of this discussion modified from “Rhetorical Strategies for Essay Writing,”
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/lshulman/rhetoric.htm