Ethos Story

Project 1  Ethos Story

This assignment asks you to write out a true story from your past, using that story to establish a positive ethos for yourself.

Ethos, as we'll discuss a lot more thoroughly, is one of the three primary tools of rhetoric. It is persuasion by means of who the speaker is. So to establish a positive ethos with an audience, you'll need to determine

1. what characteristics that audience is likely to find agreeable or interesting; and

2. which of these characteristics you can emphasize in yourself without setting off the audience's b.s. meter (see illustration below).

As preparation for this paper, we will read a large number of samples in which various writers establish various ethoi for themselves. We will discuss story structure, and how a reader comes to believe a story is complete and interesting (or doesn't believe these things). We will also use this paper to model a large number of critical thinking strategies, and invention strategies for developing written material, so that you will be able to work from an excess of material and choose to include only the best things you think of, not the only things you think of.

Final draft will be due Wednesday, October 2. Length: approximately 3 typed, double spaced pages (750 words).

My grading criteria for this project are here. Make sure you understand what they are.

Project Schedule

8/28 Syllabus review. Informal writing: First day writing, Intro to a friend. Introduction to rhetoric. Advertising and Ethos. Invention work on Project 2: Talk/write, Freewriting. Heinz. HOMEWORK: Read syllabus and write down any questions about it. Read Comp Co-op Scoring Guide and write down any questions about it. Read Brief Sample Ethos Stories. Be ready to discuss: What ethos does this writer establish for her/himself? What evidence does she/he give for this ethos being accurate?

9/2 No class -- Happy Labor Day. If you don't know anything about how we got things like overtime pay, and lost things like child labor, this is a good day to learn some things about that.

9/4 Discussion of readings. Rhetorical analysis of sample readings: what ethos is the story creating for the character? HOW does it do this? What EVIDENCE does it give that the character has this ethos? HOMEWORK: Read Satrapi.

9/9 Invention work on Ethos Story: Pass Around Topics, Looping, C lustering . Discussion of Satrapi: Ethos, Structure. Rhetorical outline how-to. HOMEWORK: Read Walker. Do a rhetorical outline of Walker's piece, paragraph by paragraph, to turn in on Wednesday.

9/11 Discussion of readings. Questioning: Parts 1 and 2. Daly-Miller. HOMEWORK: Read Saknussemm. Read Satrapi, including page left out.

9/16 Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test scoring. Discussion of readings. Reporter's Questions/the Pentad. Questioning, con't. HOMEWORK: Reread this assignment sheet and the grading criteria for this project. Make sure you write down any questions you have about what you're supposed to be doing in this paper, and how it's going to be evaluated. Read sample papers and assign them each a grade, consulting the grading criteria for this project. Justify the grade you give each of them. When you look at the sample papers, think of them in terms of a rhetorical outline. Think about:

What’s this writer trying to DO in this paragraph? Is this a good thing to try to do for this assignment (and if it is, can I try to do something similar in my paper)?
Does the writer actually accomplish what she/he’s trying to do in this paragraph? If he/she doesn’t, what’s the reason why?

9/18 Discussion of sample papers. Discovery draft. HOMEWORK: Do Loop Writing for your paper; here is a visual aid on this with some examples/further explanation. Omit #6, since you're basically telling a story in the paper as a whole. You MUST DO numbers 8, 9, and 10 -- at least three (rough, first-draft) paragraphs apiece. Choose three other activities to do.

9/23 Work/conferencing period. Playing with your ideas.

9/25 WORKSHOP.

9/30 Work/conferencing period.

10/2 Project 1 due. Proofreading. Reflective memo.

	Freshman Composition I English 110
	Fall 2013 Syllabus
	Project 1  Ethos Story This assignment asks you to write out a true story from your past, using that story to establish a positive ethos for yourself. Ethos, as we'll discuss a lot more thoroughly, is one of the three primary tools of rhetoric. It is persuasion by means of who the speaker is. So to establish a positive ethos with an audience, you'll need to determine 1. what characteristics that audience is likely to find agreeable or interesting; and 2. which of these characteristics you can emphasize in yourself without setting off the audience's b.s. meter (see illustration below). As preparation for this paper, we will read a large number of samples in which various writers establish various ethoi for themselves. We will discuss story structure, and how a reader comes to believe a story is complete and interesting (or doesn't believe these things). We will also use this paper to model a large number of critical thinking strategies, and invention strategies for developing written material, so that you will be able to work from an excess of material and choose to include only the best things you think of, not the only things you think of. Final draft will be due Wednesday, October 2. Length: approximately 3 typed, double spaced pages (750 words). My grading criteria for this project are here. Make sure you understand what they are. Project Schedule 8/28 Syllabus review. Informal writing: First day writing, Intro to a friend. Introduction to rhetoric. Advertising and Ethos. Invention work on Project 2: Talk/write, Freewriting. Heinz. HOMEWORK: Read syllabus and write down any questions about it. Read Comp Co-op Scoring Guide and write down any questions about it. Read Brief Sample Ethos Stories. Be ready to discuss: What ethos does this writer establish for her/himself? What evidence does she/he give for this ethos being accurate? 9/2 No class -- Happy Labor Day. If you don't know anything about how we got things like overtime pay, and lost things like child labor, this is a good day to learn some things about that. 9/4 Discussion of readings. Rhetorical analysis of sample readings: what ethos is the story creating for the character? HOW does it do this? What EVIDENCE does it give that the character has this ethos? HOMEWORK: Read Satrapi. 9/9 Invention work on Ethos Story: Pass Around Topics, Looping, C lustering . Discussion of Satrapi: Ethos, Structure. Rhetorical outline how-to. HOMEWORK: Read Walker. Do a rhetorical outline of Walker's piece, paragraph by paragraph, to turn in on Wednesday. 9/11 Discussion of readings. Questioning: Parts 1 and 2. Daly-Miller. HOMEWORK: Read Saknussemm. Read Satrapi, including page left out. 9/16 Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test scoring. Discussion of readings. Reporter's Questions/the Pentad. Questioning, con't. HOMEWORK: Reread this assignment sheet and the grading criteria for this project. Make sure you write down any questions you have about what you're supposed to be doing in this paper, and how it's going to be evaluated. Read sample papers and assign them each a grade, consulting the grading criteria for this project. Justify the grade you give each of them. When you look at the sample papers, think of them in terms of a rhetorical outline. Think about: What’s this writer trying to DO in this paragraph? Is this a good thing to try to do for this assignment (and if it is, can I try to do something similar in my paper)? Does the writer actually accomplish what she/he’s trying to do in this paragraph? If he/she doesn’t, what’s the reason why? 9/18 Discussion of sample papers. Discovery draft. HOMEWORK: Do Loop Writing for your paper; here is a visual aid on this with some examples/further explanation. Omit #6, since you're basically telling a story in the paper as a whole. You MUST DO numbers 8, 9, and 10 -- at least three (rough, first-draft) paragraphs apiece. Choose three other activities to do. 9/23 Work/conferencing period. Playing with your ideas. 9/25 WORKSHOP. 9/30 Work/conferencing period. 10/2 Project 1 due. Proofreading. Reflective memo.