Blog Posting #2 Who Are We? (As a Global Community)
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You will compose this blog posting in your Sutori blog
Click on Student Blogs and locate your name/blog
Prior Reading: In Section III Rhetoric: How We Examine Writing in the World in our textbook Essentials for ENGL-121, read Chapters 8-16. This will provide the necessary background in the elements of rhetoric and in genres. In addition, read Chapter 19 Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.
Before sitting down to compose this blog posting, check out Section VIII The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), paying close attention to Chapters 52 & 53 of this section. Peruse through the 17 SDGs. Does one particular goal catch your interest? Is there a goal that you may not know much about but would like to learn more about? Is there a goal that you know or may have experienced in your lifetime? The purpose of this blog posting is the following: (1) to choose one of the 17 SDGs that interests you, (2) to locate a genre that talks about your chosen goal, and (3) to analyze the genre from a rhetorical perspective.
Labor Specifications: Postings should be developed responses (if you need a target, shoot for 500-800 words) and may contain text, video, images, links, etc. You are considered the composer of your blog, so there is no limit to the creativity you may use!
Audience: Your audience is interested in looking deeper into our experiences of the world and being shown something about the SDGs that they didnt initially recognize. They may not have seen your chosen genre piece before and would like to read your rhetorical analysis of it.
Process:
Choose a genre piece. Choose a genre piece to analyze from a rhetorical perspective. The genre piece should involve one of the 17 SDGs as its topic You may choose any genre that you find from Chapter 14. Examples of Genres. For example, you could analyze a newspaper article, a graphic novel, a TV commercial, a billboard, a movie, a songthe choice is totally up to you!
Process the genre piece that you choose. Try employing the ROAS (react, observe, analyze, synthesize) method. React: Process the genre piece. How do you respond? Is it persuasive? Do you notice any rhetorical appeals (pathos, logos, ethos, or kairos)? Do you have an emotional response about the SDG that the genre piece deals with? What are you reacting to? Observe: Look more closely and make specific observations. Most genre pieces have a narrative element in which theyre telling a kind of story. Whats the story of your genre piece? What sorts of scenes/images/words/sounds are being used by the creator? Are there people in the genre piece? How would you describe them in terms of demographics (age, gender, race, etc.) and personality? Youre looking for enough material to ultimately do your rhetorical analysis. Analyze: Put these observations together in order to answer some questions. Who is the genre piece targeting (e.g., the audience)? Why (e.g., the creators purpose)? What is important or valuable in the genre piece (e.g., the subject)? What would be viewed as good and bad in the world of the genre piece (e.g., the context)? What rhetorical appeals are used? Synthesize: This is what will happen as you draft your blog posting. You should feel like you have a bunch of raw material, but you might not be sure how it all fits together. Thats good. Think of your synthesis like youre building a house and your observations and analysis are the building materials. The only wrinkle is that youre building the house without a full blueprint. If youre an outliner, you might want to do some of that work here.
Write a discovery draft. Using the raw material, write your synthesis (e.g., your blog posting), which uncovers the rhetorical elements being employed in your chosen genre piece. While youre writing, you should be engaging in audience analysis, asking yourself what questions your audience will have and then answering them at the appropriate moments. Remember, your audience is expecting a rhetorical analysis of your chosen genre piece. It makes sense to start your blog posting with a description of the genre piece and the SDG that it discusses; this will help increase your audiences familiarity with the text. After that, what do you think you should tell them to help them appreciate your message about the genre piece?
Process your draft. Whats your blogs message? Where is it? What audience questions does each paragraph or section of your blog answer? List them. Does this flow make sense? Do you have sufficient evidence to support your analysis of the genre piece? To support your evidence of the genre piece’s topic, try providing some research about the SDG that is being discussed. Use the Librarys Electronic Databases and locate at least 1 article about the SDG. With clear APA or MLA formatting for in-text citations and a Works Cited or References page, use this outside source in your blog. Here is a nice handout for incorporating quotations from the article into your blog posting: Incorporating Quotations — Guidelines.
Revise. Heres where your attention to your blogs audience really matters. Are you telling them something about the genre piece that isnt immediately apparent? You want the sensation of pulling back a veil and allowing them to see the subtext (the narrative), which was always there but they didnt recognize until you showed it to them. If you recognize that youve discovered something about the genre piece you didnt know before, youre probably going to do the same for them.
Edit, polish, title. Are you describing the genre piece with as much precision and concision as you can manage? Will your audience be able to appreciate your blogs analysis of the genre piece?
Reflect: Once youve gone through this full exercise of rhetorical analysis, you may find that you can read the subtext of other genre pieces more quickly, even in real time, as youre watching/reading/listening. See if this happens. View genre pieces with questions. What idea is being sold in the piece? How are they selling this idea to their audience?
Student Samples for Blog Posting
Attribution: Taken and adapted from John Warners The Writers Practice.
