4.14.15 Presentation + analysis if Balko

Obama presentations: You gave your panel presentations on Obama - and they were great!   We gave feedback in class.  Overall observations:  the personal stories were what stood out as most convincing; Obama's order => connecting to audience (identifying with the group); presenting a story-based version of the problem and identifying it as a SHARED problem, followed by a logos/information centered presentation of the problem's solution, followed by a ethos-pathos based conclusion= a good strategy for convincing an audience who may not necessarily connect to your values/position at the outset.

Analysis of Balko.  The second half of class was devoted to analyzing Balko's essay, which takes on a very different kind of a rhetorical task.  His essay is directed toward an audience who already shares his belief in minimizing government regulation, and his task is to rally that audience around an argument to establish the truth of their position.

We analyzed the first two paragraphs of Balko's essay together.  We noted the content of the paragraph, the purpose that content served in his overall argumet, and what language or "moves" he made to accomplish that purpose.

After analyzing the first two paragraphs, we looked at the assignment sheet and noted the list of features you needed to discuss in your essay.  The assignment sheet requires you to develop a rhetorical analysis which

-  characterizes the reading’s audience (who will read/respond to it);
-  describes the reading’s purpose (what it was written to accomplish);
-  characterizes how the reading’s overall form works to achieve its purpose;
-  characterizes how the author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to achieve the reading’s purpose;
-  evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the reading (how well it achieves its purpose);
-  and suggests how the reading might be improved 

During the rest of class, you worked on analyzing all 10 paragraphs of Balko's essay using the approach we used together for the first two paragraphs, and doing some writing based on that analysis to answer the questions required by the essay.

For next class:

Write: 1) map out the order for an rhetorical analysis of Balko which meets the criteria for the assignmet sheet; 2) using your invention writing for the 6 points listed above, map out a rough draft for a rhetorical analysis of Balko

In our next class - we will look at sample rhetorical analysis essays and evaluate them, and you write a discussion of what you would need to do to "finish" the rough draft you mapped out for homework.