chapter 9

Delivering presentations is one of the most important subjects a student can learn. This is the opportunity where it lets a person be able to sell him or herself to the world. It can help a person land a job, or even create a new title for him or herself; it can be the pass to success in a way. This chapter introduces the Branches of Oratory

Judicial (forensic discourse) defending or accusing, dealing with the past.

Deliberative (Legislative discourse) politics or policy

Epideictic (Ceremonial Discourse) present

These branches are based on time, purpose and content. It was used even dated back to Greece where great historians believed that these three things could make the perfect argument.

Research in as presentation is what can make your argument valid and reliable. The chapter explains that this is what is going to make your audience believe what you have to say. Your presentation should always stay organized and this can be made possible by creating a visual outline. This chapter ends by slideshows help the speaker, but in the end the speaker is what makes the presentation.

chapter 8

Chapter 8 deals with many forms of designing arguments. The chapter begins by introducing a new type of idea known as: visual argument. This is a graphic representation of a written argument. I believe that graphic representations are a good way to get a person’s attention. “Pictures say a thousand words” and people seem to connect more with a picture than they would with a long description. It seems to tell its own story in a way. As the chapter seems to move along it introduces decorum, or appropriateness. Decorum is used in everyday language and can be so complicated that it even has different levels:

Grand or High style: formal

Middle style: less formal

Plain or low style: the least formal

It was quite a simple structure and idea. The chapter then talks about how a proper abstract paper can e composed. It is good to start the idea of an abstract paper by keeping in mind what form of decorum you want to use. Abstract papers also let the writer have their own opinion by using “I” which is also a choice.

The chapter then closes by introducing the Writer’s Process. Everything a writer completes is dependent on his or her rhetorical opinion on which form of decorum they want to use. This is what makes their piece unique and what keeps the audience interested.

I Want to be Drunk by 11 AM

Since when is it socially acceptable to get drunk on national television? I suppose in New York it's no big deal. Why not have a morning martini to calm your nerves before appearing on television?

Recently, I have picked up the hobby with a few friends of watching the Today show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. It airs every weekday at 10 am, and lasts for an hour. The ladies report on social issues, new products, and fashion. They give advice and opinion.

When I first watched the show, I caught the end of it and noticed how much fun the ladies were having. When I went back and watched the show from the beginning, I observed how gradually relaxed Hoda and Kathie became as the show continued. With one closer look, I noticed the tall fruity drinks set to each lady’s side. Whoever organized the segments within the show, did so wisely. By the end of the hour, the ladies close the show and sober up with a cooking session.

My friend Elena and I are determined to do this one day. She said, “If I could report the news, get drunk, and look good while doing it, of course I would.” Who wouldn’t? Hoda and Kathie are probably the only two women in the world to wake up for their job and be fortunate enough to get a nice buzz and a decent paycheck. I have never been more jealous in my life.

Organization

In Chapter six of Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments, the chapter talks about organizing and writing research arguments. The books compares writing a research paper to film production. Writing a research paper and producing a film have many small steps that support a grounding vision or main idea. Both have a carefully planned structure. Both also involve rigorous editing. The chapter discuss on how you can organize your research. You can make visual map like a bubble web to arrange your ideas in categories using shapes and colors. You could also make a graphic flowchart. In a graphic flowchart you list an idea and draw an arrow to the cause and effect to show the relationship.

The visual maps help you prepare to continue on with the next step of creating your paper, the outline. Outlines help you organize ideas when you start your first draft. To construct an outline that will actually help with your paper, you can not have only topics in the outline, your outline must consist of detailed information which is going to be shown in your paper.

Chapter six also discuss integrating research sources. Integrating sources is including your sources strategically and not just appropriately and rhetorically. By including your sources appropriately you are avoiding plagiarism. By including your sources rhetorically you are deciding on how much of a presence you will have in the paper. By including your sources strategically you are providing a range of quotations and evidence in the paper.

How Do I Find Sources?

In Chapter five of Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments, the author discuss finding and evaluating research sources. To start a research paper on your argument you need to gather and evaluate reliable sources. A researcher needs to learn what is being talked about, the topic, how it is being discussed, the conversation, and what are the different positions, research context.

To get everything needed for your topic it is good to visualize your research process. When gathering your sources where will you look for them? You might decide to go to a library, surf the web, or get a personal interview with an expert in the field of study. The topic and final paper is only a small part of the research. As explained in the book, there are many more sources beneath the surface. Archival material, books, articles, films, interviews, surveys, visual media, websites, and historical text, creates the entire research project.

Chapter five of Envision also talks about the steps in the research process. One of the steps in the research process is locating relevant and interesting sources. In your research you will need to include primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original text that is analyzed in the research paper. Secondary sources are sources that provide commentary on the primary material or on the main topic in general.

Rhetorical Cartoons!

In chapter one of Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments, the author discusses Analyzing Text. In this chapter we learn how to understand text in a rhetorical manner. “To approach text rhetorically means to ask questions about how the text conveys a persuasive message or argument, how the text addresses a specific audience, and how the writer operates within a specific context or rhetorical situation.” Rhetoric is the ability to discern the available means of persuasion in any given situation.

We encounter rhetoric in many forms every day. While walking down the street or down a hallway, we encounter many things which has a rhetoric meaning if it is a poster or drawing on the wall. In writing there is a rhetorical situation, a dynamic relationship of communications between the writer, text, and audience. An example used in the book is in a personal argument when you want to persuade your couch to let practice out early, you would state your case face to face instead of through a letter.

Rhetorical persuasion is not only displayed by writing, visual means is also included. The way a person makes eye contact with the audience, the way he/she stands, or formats a professional document. Design posters to advertise an organization or adding pictures to an essay are examples of visual persuasion. This strategy for analyzing rhetorical text is called visual rhetoric. Some examples of visual rhetoric includes: a documentary produced to suggest a point of view, illustration in children’s books to shape meaning of a story, and cartoons of a comic strip offer commentary on society.

In analyzing works such as comic strips notice key elements in the works such as: images, words, characters, layout, and actions. It is also good to observe facial expressions, body postures, and changes between the panels. Some questions you might want to keep in mind and try to answer is: Who is the audience of this cartoon? What is the message of the cartoon? What persuasive statement does the cartoon convey? What is the argument?

The Circus In Winter

I knew that this afternoon I was going to go see Circus In Winter. From what I have heard from all of my theatre friends, they have said that the entire stage was used for this production. They also said that it was a little hard to follow at first but, once you got into the story enough you where able to follow it easily. I walked over to Woodworth to grab some food and think about what I might see. I have heard rumor that there was an elephant puppet used on stage. I thought to myself how big is this elephant? How realistic is the elephant? Before I knew time had pasted and I need to start walking over to University Theatre. I got the ticket counter and they directed me to my seat. I sat down and looked at the giant stage. It looked like the designs had placed part of a barn inside the theatre. It has three levels and was a work of art to look at it. I have been in many barns in my life and it looked pretty realistic. Taking in this huge barn was a challenge. My eyes darted everywhere trying to make since of it all. Before I knew it the lights were deeming and the show was about to begin. The first big musical number was very impressive. Then I saw it, the elephant walked on stage. It was massive, and required two people to operate. The skin was in great detail and looked very realistic. The rest of the show went real well but the elephant stuck in my mind the rest of the night.

Chapter 7 in Envision by Clint Kearney

Time and time again I... we have all been lectured on Plagiarism and how we should never even consider taking advantage of someone else's own thoughts. Although we all strive to never plagiarize... ever, there comes a time when we "accidentally" do it. Unintentional plagiarism will get you in the butt. There are a couple ways to precent yourself from doing this on accident. One of the most important ways to prevent plagiarism is to document every time you get information from a website or book while writing a paper. Make reminders of where you have been and what you have taken from that source. Once you have taken the information, cite it. There is nothing more important if you want to receive a BIG, FAT, EPH (F) on your assignment than to cite your sources.

Envision Chapter 4 by Clint Kearney

Chapter 4 in Envision discusses the whole act of Planning and proposing research arguments. If you are doing a argument paper then there is going to be a lot of research taking place. For one, you have to find an article or image or concept that you want to defend and then you have to research about the different viewpoints and beliefs on the particular topic. When you begin your research, the questions that you ask will be vague and general and surface level. But, as you progress into the finer points of your paper. It is a good idea to keep a research log to keep you organized so you will know where to look up different information you have found. It is also good to brainstorm your ideas using a bubble tree to get your mind going. Once you are closing up your ideas you need to narrow down your topic to one sturdy argument that you are most interested in and can get the most information and great resources for.

Envision Chapter 3 by Clint Kearney

Chapter 3 explains the effective ways to write an argument and to back it up. In ancient Greece, all communicative acts were categories into five sections; invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. These 5 sections of communicative acts are were named the canons of rhetoric by the ancient Greeks. In order to communicate with the audience in an effective and persuasive way, these 5 categories of communication were needed. Each of these categories are needed in order to craft a position paper. This chapter also describes a position paper and the importance of being able to take a side on a discussed topic and being able to defend ones viewpoint with sources and facts and evidence. Great usage of the five categories of communication in an argumentative essay will be a read worth many peoples time.

Envision chapter 2 by Clint Kearney

Chapter 2 in Envision explains the different methods used in literature or visual art as seen in magazines or billboards to persuade people for one side or another. The main techniques used to convince and argue in an article is the rhetorical strategy. Apple has done a great job at advertising and persuading people to use their product. People "have" to have the latest apple toy. Also, Apple comes out with a new, updated version of a current product just a few months after Christmas so you will feel behind and go by the the latest product. Many ads and literature articles use different strategies to convince people and one of the most popular one is to compare. Comparing and contrasting the product that is being sold with the rest of products on the market that are similar. Companies want to make you feel bad by telling you what you have is wrong and outdated and not as nice as so-and-so.

The formal terms of persuasion are logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos applies to reason and the logistics behind things, Pathos applies to emotion and how the reader's mood or emotion is being effected and lastly Ethos applies to Character and Authority which applies to the wellbeing and good mindset that the writer or reader is developing quality works of literature. These three rhetorical appeals are the backbone to rhetorical works.

Taking Over

It seems that in today’s generation parents, students, athletes, and celebrities all have one thing in common…. we all own a smart phone. One smart phone in particular is the iPhone. Apple products in general seem to be “taking over” the world. Steve Jobs who may rest in peace, created something evolutional. He created a phone that is so popular and over the years seems to become greater and greater. People are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on data plans, apps, and the most recent model. However other than just iPhones he was able to create IPods, Ipads, iMacs, MacBook’s, and many other products that are all just as successful as the next. Millions of dollars are spent on these items annually. It is astonishing that such a simple idea can manipulate the minds of many. We do not NEED these items, however many people desire them more than anything else. Just some 30-40 years ago telephones didn’t even exist. In todays generation we see children as young as 5 or six owning cell phones! Anything is accessible from owning a smart phone. There are apps that allow a person to start their car, lock the doors in their home while their away, and many other astonishing things. It makes me look forward to what the future has planned and where technology will go from here. Will it help human society? Or will it corrupt it?.....

Class Log Nov. 15 2011

The main purpose of class today was to get an idea of what groups we were going to be working with and what it is exactly e are doing for our collaborative assignment. My group in particular is doing a video on why students should plan on moving away to college rather than staying at a local school. Some other groups are doing other topics such as what freshman need to know about being in college and how life would be without video games. Because I was sick last week on Thursday, I was a little lost when class first started. Collaborative assignment? HUH? I had no clue what she was talking about. But once we started talking more about it, I started to understand more and get the picture. I am excited to get a break from all the writing and become more creative with dong a video. We'll just have to see how well it all turns out.

No excuses, no explanations, get er dun.

On October the third, I attended an Excellence in Leadership seminar, all of which are free and open to all students and are held in order to help students gain useful and necessary knowledge about how to be better communicators and leaders. This particular seminar was led by the Colts’ chaplain, Ken Johnson. From the beginning of his presentation, until he left the room, he commanded attention. He entered the room and began his presentation by singing, “God bless America” in the richest voice I could have imagined. From the second he opened his mouth the audience fell silent, it was as though everyone was in a trance, consumed by his voice. Girls lowered their cell phones, the men stopped their music and when he finished, he was greeted with a chorus of cheers, “amen’s,” and applause. From the introduction, he began to speak about effective communication and from there about achievement and intelligence and self worth. Mr. Johnson spoke about a multitude of topics, all of which circled back around to encouraging the members of the audience to strive to achieve excellence in every area of their lives and communicate positively with others in all areas of their lives. He makes this known not only by the title of his presentation (“Effective Communication”) and the organization through which his seminar was arranged but also through his usage of words and tones, he wanted the audience to be involved and interact so he knew that they were “picking up what he was laying down.” His first main point which, he repeated many times and had the audience repeat back to him, was “don’t be stuck on stupid.” He was trying to get across the point that people who think they “know” something, cannot grow because they chose not to, they become comfortable. While discussing “knowers vs. learners” he made a statement that stuck with me, “if I’m the smartest guy at my table, the table isn’t big enough.” From there he transitioned to talking about valuing one’s self and about vision. He brought up the question, “do you want to be a chicken or an eagle?” Chickens are always focused on looking down, no vision, no plan; eagles they are skilled, and don’t get stuck or fall behind. He continued to weave this and the “stuck on stupid” message throughout the entirety of his speech. He also tapped on the works that he and his wife do. He is part of many organizations that work with at-risk communities and his wife works with underprivileged families to help provide what they need. He also works with youth organizations and is very well versed when it comes to working with and communicating to adolescents and young adults. Not only is he the Indianapolis’ Colts’ Chaplain though, that isn’t where all of his experience comes from. He grew up in an at-risk community and managed to pull himself out and become an inspiration and a confidant for a lot of people who need encouragement and help. While he spoke he used and referenced his book, told stories about his work life, and about other teens and adults that he worked with, he also spoke about his family, his wife (who was sitting front row) and daughter and their relationships with him specifically which gave the audience a much more personal perspective, making his points all the more real and affective. As he spoke to us, asking us to repeat after him, he became louder and more energetic and put more emphasis on his words, and the funny part was the audience emphasized as they repeated his words back to him. Comedy, this man, while well versed in the word of god and very family oriented, could have been a comedian. He was very aware of his audience and brought to the table a lot of humor that I never would have guessed possible from a chaplain. When discussing the wellbeing of his daughter he began to sing a rap song that featured the word "ballin’" and was quite objectifying towards women-I didn’t recognize it, but the rest of the audience did because they sang along. He stopped in the middle of singing and pointed dramatically to a guy and explain nobody talks to his daughter like that or he would have to go to jail and start the “bust a cap ministry.” He imitated the chicken and had the audience flap their “wings” and soar with him like eagles. The entire presentation he remained active and on his feet. The end of the presentation was interactive, answering questions from students and then asking students questions. His final words were, and once again the audience repeated them in unison, “NO EXCUSES, NO EXPANATIONS, HIGH EXECUTION, HIGH EXPECTATIONS. GET ‘ER DUN.” While unorthodox, it was memorable and fun and is something that at least a few of those students and a lot of others who have listened to him speak will carry with him.