Welcome!

AP Language

August 14th, 2013

Themes: ,

We looked at a number of advertisements today in order to wrap our heads around this “rhetoric” concept. Here’s the slideshow:

We asked a few questions of each piece:

These questions correlate nicely with the three rhetorical appeals we discussed later:

We’ll discuss these at length throughout this session. If you come across an excellent argument, send me a link in the comments or via email. If you’re looking for written arguments (we’ll begin discussing these next week), here’s a list of places to look.

Unfortunately Google Reader is no longer around, but you can find a list of good alternatives here. I use Feedly, but find one that suits your needs.

Intro to Rhetoric and Advertisements

AP Language

August 17th, 2012

Themes: , ,

This week we looked at a number of advertisements as an introduction to the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. ((Go ahead and bookmark The Forest of Rhetoric—we will refer to it often.)) These will be the basis of your analyses of arguments for the next few weeks, so make sure you’re familiar with them.

Your homework for the weekend is to find an argument in the wild—the topic does not matter, nor does the medium—email a link to me (if possible), and bring a copy to school. After you’ve chosen the piece, note how the author appeals to his or her audience: what kind of emotions is it meant to elicit? how does the piece inspire trust? what is the audience meant to do with this information?

You will (briefly, informally) present the argument to the class and we will discuss on Monday.