English 1C: Critical Thinking and Advanced CompositionAKA: “The Zombie Class”Melissa Gunby

Class Focus• We will be exploring advanced composition and topics for

critical thinking through examining the rise of the zombie narrative in American popular culture and investigating several narratives for ourselves.

• We will also be focusing on developing solid arguments using rhetorical methods and avoiding logical fallacies.

Required TextsEverything’s An Argument. This text will primarily be used in class. You may want to share a copy with a classmate.

You are free to get these texts in whatever format you like. Copies will be made available on reserve in the library.

The Walking Dead: Book 1. This volume makes up issues 1-12 of the graphic novel series. You may acquire these however you wish.

Film/TV screening

Course Requirements• 3: 3-5 page essays• 1: 6-8 page essay (final assignment)• Final “exam”• Homework• Reading Response Papers• Rhetorical Analyses

• Regular reading discussion and in class activities• Reading quizzes

Discussion Topics• What is a narrative?• Why are zombie narratives so exciting/interesting?

CHAPTER 1Everything Is an Argument

Before we start…• How do you define “Argument?”• Jot down a few notes, then talk to the person next to you.

Then we’ll talk as a group.

Purposes of Argument• To Win• To Inform• To Convince• To Explore• To Make Decisions• To Meditate or Pray

Arguments to Win• Politics• Business• Law

• Argument = use of evidence and reason to discover some version of the truth.

• Persuasion = to change a point of view or to move others from conviction or action. The truth is already known.

Arguments to Inform

• Some arguments, like street signs, may not seem “argumentative” because their purpose is to inform.

• However, some arguments to inform, like advertising, also exists to persuade, since the first step in encouraging someone to buy your product is to tell them it exists in the first place.

Arguments to Convince• These types of arguments are usually geared toward a general

audience, to convince them that a topic is worth their time and attention to consider.

Arguments to Persuade• These arguments are intended to promote action or response,

through moving an audience in some way.

Arguments to Explore• These arguments likely have no “opponent” other than the

existing status quo or current trend. • Usually these arguments will challenge an idea of a problem in

society, or something more personal to the writer.

Arguments to Make Decisions• These arguments are made to encourage people to make the

best decision possible, and quite often, pair up with exploratory arguments.

Arguments to Meditate or Pray• These are usually internal arguments, in which the author hopes

to evoke a change within his/herself.

Academic Arguments• “Academic” here means that it holds to the conventions or

standards of a particular field or discipline.

Occasions for Argument• Past• Present• Future

Kinds of Argument• Fact• Definition• Evaluation and Causality• Proposal

Audience• The audience is whomever it is that is being addressed

through an argument. It can be a room of people, the readers of a magazine or blog, or the viewers of a nightly television news broadcast.

Appealing to Audience• Ethos• Pathos• Logos• Rhetorical Situations

Class Discussion• I’ve placed images on the following slides. I want us to

consider what kind of argument, if any, can be made by the images?

Freewrite• Spend a few minutes writing about situations in the recent

past where you’ve used language to inform, convince, persuade, explore, make decisions, and/or meditate/pray.

Write then Discuss• Using the collage on the next slide, spend a few minutes

taking notes on what, if anything, the images:• A) evoke in you• B) have in common• C) what audience these images individually and together might

appeal to

Also, consider what the arrangement of the photos suggests.

Group Work• With the people in your row, consider the image below. What it its

purpose? What kind of argument is it? Which of the stasis questions does it most appropriately respond to? What appeals does it make to the readers, and how?

Watch this video

• Do you think this commercial is effective in selling computers?• Why or why not? What evidence can you provide

• Why do you think the company chose to go this direction with the commercial?

• Is this commercial memorable for the computer, the zombies, or something else?

Homework• For Wednesday: read “Off the Page and Into Your Brain”

(handout). Write a 1 page response.