Introduction to Rhetoric and the AP Test

AP English Language and Composition

The AP Test

Lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes Two sections:

◦One hour to answer approximately 55 multiple-choice questions. The multiple-choice questions test how well students

are able to analyze the rhetoric of prose passages. ◦In Section II, following a fifteen-minute reading

period, students must answer three free-response questions within two hours. Through the free-response questions students

demonstrate their composition skills by writing three essays in response to a variety of tasks that call for rhetorical analysis, synthesis of information sources, and argument.

Logos / Ethos / Pathos: The Three Musketeers of Argument

Greek terms for the three basic parts of the rhetorical situation.

Depend upon the following factors:◦Audience (mostly Pathos / Ethos)◦Speaker (Ethos)◦Message (Logos)

Logos

Appeal to reason through clear, rational ideas (Greek for “embodied thoughts”)

Interaction among thesis, assumption (underlying belief), and support

Counterarguments are another way to appeal to logic (conceding a point, then refuting)

Ethos

Refers to both…◦Speaker’s credibility / persona◦Values of the audience

If the speaker’s ethos is in conflict with the community’s ethos, the speaker has to work to create his or her credibility with the audience (EX: Mitt Romney speaking before the NAACP)

Pathos

An appeal to emotion (remember—empathy, sympathy)

Writing that relies exclusively on emotional appeal is rarely effective in the long term, but one shouldn’t stray away from using any emotional appeal

Diction / connotation, figurative language, and vivid, concrete description can affect this

Photographs also have emotional effects on audiences

The Five Canons of Oratory

Invention—Looking for something to say (Latin, invenire, “to find”); what is said

Arrangement—How one orders speech or writing (patterns of development)

Style—Artful expression of ideas; how something is said.

Memory—Being well-versed in speaking and the kairos, or sensitivity to the context

Delivery—studied attention to vocal training and to the use of gestures

Patterns of Development

In analyzing rhetorically, consider arrangement according to purpose…◦Narration◦Description◦Process Analysis◦Exemplification◦Comparison and Contrast◦Classification and Division◦Definition◦Cause and Effect

Why is it important to recognize patterns of development?

Talking about writing

Recognizing strategies

How and Why…often connected…

Utilize in your own writing

Narration

Telling a story or recounting a series of events.Can be based on personal experience or

knowledge gained from reading / observation.Chronology usually governs narration.Narration is not simply crafting an appealing

story; it is crafting a story that supports your thesis.

Used well as a way to enter into a topicFor an example, read the first two paragraphs

of the following article from The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/

Description

Closely allied with narration.Unlike narration, description emphasizes

the senses by painting a picture.Usually used to establish a mood or

atmosphere.Rarely is an entire essay descriptive.Bryson uses description at the start of

Chapter 10 (165) to describe an Asher Brown Durand painting, which leads into his discussion of the forest.

Process Analysis

“We fell into a simple routine. Each morning we rose at first light, shivering and rubbing arms, made coffee, broke down camp, ate a couple of fistfuls of raises, and set off into the silent woods. We would walk from about half past seven to four. We seldom walked together—our paces didn’t match—but every couple of hours I would sit on a log…and wait for Katz to catch up, to make sure everything was OK. Sometimes other hikers would come along and tell me where Katz was and how he was progressing, which was nearly always slowly but gamely” (Bryson 70).

What effect does describing the events of each day have on Bryson’s narrative?

Exemplification

Typically induction is used here—a series of specific examples leads to a general conclusion. After giving a number of examples of species loss Bryson exemplifies his main point with Bryce Canyon National Park:

“The National Park Service has something of a tradition of making things extinct. Bryce Canyon National Park is perhaps the most interesting—certainly the most striking—example. It was founded in 1923 and in less than half a century under the Park Service’s stewardship lost seven species of mammal—the white-tailed jackrabbit, prairie dog, pronghorn antelope, flying squirrel, beaver, red fox, and spotted skunk. Quite an achievement when you consider that these animals had survived in Bryce Canyon for tens of millions of years before the Park Service took an interest in them. Altogether, forty-two species of mammal have disappeared from America’s national parks this century” (Bryson 131).

Comparison / Contrast

Juxtaposing two things to highlight their similarities and differences.

Used to analyze information carefully, revealing insights into the nature of the information being analyzed.

Bryson utilizes comparison and contrast on 157-158 to show the differences between his experience on the AT and that of Earl V. Schaffer, the first person to hike the whole AT; he also makes a comparison between Gatlinburg and the AT on 148-9. What effect do these each have in presenting some kind of message at these points in the text?

Classification / Division

Separating material or ideas into major categories.

Francis Bacon said, “Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Bryson makes a distinction between two types of hikers on the AT: “those who do it in a single season, known as ’thru-hikers,’ and those who do it in chunks, known as ‘section hikers’” (160).

Definition

To ensure that writers and their audiences are speaking the same language, definition may lay the foundation to establish common ground or identifying areas of conflict.

On page 97 of Ishmael, the title character starts to aid the narrator in establishing the definition of a law. How does this contribute to his narrative / argument?

Cause and Effect

Analyzing the causes that lead to a certain effect or, conversely, the effects that result from a cause is a powerful foundation for an argument.

Causal analysis depends upon crystal clear logic, so it’s important to carefully trace a chain of cause and effect and to recognized possible contributing causes.

Bryson shows a cause and effect relationship related to the American chestnut blight on 172-173. Why does Bryson present this relationship in the text? Is this a strong cause / effect relationship? Why or why not?

Visual Rhetoric

Like any written text, an image can convey a message/argument

Pay close attention to◦Image◦Text◦Color◦Overall Design

Visual Rhetoric

The same elements of rhetoric are at playPolitical Cartoons are typically satiricAn acronym for analyzing visual rhetoric:

◦Overview◦Parts◦Title◦Interrelationships◦Conclusion

Visual Rhetoric