Searching for CLTs

When I first read Tom Collin's analysis of Marie Fatayi-Williams's speech, I was in awe of his descriptive wording and how well he was able to pull the reader in.  After learning about logos, pathos, and ethos, PEE structure, and content lexical ties, I am beginning to "pick apart" peoples writing.  This has given me a whole new perspective of how people write and how I read or analyze. 

In the first paragraph Collins uses direct repetition to focus the reader on the point of Marie's speech, her son.  He also uses related words like stirring and heartfelt.  The second paragraph he emphasizes the events that has led to the speech by mentioning the bombings (direct repetition).  In the third paragraph Collins focuses on superordinate and hyponyms by saying her speech was like that of great orators, statesman, and playwrights, of Shakespeare, Churchill, or Lincoln.  He used categories (orators, statesman, and playwrights), then named them (Shakespeare, Churchill, and Lincoln).  Collins, being a military man, is able to use and war and violence throughout his analysis, because he has actually been there and knows they are alike (synonyms).  

I can read his entire analysis and see in almost every paragraph how he used context lexical ties.  In the beginning, seeing the words context lexical ties scared me.  I had no idea what they meant or how I was going to handle this assignment.  After watching the required videos and reading the assigned reading, I was able to really put what I learned to good use.  I didn't analyze the entire reading of the rhetorical analysis, and I'm sure I missed some, but I have a better understanding of the rhetoric of Collins analysis and also, how he uses certain writing methods to bring in his readers.

Mr. Collins, Job Well Done

In my opinion, Tom Collins did a great job analyzing Marie Fatayi-William's speech.  He states in the first paragraph why the speech is being made and notes that Marie had an affect on the audience of that of a stateswoman.  He finds the logos, pathos, and ethos in different parts of her speech.  He also notes that Marie's speech was spontaneous, only 4 days after the bombing that her son was involved in.  Collins also relates to Marie by his own experience of speaking with no plan, no notes, and basically, they both spoke from their hearts.  He pulled specific examples from her speech and elaborated in his own words.  I don't feel that Collins was biased in his opinion of Marie's speech, even though he has been in a violent area, terrorism is something that we can all relate to and should hope stops.  He expresses her views and then explains what he felt about the speech.
Tom Collins, although I don't know much about him, seems to be an excellent writer.  I hope that I can learn from this analysis and try to come close to what he has done.  With such a major event happening in the bombing, I can only assume that he reached many different audiences with his analysis. 

Analysis of Essay 2

Since all the assignments are for us, the students, we get to analyze how another writer writes.  We will be looking for logos, pathos, and ethos, the "flow" of the paper, and sentence structure.  As students, we get to act like the teacher.  We will need to summarize the topic so that our audience knows what we are analyzing. 
Our essay will, of course, have an introduction, supporting paragraphs describing how we fill about the essay, and a closing statement.  The point of the essay will be to persuade others to agree with our point of view.  It does not matter if we agree or disagree with the topic, we need to convince the reader to agree with us. 
I feel that the assignment is fully directed towards us, the students.  We are not being told what we have to read, we get to choose.  That in itself, should help us succeed in this assignment.  We get to be the teacher, analyzing what someone else wrote, and being able to put our opinions about the subject.  Ultimately, we will be graded for grading another paper. 

Self-Review, Not to Bad

In my opinion, the self-review assignment went pretty well.  I printed off the self-review questions and had them close by, as a rubric for writing my rough draft.  I hope I didn't defeat the purpose of the assignment, but I figured if I had questions, why not use them as I write?  I'm not saying that I did everything right, but it helped having the expectations on hand.  I still need to fix many things in my essay; vocabulary, run-on sentences, grammatical errors, etc., but for the most part, I wasn't too worried about the self-review questions.
I recently had to do a UI-100 class with the new librarian at Kent Library, so I was pretty fresh with the resources on the library website.  I found some very helpful papers on writing a good thesis statement, and writing an all-around good essay.  Also, I found a website that helps with standard MLA formatting and style guides. 
When it comes to writing an essay, I tend to make it harder than what it has to be.  Some of the self-review questions were challenging to me, there's things that I did do right, and there's things that I didn't do right.  Having the self-review questions are really going to help me write the final draft of my essay.  Of course, I won't know how well I do, until it's graded, but I feel like the self-review questions were there to help. 

Organized Chaos

After going through some of my classmates blogs, I can relate to a lot of them, which makes me feel much better about my writing process. 
While reading Ashley Borgfield's blog, I actually felt like I was reading my own blog about my writing process.  I haven't been out of school for 11 years, but I have been out of school for 8 years, and I almost feel like I've forgotten everything that I learned.  Ashley and my writing process are very similar, both of us start by writing as much as we can on paper, and then moving to the computer.  I also have trouble coming up with topics to write about, usually it takes me hours before I actually get done.  Like her, I to, have to get away from all distractions.  It seems like the simplest things can get my attention off of my assignments.  She does brainstorming with webbing or mapping, which I honestly, need to start doing.  It would save me hours of time and would have a more balanced essay. 
I had a chance to read Ronnie Illert's blog, and his writing process.  A couple words to use are "wow" and "jealous".  He seems to make writing an art, while listening to blues music.  I can't even fathom the idea of listening to music, while writing.  He's very well organized and after reading his other blogs as well, he seems like a very talented writer.  Ronnie states that his writing is eclectic, I had to look it up to see what eclectic meant.  Eclectic is deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.  I never was a very talented writer, I just seem to "get by", but he is someone that I could really learn from.  Ashley and Ronnie both use the webbing and mapping, I will use these methods to enhance my writing process and fine-tune my writing skills. 

Motivating Speech

I am a big movie guy, if I could somehow transfer all my knowledge of movies to my classes, I would be valedictorian of my class.  One of my favorite movies is 300, just an all around, great movie.  The speech at the end of the movie always seemed to make me feel like I was about to go to battle with them.  It's not very long, and I hope you don't mind that I put the whole thing on here.  Dilios was a spartan warrior, and the only one to return out of the brave 300.  Leonidas claimed that Dilios had a talent greater than any other Greek, referring to his great ability with words.  This was his speech.

Dilios: Long I pondered my King's cryptic talk of victory. Time has proven him wise.  For from free Greek to free Greek, the word was spread that bold Leonidas and his 300, so far from home, laid down their lives; not just for Sparta, but for all Greece and the promise this country holds. Now, here on this ragged patch of earth called Plataea, let his hordes face obliteration!

Spartan Army: HA-OOH!!

Dilios: Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts with icy fingers -- knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and spears of 300.Yet they stare now across the plain at 10,000 Spartans commanding 30,000 free Greeks: HA-OOH!

Spartan Army: HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!

Dilios: The enemy outnumber us a paltry 3 to 1, good odds for any Greek. This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine.

 Give thanks, men, to Leonidas and the brave 300.

This speech, in my opinion, has more than enough of an emotional connection (pathos).  Watching the movie, you could easily understand what I mean by wanting to go to the war with them.  Dilios, a spartan warrior, is avenging the 299 soldiers that passed away, his credibility is more than enough (ethos).  They are fighting against the Persians, who tried to take over Sparta, and killed King Leonidas, which caused the rest of Sparta and the Greeks to battle against the Persians (logos).  Dilios is "hyping" up the armies and his argument is to battle the people who just killed their King.

Again, if you get a chance, watch this movie, it's a bit violent, but a very inspirational movie, as far as defending what you believe in.

The Art of Persuasion

Logos, pathos, and ethos are a writer's way to persuade an audience into believing what the writer is saying.  Logos are considered to be logical arguments.  Formal arguments are based on syllogisms, for example:  People are mortal.  I am a person.  I am mortal.  In ordinary conversations and writing, an argument called an enthymeme is commonly used.  An enthymeme is an argument with some of the premises being unstated.  Often times, the premises are just assumed, for example:  People are mortal.  I am mortal.  Nobody would think that anyone else is immortal, so we would just assume that people are mortal.

Pathos are appeals based on emotions.  Concrete language is a technique used to create vivid and emotional imagery.  Stories with emotional content, such as sadness, anger, or happiness, can easily levitate an audiences opinion of what you're trying to accomplish.  When the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary happened, people jumped on the bandwagon of banning assault rifles.  While several emotions arose during this tragedy, the arguments for banning assault rifles had not changed, but people engaged emotionally after the event, and wanted to do something about it.

Ethos are appeals based on credibility or character.  The power of persuasion is convincing the audience that you belong to the group that you are discussing.  Having experience with your topic, and stating it in your writing, would help the relationship between your story and the audience.  First impressions of a writer, influence how an audience is going to react to the writing.  If I were to put on a white coat, with a name tag saying Dr. Bowman, M.D., and began to talk about research in the medical profession, the audience would be more apt to believe what I was saying. 

All three modes of persuasion can help my skills at constructing a good argument, so that my writing would be taking seriously.  Also, all three will help me identify a weaker argument.  Once I can recognize the modes of persuasion, they would help me relate to whatever audience I was writing to.  Having logos, pathos, and ethos in my arsenal of writing would put me head and shoulders over other writers.

Right to Serve, Serve to Write

When I think of writing, I think of the reader or audience's expectations.  I determine what kind of audience I'll be writing for, either a specific audience or possibly, directed towards an imagined audience.  As a good writer, you need to have the element of surprise.  If a reader knows what's going to happen, your paper goes to the back of their mind.  The point is to tell them something they don't already know.  It's good to have supporting evidence and testimony from experts.  A thesis statement that isn't too obvious will catch an audiences attention.  Think about how you want your readers to view you, as the writer.  Do you want them to view you as fair, ethical, or considerate.  These are all things to remember while writing a paper or doing anything that involves others taking you serious. 
Thesis statements and PEE structure are vital tools for an academic audience.  Thesis statements need to be true and proved.  It can be one or two sentences that summarize your paper.  A strong thesis statement has a clear, detailed, and specific message.  PEE is an abbreviation for point, evidence, and explanation.  The point is the main idea of the paragraph that correlates with your thesis statement.  The evidence supports your point.  An explanation explains to the reader how the evidence supports the main idea.  The PEE structure is used to construct effective paragraphs.  Some writers are naturally good at organizing paragraphs but this helps keep structure in your writing.

Engaged

Engaging in an online course is no different than an on-campus class.  Attending class, to me, is logging in often and of course, submitting my assignments on time.  Since, I was back and forth on English classes, I feel like I'm two months behind, trying to do all the assignments in one night. 
Luckily, I printed the class syllabus before I dropped so I've been studying that like it's a final exam.  I've been reading the assignments and taking notes, trying to be prepared. 
I've tried to distance myself from distractions.  I am easily distracted and when the television is on, I tend to take hours to do a ten minute assignment.  In a class room setting, I sit towards the front.  Also, I try to find a left-handed desk.  I only write left-handed and to be honest, left-handed desks aren't very popular. 

My Introduction

My name is Tyler Bowman and I live in Bell City, MO.  It's a small town with a population of 428.  I work in Cape Girardeau, at Lemons Coin Machines.  My major is Biology: Conservation and Wildlife.  A challenge I overcame is probably at the beginning of this semester.  I was originally enrolled in EN-100 and after getting an email from the English Department, I was informed that I needed to drop to EN-099.  I attended the first class in 099 and after a placement essay, I got to come back to EN-100.  That's why my blogs are coming a little late.
My goals for this class is to obviously pass with an A or a B.  Also, I feel like I can always improve with my writing and I believe I am in the right place to learn.  I would love to make Deans' List and getting an A would help me get there, along with my other classes.  I haven't been to school in a long time, I need this class as a refresher and to learn what I didn't in high school.

My Usual Writing Process

When it comes to my writing process, I had to sit back and think for a while about how I start writing.  I try to seclude myself from noise because I am easily distracted.  I can't watch a movie or a television show, because even though I'll get the writing done, it will just take me more hours than intended.

I would call it borderline writers block because I don't necessarily write topics down and determine which ones to choose from.  I like to sit back and literally brainstorm.  I think about what would interest others and hopefully, it's something I like to write about.  It's all a learning process for me.  I have my wife sit down and read what I wrote, make some suggestions, and then do a final draft.   It's always nice to have a second set of eyes looking at my own work.  

I'll be the first one to admit that my writing process is not the best.  As this class goes on, I plan on really focusing on changing my whole process of writing.  I feel like if I get a "game plan" and start with a topic, branch off from there, I'd be a more efficient writer.  I can tell after writing this blog post that it would save me time, if I had an idea of what, or how, I was going to write papers.