Aristotelian Rhetoric Analysis

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English is an important and required course to take in any level of education. In the past, we all have taken various English courses that have helped us enhance our reading and writing skills. Over the couple of years I have been here at the University of Cincinnati, I have taken English composition classes, which have helped me evolve as a writer. However, after taking this course, my reading and writer skills have enhanced tremendously. With the goals and outcomes set for the class, that allowed students to gain an indication of the level of reading and writing skills will be accomplished. The outcomes entailed knowledge in critical thinking, rhetoric analysis, conventions, electronic environments, and cognitive analysis. In order to determine …show more content…

Among the authors of those passages are Covino, Flower, Haas, and Jolliffe. They explain concepts on a similar topic, but using different aspects of rhetoric. Covino and Jolliffe focuses on the overview of Aristotelian rhetoric appeals along with talking about the elements on rhetoric. They mention, “Aristotle discusses three sorts of textual appeals: to the authority of the rhetor (ethos), to the emotions or “stages of life” of the audience (pathos), and to systems of reasoning (logos) that the rhetor and the audience share”(Covino and Jolliffe 1995). The authors consider the appeals to be a very important part of rhetorical analysis as the appeals are used for means on persuasion. In the article, “What is Rhetoric?” the authors use examples and different components of rhetoric to provide a big picture like a map to help the audience get an idea of what they are trying to …show more content…

Grant-Davie’s article assesses “the elements of rhetorical situations that may help the audience understanding and responding to the rhetoric”(Grant-Davie 1997). In order for the audience to grasp what the author is trying to convey, he provides an example by stating, “When we study history, our first question may be “what happened?” but the more important question, the question whose answer offers hope of learning for the future as well as understanding the past, is “why did it happen?” (Grant-Davie 1997). Through this the author is trying to state that rather than looking from only one perspective, try using different perspectives to gain a more in-depth insight and true meaning of the topic that is being convey. He then talks about the different elements such as exigence, rhetor, audience, and constraints, which are key elements to use to rhetorically analyze a text. Grant-Davie then further talks about all the elements in depth to provide a better understanding to the audience to help them evolve their rhetorical knowledge. Haas and Flower write about “examining reading as a meaning-constructing activity shaped by rhetorical principles”(Haas and Flower 1988). The authors more specifically discuss rhetorical reading strategies with the use of tables, figures, and examples. They also discuss a method to provide “a good way of capturing of what’s going on in peoples heads”, (Haas and Flower 1988) that may

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