Discussion

The Purdue OWL The Rhetorical Situation pages: " Rhetorical Situations / Understanding Rhetoric," " Elements of Rhetorical Situations," " Aristotle's Rhetorical Situation," among others. Once you are on one of these pages, use the left navigation through The Rhetorical Situation drop-down menu. There are a number of pages that will help, and there are some presentations and other media linked from these pages.

This discussion requires two posts. (But, more posts are welcome--and encouraged!) Once you have studied all of the above materials, let's start this discussion with a few important questions:

· What is rhetorical analysis?

· Why is it an important skill?

· How can it help me in academia and/or other aspects of life?

· How is it related to critical thinking?

When composing your post and replies, make sure to use quotes, paraphrases, and/or summaries from Professor Graydon's Video Lesson  and "Backpacks vs. Briefcases" to support your ideas and help us work through, expose, clarify, and explore what it is to analyze rhetoric, which is quite different from summary and personal response. Summary and personal response are good places to begin the process, but analysis is more complex and more difficult, as you must suspend your personal opinions and focus solely on the author and text. For additional support, feel free to use the  OWL texts and the  Project 3 Guidelines. Personal examples may be helpful as well. Rhetorical analysis can help in tons of different situations, in and out of the classroom.

Evaluation Criteria: 10, 7, 5, 0 

You will earn 10 points on this discussion board if you:

· Post a thoughtful explanation of your ideas that is specific. 

· Use support from Professor Graydon's video lesson and from "Backpacks vs. Briefcases." These should be specific references with either a page number or timestamp listed. Make sure your support comes from both sources.

· Post on time according to the schedule of assignments.

· Respond thoughtfully to one or more of your classmates' posts.