
Language of Composition
Second EditionRenee H. Shea; Lawrence Scanlon; Robin Dissin Aufses
©2013 New Edition AvailableTable of Contents
1. An Introduction to Rhetoric: Using the "Available Means"
ACTIVITY Understanding Civil Discourse
THE RHETORICAL SITUATION
Lou Gehrig, Farewell Speech
Occasion, Context, and Purpose
The Rhetorical Triangle
ACTIVITY Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation
SOAPS
Albert Einstein, Dear Phyllis, January 24, 1936
ACTIVITY George W. Bush, September 11th Speech
APPEALS TO ETHOS, LOGOS, AND PATHOS
Ethos
Automatic Ethos
King George VI, The King’s Speech
Building Ethos
Judith Ortiz, From The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria
ACTIVITY Establishing Ethos
Logos
Conceding and Refuting
Alice Waters, From Slow Food Nation
ACTIVITY George Will, "King Coal: Reigning in China"
Pathos
Richard Nixon, from The Checkers Speech
Images and Pathos
ACLU, The Man on the Left (advertisement)
Humor and Pathos
Ruth Marcus, from Crackberry Congress
ACTIVITY Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day
Combining Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
Toni Morrison, Dear Senator Obama
ACTIVITY Appealing to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF VISUAL TEXTS
Tom Toles, Rosa Parks (cartoon)
Activity World Wildlife Fund, Protecting the Future of Nature (advertisement)
DETERMINING EFFECTIVE AND INEFFECTIVE RHETORIC
Jane Austen, from Pride and Prejudice
PETA, Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse (advertisement)
Anne Applebaum, If the Japanese can’t build a safe reactor, who can?
ACTIVITY Tamar Demby, Alarmist or Alarming Rhetoric? (student essay)
ACTIVITY Federal Highway Administration, Stop for Pedestrians (advertisement)
CULMINATING ACTIVITY
1. The Times, Man Takes First Steps on the Moon
2. William Safire, In Event of Moon Disaster
3. Ayn Rand, The July 16, 1969 Launch: A Symbol of Man’s Greatness
4. Herblock, Transported (cartoon)
GLOSSARY OF RHETORICAL TERMS
2. Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis
ANALYZING STYLE
A Model Analysis
Queen Elizabeth I, Speech at Tilbury
ACTIVITY Looking at Rhetoric and Style
ACTIVITY Winston Churchill, First Speech to the House of Commons
TALKING WITH THE TEXT
Asking Questions
Ralph Ellison, from On Bird, Bird-Watching and Jazz
ACTIVITY Ralph Ellison, from On Bird, Bird-Watching and Jazz
Annotating
Joan Didion, from Los Angeles Notebook
Using a Graphic Organizer
From Close Reading to Analysis
ACTIVITY Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth
WRITING A CLOSE ANALYSIS ESSAY
Groucho Marx, Dear Warner Bros.
Developing a Thesis Statement
A Sample Close Analysis Essay
ACTIVITY Christopher Morley, On Laziness
CLOSE READING A VISUAL TEXT
Dodge, It’s a big fat juicy cheesebuger in a land of tofu (advertisement)
ACTIVITY Girl Scouts, What Did You Do Today? (advertisement)
CULMINATING ACTIVITY
John F. Kennedy, Inauguration Address, January, 1961
Eleanor Clift, Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On
United States Army Signal Corps, Inauguration of John F. Kennedy (photo)
GLOSSARY OF STYLE ELEMENTS
3. Analyzing Arguments: From Reading to Writing
WHAT IS ARGUMENT?
Amy Domini, "Why Investing in Fast Food May Be a Good Thing."
ACTIVITY Finding Common Ground
Essay in Progress – Selecting a Topic
STAKING A CLAIM
ACTIVITY Identifying Arguable Statements
Types of Claims
Claims of Fact
Claims of Value
Roger Ebert, Star Wars
ACTIVITY Analyzing a Review
Claim of Policy
Anna Quindlen, from The C Word in the Hallways
ACTIVITY The New York Times, Felons and the Right to Vote
Essay in Progress – Staking a Claim
From Claim to Thesis
Closed Thesis Statements
Open Thesis Statements
Counterargument Thesis Statements
ACTIVITY Developing Thesis Statements
Essay in Progress: Developing a Thesis
PRESENTING EVIDENCE
Relevant, Accurate, and Sufficient Evidence
Logical Fallacies
Fallacies of Relevance
Fallacies of Accuracy
Fallacies of Insufficiency
First-Hand Evidence
Personal Experience
Jennifer Oladipo, Why Can’t Environmentalism Be Colorblind?
Fallacy Alert – Hasty Generalization
Anecdotes
Fabiola Santiago, In college, these American citizens are not created equal
Current Events
Fareed Zakaria, from When Will We Learn?
Second-Hand Evidence
Historical Information
Samuel Walker, from Hate Speech
Fallacy Alert - Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Expert Opinion
Peggy Orenstein, from Just a Little Princess
Fallacy Alert: Appeal to False Authority
Quantitative Evidence
Fallacy Alert: Bandwagon Appeal
ACTIVITY Identifying Logical Fallacies
ACTIVITY Dana Thomas, Terrors’ Purse Strings
Essay in Progress – Using Evidence
SHAPING ARGUMENT
The Classical Oration
Sandra Day O’Connor and Roy Romer, Not by Math Alone
Induction and Deduction
Induction
Malcolm Gladwell, from Outliers
Deduction
Essay in Progress –Shaping an Argument
Combining Induction and Deduction
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
ACTIVITY Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Declaration of the Rights of Women
Using the Toulmin Model
Analyzing Assumptions
ACTIVITY Identifying Assumptions
From Reading to Writing
ACTIVITY Using Argument Templates
ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS AS ARGUMENTS
Polyp, The Rat Race (cartoon)
Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage (photo)
ACTIVITY US Postal Service, The Heroes of 2001 (stamp)
Essay in Progress – Using Visual Evidence
CULMINATING ACTIVITY
Tom Toles, Heavy Medal
Michael Binyon, Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobelpeace prize
GLOSSARY OF ARGUMENT TERMS AND FALLACIES
4. Synthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation
ACTIVITY Reflecting on Sources
USING SOURCES TO INFORM AN ARGUMENT
Laura Hillenbrand, from Seabiscuit
ACTIVITY Gerald L. Early, from A Level Playing Field
USING SOURCES TO APPEAL TO AN AUDIENCE
Steven Pinker, from Words Don’t Mean What They Mean
Steven Pinker, from The Stuff of Thought
Steven Pinker, from The evolutionary social psychology of off-record indirect speech acts
ACTIVITY Examining a Columnist
Conversation: Mandatory Community Service
1. Neil Howe And William Strauss, From Millennials Rising
2. The Dalton School, Community Service Mission Statement
3. The Detroit News, Volunteer Work Opens Teen’s Eyes To Nursing
4. Dennis Chaptman, Study: ‘Resume Padding’ Prevalent In College-Bound Students WhoVolunteer
5. Arthur Stukas, Mark Snyder, and E. Gil Clary; The Effects Of "Mandatory Volunteerism"On Intentions To Volunteer
6. Mark Hugo Lopez, From Youth Attitudes Toward Civic Education And Community Service Requirements
WRITING A SYNTHESIS ESSAY
Identifying the Issues: Recognizing Complexity
Formulating Your Position
ACTIVITY Supporting a Thesis
Framing Quotations
Integrating Quotations
ACTIVITY Using Sources Effectively
Citing Sources
A Sample Synthesis Essay
CULMINATING ACTIVITY Conversation: The Dumbest Generation?
1. Mark Bauerlein, The Dumbest Generation
2. Sharon Begley, The Dumbest Generation? Don’t Be Dumb
3. Mizuko Ito, et. al., Living and Leaning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project
4. Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid?
5. R. Smith Simpson, Are We Getting Our Share of the Best?
6. Steven Johnson, Your Brain on Video Games
7. Clive Thompson, The New Literacy
8. Roz Chast, Shelved (cartoon)
5. Education
Do our schools serve the goals of a true education?
Central Essay
Francine Prose, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read
Classic Essay
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Education
Other Voices
James Baldwin, A Talk to Teachers
Kyoko Mori, School
Sherman Alexie, Superman and Me
*David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
Margaret Talbot, Best in Class
*David Foster Wallace, This is Water
Fiction
Sandra Cisneros, Eleven
Visual Text
Norman Rockwell, The Spirit of Education
Visual Text
*Roz Chast, What I Learned
Conversation: The American High School
Horace Mann, from The Report of the Mass. Board of Education
Todd Gitlin, The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut
Leon Botstein, Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood
Edward Koren, Two Scoreboards (cartoon)
*Diane Ravitch, Stop the Madness
*Erik Hanushek, U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective (tables)
*David Barboza, Shanghai Schools' Approach Pushes Students to Top of Tests
Student Writing
Argument: Using Personal Experiences as Evidence
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Appositives
Suggestions for Writing
6. Community
Central Essay
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (with public statement)
Classic Essay
Henry David Thoreau, Where I Lived, and What I Lived for
Other Voices
Richard Rodriguez, Aria
*Ellen Goodman, The Family That Stretches (Together)
Lori Arviso Alvord, Walking the Path between Worlds
*Robert D. Putnam, Health and Happiness
*Dinaw Mengestu, Home at Last
*Scott Brown, Facebook Friendonomics
*Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change
Poetry
Aurora Levins Morales, Child of the Americas
Paired Visual Texts
*Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want
*Roz Chast, The Last Thanksgiving
Visual Text
*Nissan, The Black Experience Is Everywhere
Conversation: The Individual's Responsibility to the Community
*Andrew Carnegie, from The Gospel of Wealth
Bertrand Russell, The Happy Life
Garrett Hardin, Lifeboat Ethics
Peter Singer, The Singer Solution to World Poverty
*Zapiro, World Economic Forum (cartoon)
*Christian Science Monitor, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and the Billionaire Challenge
*Der Spiegel, Negative Reaction to Charity Campaign
Student Writing
Synthesis: Incorporating Sources into a Revision
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Parallel Structures
Suggestions for Writing
7. The Economy
Central Essay
Barbara Ehrenreich, from Serving in Florida
Classic Essay
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Other Voices
*John Ruskin, from The Roots of Honor
Booker T. Washington, from The Atlanta Exposition Address
*Lars Eighner, Dumpster Diving
*Eric Schlosser, In the Strawberry Fields
*Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt, What the Bagel Man Saw
*Matthew Crawford, The Case for Working with Your Hands
*Fareed Zakaria, How to Restore the American Dream
Poetry
*Marge Piercy, To Be of Use
Visual Text
Jeff Parker, The Great GAPsby Society
Visual Text
*Tom Tomorrow, A "Handy" Guide to the Housing Market
Conversation: Materialism in American Culture
*Henry David Thoreau, from Economy
*John Kenneth Galbraith, from Consumer Behavior and the Dependence Effect
*Phyllis Rose, Shopping and Other Spiritual Adventures in America Today
*Wendell Berry, Waste
*Juliet Schor, from The New Politics of Consumption
*Joan Smith, Shop Happy
*Virginia Postrel, In Praise of Chain Stores
*Scott DeCarlo, Forbes Price Index of Luxury Goods (table)
Student Writing
Rhetorical Analysis: Analyzing a Prose Passage
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Short Simple Sentences and Fragments
Suggestions for Writing
8. Gender
Central Essay
Stephen Jay Gould, Women's Brains
Classic Essay
Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women
Other Voices
*Benjamin Franklin, The Speech of Miss Polly Baker
John and Abigail Adams, Letters
*Judy Brady, I Want a Wife
*Brent Staples, Just Walk on By
Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Myth of the Latin Woman
Deborah Tannen, There Is No Unmarked Woman
*Matthias Mehl, Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?
Poetry
Marge Piercy, Barbie Doll
Paired Visual Texts
*Charles LeBrun, Chancellor Seguier at the Entry of Louis XIV into Paris
*Kehinde Wiley, The Chancellor Seguier on Horseback
Conversation: Defining Masculinity
*Leonard McCombe, Marlboro Man (photo)
Paul Theroux, Being a Man
Gretel Ehrlich, About Men
Rebecca Walker, Putting down the Gun
Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky, Why Johnny Won't Read
David Brooks, Mind over Muscle
Student Writing: Argument
Supporting an Assertion
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Pronouns
Suggestions for Writing
9. Sports
Central Essay
Gay Talese, Silent Season of a Hero
Classic Essay
*Grantland Rice, The Four Horsemen
Other Voices
Theodore Roosevelt, The Proper Place for Sports
*Joyce Carol Oates, The Cruelest Sport
Kris Vervaecke, A Spectator's Notebook
*Jane Smiley, Barbaro, The Heart in the Winner's Circle
*Malcolm Gladwell, Offensive Play
*Rick Reilly, Why I Love My Job
*Caroline Alexander, The Great Game
Poetry
John Updike, Ex-Basketball Player
Visual Text
*New York World, The 12th Man in Any Football Game (cartoon)
Visual Text
*Sports Illustrated, Yes! (cover)
Conversation: Paying College Athletes
*Boris Drucker, I'm glad we won... (cartoon)
*Frank DeFord, Pay Dirt
*Michael Lewis, Serfs of the Turf
*Bill Walton, My Priceless Opportunity
*Michael Wilbon, As Colleges' Greed Grows, So Does the Hypocrisy
*Steve Weiberg, Despite Criticism, NCAA Takes a Firm Stance on Professionalism
*NCAA, Why Students Aren't Paid to Play
Student Writing
Rhetorical Analysis: Comparing Strategies
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Direct, Precise, and Active Verbs
Suggestions for Writing
10. Language
Central Essay
Amy Tan, Mother Tongue
Classic Essay
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
Other Voices
*Walt Whitman, Slang in America
*Gloria Anzaldœa, How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Marjorie Agosin, Always Living in Spanish
*Firoozeh Dumas, The 'F Word'
*Charles Krauthammer, In Plain English
*Steven Pinker, Words Don't Mean What They Mean
Poetry
Naomi Shihab Nye, For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15 & Why I Could Not Accept Your Invitation
Visual Text
*U.S. Census, Language Use in the U.S.
Visual Text
*Jim Cummins, The Effects of Bilingualism
Conversation: Politics and the English Language
*Institute for Propaganda Analysis, How to Detect Propaganda
*Michiko Kakutani, The Word Police
*Harper's, Skinning Cats, Nonviolently (table)
*Mike Lester, NCAA Native American Mascots (cartoon)
Geoffrey Nunberg, The —ism Schism
Daniel Okrent, The War of Words: A Dispatch from the Front Lines (with letters to the editor)
*Frank Luntz, from Words that Work
Student Writing
Narrating: Reflecting on Personal Exerience
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Concise Diction
Suggestions for Writing
11. Popular Culture
*Central Essay
James McBride, Hip Hop Planet
Classic Essay
Mark Twain, Corn-pone Opinions
Other Voices
Scott McCloud, Show and Tell (graphic essay)
David Denby, High-School Confidential
*Robin Givhan, An Image a Little Too Carefully Coordinated
Steven Johnson, Watching TV Makes You Smarter
*Daniel Harris, Celebrity Bodies
*Chuck Klosterman, My Zombie, Myself
Poetry
Hans Ostrom, Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven
Visual Text
Mark Tansey, The Innocent Eye Test
Visual Text
*Andy Warhol, Myths
Conversation: Exporting American Pop Culture
*Thomas Friedman, The Revolution Is U.S.
*Heather Havrilesky, Besieged by 'Friends'
*Dierdre Straughan, Who's Dominating Whom?
*Kwame Anthony Appiah, from The Case for Contamination
*Josef Joffe, The Perils of Soft Power
*Joseph Nye, The U.S. Can Reclaim Smart Power
*Slovakian Fan at World Cup (photo)
Student Writing
Rhetorical Analysis: Analyzing Satire
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Modifiers
Suggestions for Writing
12. The Environment
Central Essay
Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring
Classic Essay
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature
Other Voices
*Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic
*Lewis Thomas, Natural Man
*Bill McKibben, from The End of Nature
Terry Tempest Williams, The Clan of One-Breasted Women
*Joy Williams, Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp
*E.O. Wilson, from The Future of Life
*Poetry
*Gerard Manley Hopkins, Inversnaid
Visual Text
R. Crumb, A Shorty History of America (cartoon)
Visual Text
*Royal Dutch/Shell, Let's Go (advertisement)
Conversation: Sustainable Eating
*Peter Menzel, Hungry Planet (photo essay)
*Michael Pollan, A Naturalist in the Supermarket
*James McWilliams, The Locavore Myth
*Jonathan Safran Foer, The American Table and The Global Table
*Nicolette Hahn Niman, Carnivore's Dilemma
*Will Allen, A Good Food Manifesto for America
*A.J. Jacobs, Farm to Table
*Michael Specter, from Test-Tube Burgers
Student Writing
Visual Rhetoric: Analyzing a Photo Essay
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Cumulative, Periodic, and Inverted Sentences
Suggestions for Writing
13. Politics
Central Essay
Jamaica Kincaid, On Seeing England for the First Time
Classic Essay
Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Other Voices
*Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
Virginia Woolf, Thoughts on Peace During an Air Raid
Chris Hedges, from The Destruction of Culture
*Sarah Vowell, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
*Laura Blumenfeld, The Apology
*Marjane Satrapi, The Veil (geographic memoir)
Fiction
Tim O'Brien, On the Rainy River
Visual Texts
Pablo Picasso, Guernica (painting)
New Yorker, March 17, 2003 (cover)
Harper's, April 2003 (cover)
Conversation: Colonialism
*Christopher Columbus, Letter to King Ferdinand
*King Ferdinand, The Requerimiento
*Red Jacket, Defense of Native American Religion
George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
*Frantz Fanon, Concerning Violence
Eavan Boland, In Which the Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own (poem)
National Park Service, Christiansted (brochure)
Student Writing
Synthesis: Using Sources to Support an Argument
Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
Subordination in the Complex Sentence
Suggestions for Writing