Writing Journal 9
Humanities
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Writing Journal 9
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For this writing journal activity, I want us to think through the rhetorical appeals (Links to an external site.) we read about this week in Writing Commons. To do that, I want you to think of a potential answer to this question: Should state and federal governments provide four-year college degrees free of charge, similar to the K-12 model?
Determine what your thesis will be (do you believe government should provide free college?), and then try to think of support that would fall under each category that we read about
For example, under logos, you could find a statistic citing the number of students with student loan debt and the average amount.
Ethos might be invoking your own experience as a college student–you are directly experiencing this, so you have credibility.
For pathos, you might tell an emotional story–maybe you know someone who had to drop out of college because he or she couldn’t afford it. Maybe you know someone who couldn’t go to their dream school because of the money.
Kairos is maybe the trickiest to understand, but kairos is gauging the right thing to say at the right time. What arguments could you make to support your position that make sense right now? Citing the student loan debt crisis is a good idea, so is looking at the model in New York State (Links to an external site.), which claims to be the first free-college plan in the country. This kind of evidence appeals to Kairos: what is going on right now.
Of course, there is a lot of overlap between each of these four kinds of appeals. A statistic can have an emotional impact, for instance, and an example from your life could be timely (kairos) and build ethos too.
To clarify, you do not need to find any evidence per say. You do need to write a thesis statement, and then list at least four kinds of support, one that represents each kind of rhetorical appeal well.
There is no word limit for this assignment, but you do need each of the five parts of the assignment and to demonstrate you understand how to phrase a thesis statement in this genre, and what logos, ethos, pathos, and kairos are. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions.
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Please and Thank You
