Ashley Siefker’s English 207 Blog

Pick one rhetorical appeal and write a short understanding of that appeal.

Pathos is an argument based on emotion, playing on sympathy, fears, and desires. It relies on an emotional response from the people reading it. It attempts to sway people to its side.

Using that appeal, find one online advertisement that uses that appeal and explain how that appeal is being used. (consider looking on YouTube, Craigslist, or Adverblog (http://www.adverblog.com/) to find some samples).  Make sure that you either post a link to the advertisement or include it in your post.

I had a really hard time trying to decide what commercial to choose because they are both very close to my heart.  The first one is the one I most relate to because it reminds me of myself going through the same situation.  It tugs at me because it is of a young woman talking about something that all women fear.  The second one affects a six year old going through this and this is enough for anyone to stop and listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eXB-b5qsAI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbWZa7Flmo4&feature=PlayList&p=5049AC3141B3C71D&index=0&playnext=1

Consider one of the sample narratives you read over the weekend (Douglass, Alexie, Atwood, and Momaday) and find a place where your appeal is being used in one of the texts.  Give a quote or summary of where the appeal is being used and explain why that is or is not an effective use of the appeal.

“They stole my glasses and threw them over my head, around my outstretched hands, just beyond my reach, until someone tripped me and sent me falling again, facedown in the snow” (Alexie).  This is a very effective use of the pathos appeal.  No one likes to be picked on and so when we see or hear of a child getting picked on it tends to make us upset and feeling protective of them.

Based on your readings, what should a literacy narrative do?  Or, what makes a good literacy narrative? 

    A good narrative should have a beginning, middle, and and end and tell a complete story.  It should be thought out, organized, and creative.  It needs to keep the reader intrigued and inform them of your experience with the event and how you felt about the event itself and the outcome(s) that followed.

Who would your ideal reader be for each approach?  What do they bring to the reading experience?  What do they believe?  What attitudes do they have?

COOKING: The ideal reader for this approach would be grandmothers and granddaughters who have/had a close relationship.  They bring their experiences with each other and their own memories that may be triggered.  They believe that family is important and spending time with them strengthens those bonds.  Attitudes they have would probably be pretty gentle and concentrated on the love they have for one another.

READING: The ideal reader for this approach would be anyone who likes to read.  They bring their ideas of what they like to read, their favorite authors, and the different reasons they like to read.  They believe that reading is a good past time, it’s fun, and perhaps that more people should read.  In extreme cases they may of the attitude that ‘reading is life’ and could be considered to be a ‘book worm’.  In other cases I think that someone who likes to read have the attitude that maybe their own personal bias to their favorite author.

WRITING: The ideal reader for this approach would be anyone who likes to get their feelings and thoughts onto paper.  They bring their own experiences of when journaling or some other form of writing has helped them through a tough time.  They probably think that writing helps ‘keep them sane’ and makes them feel better to get things out of their head and onto paper.  The same can be said for their attitude towards writing.

COMMON SENSE: The ideal reader for this approach would be anyone who is disgruntled with they ways that some people just ‘don’t use their heads’, or feels like they use their common sense pretty well.  They bring their experiences with people using or not using their common sense and the outcome of those events.  Their belief is probably using common sense is essential in taking care of oneself and those who don’t use it need a lesson in doing so.  Their attitude is probably the same in that those who do use their common sense are ‘a step ahead’ of those who do not.

COMMUNICATE IDEAS: The ideal reader for this approach would be everyone because all people at some point are communicating their ideas to others.  They bring their personal strategies of how they accomplish sharing their ideas with others.  As most people usually do, they probably think that their ideas are better than others at some point, and this could also be said for someone with an extreme attitude on this view.

COOKING: I spent a lot of time with my grandma cooking and backing when I was littler and she taught me different things that I will have with me forever.

READING: A couple of years ago I was sick and had to spend a lot of time waiting and in doctor’s offices and hospitals.  Reading gave me not only something to do, but it kept my mind off of things.  I read a series of fifteen books that were humorous and it kept my spirits up when I wasn’t too far down.

WRITING: There is nothing better that being able to express my feelings and get it down on paper.  Sometimes it really helps be deal with things.  One can really learn about themselves when you look back on what you have written in the past.

COMMON SENSE: My parents have taught me a lot and common sense is and extension of that.  It has helped define who I am and how I can take care of myself.

COMMUNICATE IDEAS: This lets me get my ideas heard.  It not only lets me get them out in the open, but I can learn about myself with the others I am sharing with.

    Spend a few minutes on your blog coming up with a list of the characteristics of a narrative.  Include what a narrative is and does, and also consider writing about your experiences with narratives (reading them, writing them, etc.).

     To me a narrative is basically telling a story and forwarding important information and ideas.  According to my IPC 418 class (Communication Ethics) it is taking parts of other famous stories and putting them together to make a new one.  The familiarity of the stories helps to make the new one recognizable and cohesive.  Examples of this are Star Wars, Epic Movie, Scary Movie, and Not Another Teen Movie.  While these are good examples a narrative does not have to be a movie or written…it can be done with a variety of different medias.

Using the feedback you received in class today, write a blog post (250 word minimum) reflecting on what you think you will need to do as you move forward with your visual narrative.

For out peer review day we shared our ideas with each other and learned that we all plan on having a similar format for our narratives…PowerPoint seems to be the format of choice!  To get to the final product the biggest things I have to do is get everything on the PowerPoint slides and getting all the pictures I need.  Once I get this down it should not take very long to get the colors, animation, and other final touches in place.  However, my biggest concern and/or fear is that I am underestimating the amount of time that these finishing touches will actually take. 

The feedback I got in class was positive.  The ideas I had were liked by the others in my group.  Since we have been talking about this assignment in class I have been making a list of the different literacies and that has helped a lot.  I also went through and answered the questions on ‘Literacy Prompts’ on Blackboard.  These questions have pretty much as done the assignment for me in terms of ideas and where to go with this assignment.

In terms of how I want the assignment to look, I just want it to represent me.  I want to do this by using bright colors and fun fonts.  I do not want the class to be board while watching the presentation.  If your audience is board then they are getting none of the message(s) that you are trying to relay to them.  Overall, I think that the assignment will turn out well!

My visual narrative ideas are very similar to what we have seen in class.  I plan on doing a PowerPoint listing and incorporating my personal literacy list I have put together.  To help demonstrate them I plan on using pictures I have taken myself and using different colors and textures that represent me.  The main idea and points I want to raise are just that…I want people to learn what my literacy is and a little bit of who I am just by looking at the narrative.

How many people/companies use CC?

Based on the samples that are available on Blackboard and that we have looked in class, what makes a good visual narrative?  What makes a bad visual narrative?

      Based on the examples that we have looked at in class a good visual narrative is when a viewer can tell what the creator of the narrative is trying to tell you without vocal prompts.  One should be able to tell themselves the story being told or the message that is being portrayed without vocals.  A bad visual narrative is basically the opposite in that the viewer cannot do the above with what is in front of them.