ARCS p. 186 #1&3

1.) By examining the article, “We Knew This Web Thing Was Just a Fad,” I discovered that the author, Roy Edroso, made use of maxims, signs, and examples to support his argument that the internet’s powerful influence on the world is declining. He begins his article, which appears in The Village Voice, by stating, “The conventional wisdom is that the internet is all-powerful, and therefore immune from the slump that's affecting boring old companies in the tedious real world.” This statement serves as a maxim that is generally accepted by the community Edroso is writing towards. Edroso continues his argument by explaining how “Yahoo and eBay are cutting about 2,500 jobs.” This statement is a physical fact that signifies the decline in internet power. Finally, Edroso uses examples to support his argument. Edroso states, “Brand Republic reports that Amazon has just taken a billion dollars off its 2008 revenue projections.” This description of Amazon’s budget cut exemplifies the move towards a less influential internet. Edroso’s use of maxims, signs, and examples allows him to provide his readers with a stronger, more convincing argument.

3.) The slogan, “Knowledge is Power” could likely serve as a premise of an enthymeme. For example, if a parent is trying to convince their child to attend college, the parent could use” Knowledge is Power” as a premise for the argument.

Approaches to Analyzing Data

I plan to begin my data analysis by coding the data I have collected. I will read over all of the data and look for patterns, themes, similarities, and differences. I expect that I will find patterns in Mr. Manchin’s tone and formality of writing. Although I reviewed three different types of persuasive documents, they were each written for a specific court, either the Circuit Court of Marion County, or the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. Therefore, Mr. Manchin used similar diction and syntax throughout his writing. I believe that I will also find patterns and similarities among the formats of the three documents. Despite their differing content, the documents were all organized with bolded headings and spacing between sections. Mr. Manchin frequently used numbering and alphabetic lettering to organize the points of his argument and to separate the supporting facts of a case. In order to accommodate the differing content among the documents, Manchin used different section headings. Therefore, I will examine his heading choices and how certain headings were more suitable for different documents.

ARCS p. 153 #4

Deforestation in the Amazon

The Common Topic of Conjecture
1. What exists?
Amazon rainforest in the Amazon Basin of South America
2. What does not exist?
Huge amounts of land are being cleared every year, and species of animals are becoming extinct every day.
3. The size or extent of what exists.
The size of the Amazon is 5,500,000 km².
4. How things used to be (past conjecture).
The Amazon rainforest was approximately 6,200,000 km² is the early 1990s.
5. How things will be in the future (future conjecture).
The size of the Amazon will continue to decrease rapidly unless serious action is taken against deforestation.

The Common Topic of Degree
1. What is greater than the mean or norm?
Conditions in the rainforest were better when land was not being cleared for logging, agriculture, and urban expansion.
2. What is lesser then the mean or norm?
Conditions will continue to worsen unless action is taken.
3. What is relatively greater then something else?
Although conditions will not likely show great improvement at first, measures can be taken that will gradually decrease deforestation in the Amazon resulting in conditions that are relatively better then in the past.
4. What is relatively lesser then something else?
Deforestation rates are worse in Brazil, one of the countries where the Amazon rainforest is located, then in other South American countries.
5. What is good, just, beautiful, honorable, enjoyable, etc.
The Amazon rainforest is a beautiful place that is full of biodiversity. It is the honorable and just thing to do to help prevent deforestation so that the diversity of species can flourish.
6. What is better, more just, etc.
It is better to prevent the killing of innocent animals then to destroy their ecosystems for our own benefit.
7. What is less good, less just, etc.
It is less just to overlook deforestation so that we can have more room for agriculture and urban development.
8. What is good, etc., for all persons?
It is good for all persons to become active in the movement to stop deforestation.
9. What is good, etc., for a few persons or groups?
Some people may think that deforestation is beneficial because it provides more land for their industries. However, deforestation is not beneficial for all persons.
10. What has been better, etc., in the past?
Had we stopped deforestation in the past, we would not have lost the amount of land or the species of animals that are gone today.
11. What will be better, etc., in the future?
It is best to take action against deforestation now to provide for a better future.

The Common Topic of Possibility
1. What is possible?
It is possible to take action to help prevent deforestation in the future.
2. What is impossible?
It is impossible to undo the deforestation that has already happened.
3. What is more or less possible?
It is more or less possible to inform industries of the harm they are inflicting on the rainforest and discourage them from continuing their actions.
4. What is possible in the future?
It is possible to save species of animals that would have become extinct.
5. What is impossible in the future?
It is more or less impossible to prevent all industries from continuing destructive behaviors.
6. What was possible or impossible in the past?
It was possible to have helped prevent the deforestation that has already occurred.

ARCS p. 153 #5

In an effort to examine liberal versus conservative views in today’s media, I examined two editorials that discuss presidential candidate Barac Obama and his standpoint in relation to the Iraqi war. The two articles, appearing in The American Spectator and The Nation offer opposing perspectives on Obama’s insistence that American troops should be pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible. The article in The American Spectator, titled “Obama, Iraq, and Reality,” expresses the opinion that Obama has not thoroughly considered the consequences of pulling out of the war. George H. Wittman, the author of the article, maintains that, “the Obama campaign has created a fictionalized Iraq political scene in which there are virtually no consequences to America leaving Iraq effectively on its own.” Bittman reasserts his stance by proclaiming, “The fact is that Obama and his left-wing, anti-war supporters want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible at any price.” Writing from a conservative point of view, Bittman believes that Obama’s intentions to end the war in the Middle East are unrealistic because the conflict between the Iraqi people is deep-rooted and cannot be resolved in a matter of months.

John Nichols expresses his opinions on Obama’s plans bring the war to an end in his article, “A Debate on Iraq Benefits Obama.” Nichols, who writes for The Nation, agrees with Wittman that the Iraqi war is a key issue in Obama’s campaign. However, Nichols adopts the view that Obama’s opinions about the Iraqi war benefit his campaign. Nichols explains how Obama emphasizes why it is essential to leave Iraq because of “the need to bring the conflict to a rapid conclusion in order to save more mothers from having to bury their sons and daughters.” Moreover, Nichols summarizes his positive views of Obama by stating, “Barack Obama debated as the man who won the Democratic nomination in large part because he had the wisdom to oppose launching an unnecessary preemptive war, and who scored points throughout the primary fight by promising to renew America's commitment to diplomacy.” By describing Obama as wise, Nichols asserts his belief that Obama has a reasonable and effective plan for ending conflict in Iraq.

While these two writers focus their articles on the same subject, they possess very different opinions about the quality and potential success of Barac Obama’s views on the Iraqi war. The article in the conservative paper, The American Spectator, is skeptic of Obama’s intentions for the future. Yet, the article appearing in the liberal paper, The Nation, examines Obama’s plans from a more positive perspective. While these differences may represent the personal opinions of the writers, they also likely reflect the differing ideologies among the liberal and conservative publication.

Research Abstract

While a substantial amount of studies have been conducted on the processes of writing and composing within the academic environment, little research has been completed on the professional and technical writing that takes place in today’s job market. Therefore, this ethnographic research study will closely examine how lawyers use rhetoric methods in their writing to communicate within the legal realm and develop compelling arguments for specific cases. This study will explore the writing processes of lawyers through personal observation and interviews with one or more attorney. Through focusing on actual documents written by lawyers, the study will offer insight into the writing methods and decision making tactics used by these professionals. This study will explore lawyers’ use of the written word to advocate cases and defend clients.

Intertextuality and Genres

I feel that the concept of intertextuality may be useful when writing my final ethnographic project because I will likely be incorporating outside sources into my report. I plan to read over and analyze the documents written by lawyers, and I will likely discuss these documents in my final report. Therefore, I will be able to use the information I have learned about intertextuality to compose my report.