Rhetorical strategies for Unit 4 portfolio

Group A: Meghan, and Marian, and myself have chosen to talk about TCU Housing. We did begin our first discussion with doing a video and interviewing 2 sources that know alot of info about the huge lag in living spaces for TCU students. Today we decided to switch from a video presentation to doing a posterboard, key chain and t-shirt design.

Our group has chosen this topic because upperclassmen are definitely dealing with this situation. We are able to talk about this problem because we are TCU students and Meghan, and Marian are currently dealing with TCU ORS in trying to find housing. Because there was no space for them, they had to decide to live off campus. We think that using a posterboard will be good because we will be providing accurate stats and numbers as to how much cheaper it is to live off campus, then on-campus. Our passion behind this comes from TCU students pay an arm and a leg to go to the university and therefore deserve to have a space available for them to live the next year.

Roles in Unit 4 Portfolio

My goals in group work include:

1. I’m the organizer and the one that keeps everyone on task.
2. I also prefer doing the work, but only when necessary presenting it.

I think it would be cool if we did a t-shirt or a YouTube video. Virtually anything interesting that I can be proud of presenting or using in the future. I definitely want to appeal to TCU students on an issue that is worth talking about that does affect us in some way. I don’t think I would be good at doing the website thing, since I have never done one before, but if for some reason we want that route I would want it to look really awesome.

Pre-Writing for Op-Ed

For my op-ed, I plan to focus on the hardships of being an RA. Many people don't understand the job until their first day on their own. I hope to enlighten readers and call them to action as far as being more considerate and thoughtful of RAs. I am going to outline the 4 main parts of our job: safety, paperwork, training, and other. In each category I will cite specific examples as to what we do on a daily basis. The pathos appeal I think would be most effective because facts will be good here, but bringing up general experiences that RAs have had with residents and vice versa will keep readers more enthralled, I think. Personal experience is more effective as I said before because not everyone knows what we do, hence the point of this piece therefore quoting info from the ORS website's description is bland. Bringing in real world action will make it more believable.

There is no research to be done on my part because I have had 1 years experience which will more than enough to get my point across.

New Topic Idea for Unit 3

I haven't found the exact article yet, but I do plan to find some type of advertisement in which I can argue effectively. I plan to write about TCU RA selection. It effects TCU students directly because each year we have at least 100 students apply or at least show interest, but usually only 30-40 upperclassmen get selected. I believe current RAs and people who apply could be perturbed by this because we don't feel that there is an accurate representation of what an RA's job actually consists of- the good and the bad. Often time, the bad part of the job is obscured, which is typical when people apply for any kind of job, but I feel it is important that if the Office of Residential Services continues to select people who cannot stand the demands of being an RA than something is obviously wrong and its coming from the inside.

Author's Note for Rhetorical Case Study

This is the first draft that I you will be reading. I wrote it in two intervals, the latter being this morning until 4 o'clock, so please take into consideration that it may not make sense in some areas. I think this draft is okay, but needs a lot more work because I am still having a very hard time trying to have more sources relate back to my thesis. Mark everything that doesn't make sense, mark punctuation, and PLEASE MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT THE SOURCES RELATING TO THE THESIS, AND WHAT I CAN DO TO MAKE IT STRONGER!

Sources

What connects my sources?

Environmental science and the hope of educating viewers or students about the current fragile state of the planet, animals, and ecosystems.

Blue planet focused on marine life and the animals that live and depend on it. It ended with an explanation of the current danger that our oceans are in.

The Planet Earth documentary focused its attention to every aspect of our planet save water, and hoped to showcase the planet and nonhuman animals in a way we have never seen before. It too ended with commentary about the current state of different natural habitats and endangered animals.

Controlling Idea- Environmental science education is important to understanding the plight of all inhabitants of the planet.

Order:
Textbook, Syllabi, Blue Planet, and Planet Earth

Intro:
1. Syllabi
a. The syllabus traditionally outlines the purpose of the class and what resources will be used to fulfill those goals.
One source equally as important to the structure and effectiveness of the class is the textbook.
2. Textbook
a. Main resource used in classrooms to explain and teach students about the course.
b. The theme of the book, as outlined by the author, is sustainability and how to demonstrate how we interact and use nature.
3. Planet Earth documentary
a. Last episode of the documentary has authoritative figures commenting on the current problems and status of the planet.
b. The other 10 episodes film different aspects of earth: “pole to pole”, “mountains”, “into the wilderness”
4. Blue Planet documentary
a. The most pivotal part of this documentary, like the other one is the last part with commentary explaining the decimation of the oceans and marine life.

Controlling Idea

I think my controlling idea is to see if this class is trying to implement green education in a way that encourages students to be active or involved in the environment.

Concerns and Pre-Writing

I am concerned that theme or controlling argument for this assignment is not clear enough yet. I am analyzing an AP Environmental Science class at Paschal, but I haven't met the teacher or the students yet and have no idea how I am going to structure this paper.

My second concern is that I have read the description for this assignment over 5 times and I am still unsure of what I am supposed to be doing. Am I supposed to be analyzing the sources or the topic?

Source 1:
Textbook- "Living in the Environment". I chose this because it will be a huge tell to how the class is thematically structured. The book obviously is concentrated on environmental science and I noticed that it covers a lot of information that I learned in my environmental science class here last semester.

Source 2:
Class Syllabi- I haven't had a chance to look at it yet because of other circumstances, but this will also give a good idea as to what is the hope for the class as far as goals, and expectations.

Source 3:
"The Planet Earth" and "The Blue Planet" videos are apparently used in the class as supplemental work and to visually illustrate certain points to the class.

Source 4:
Interviews with Mr. Brinker and his class will demonstrate first hand knowledge of the goals for the class in and what is actually being done besides what is expressed on paper/

Arguments in Fact and Definition in My Public Space

My space of interest in Central Market and the price argument can go a long way in this situation, but one that I found is an overarching theme in Central Market is the products sold there. From the flowers they sell, to the soap you can buy everything there is in some way related to health consciousness or a more "upity" type of product that you definitely wouldn't find in Wal-Mart. They are arguing that these products are worth so much that H-E-B can make a store completely focused on health food and consciousness and expect people to come, buy, and embrace this type of lifestyle. It's a great argument they make and God knows many people including myself fall for it.

Capitulo 1

What is most surprising and I think many will agree is the idea that everything is an argument. One would not initially think that telling a friend about your day is arguing any kind of point, but rather just informing your friend, but what I find interesting is that the authors say that you are arguing for your audience's attention. On page 4, it says that all visual and verbal messages contain arguments, but my natural tendency is to view these signs as declarations that the wearer or speaker is saying about themselves or issue they care about.

2. What in the book do I not agree with?
For the most part, I did not really disagree with anything, but I do have a hard time believing that everything is an argument. I believe some parts of our speech simply inform while other parts do intend to argue a point. I think there is mixture of the two, but nothing concrete.