Persuasion and Film

Films are an interesting persuasive venue--they rely on multiple elements of persuasion, from advertising and marketing to get people to see them to the persuasive messages withing the story the film depicts and so on...think about how film can persuade, then name a film you have recently viewed and provide data, claim and a warrant for why we SHOULD see it too...or not. Remember: data is your evidence, the claim is your "should" statement and your main argument and the warrant is the larger shared assumption that unites data and claim,sort of like a bridge of logic...warrants are typically very short, straightforward, obvious and do not include imperatives (like should). I'll go first: Death at a Funeral was a hilarious British film. c: You should see it (d) because, despite its title, it is HILARIOUS!!!!!! w: People like humor.

Fallacies and Flawed Reasoning: What the___?!?

Both Coms 301 and 361 drop you off at the curb of coms 311: argumentation. What a curb it is! In argument and debate, you examine speech as more of an-ongoing process--a boxing match of logic and reasoning. You stay on your feet, duck and swing and try to outsmart the other side's argument. This is not the definition of "argument" as in "fight," this is a respectful examination of two or more sides of a complex issue. For every claim, you need evidence (or data) to support it, but also, evidence can be manipulated to decieve us, even facts can be subject to interpretation. The reasoning BEHIND the claim and evidence is where the faulty logic reveals itself. This is Toulmin's warrant. Charts and graphs can be created to skew our interpretation of statistics, scare tactics can be used to persuade us when there isn't enough REAL evidence, unlike things can be compared to create confusion: This is rhetorical: Language has imbedded within it an ability to persuade, which in the wrong hands (or mouthpiece) can become deceptive....especially when a party stands to gain power or money by persuading you. Critical thinking is your best tool to recognize and resist.

visit http://owlet.letu.edu/contenthtml/research/toulmin.html for more if interested!

For this blog assignment, 1. Find fault (or a fallacy) in either the "because" statment (evidence or data) OR the assumption (warrant) behind the reasoning of the previous data and claim. 2..state your own claim begining with word "so" and also using the word "should"--2.then support it with evidence that begins with "because"--keep it simple. 3. The next person should find fault or a fallacy in either your evidence or your warrant (implied) and then launch a new "so/because" argument. Keep it clean and respectful, I'll go first.

So now you understand why you should "go green," --because you'll get invited to cool fundraisers and concerts!

Citations and References: Nuts and Bolts

Hey Gang--
A reminder: For the persuasive assignments in all of my classes, you need to make 3 oral citations, don't just include research information and statistics, credit the source by stating:
according to...OR
as so & so says in her book....
OR: _________ offers the following advice.

Research info is crucial to a good speech and your assignment grade will drop one full letter if you skip this!

In addition to the oral citations, which should be included in your outline under the BODY: main points you'll use them to support, you need a "References" section at the end of the outline where you alphabetically list the entire source info, including complete urls and dates printed AND retrieved for web sources. For books, publishing dates and authors/titles, magaizines need issue numbers, etc.

Example of internet reference to be listed at bottom of outline under heading: REFERENCES:

Smith, John. (2007). How to Fly. Retrieved from http://www. flyinghumans.org//+_* on September 20th, 2009.

Book:

Zing, Pam. (2008). Fly High. 2nd Ed. Random House: NY

For this 2 part blog, your magical/imaginary speech topic is OUR FUN CLASS
1. Provide one sentence that is an oral citation,
2. followed by the complete reference for the oral citation as it would be found at the end of your outline (web, book OR magazine)

VISIT http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ to see how to do any type of citation properly. I'll go first cuz I'm nice like that......drumroll pleeeeze....................:

Oral Citation:
Main Point 1: Citation vibrations
According to your teacher, (2008) "Citations are like nuts and bolts that hold your persuasive argument together!" (idnasss.blogspot.com). (Analogy courtesy of Sandra, no extra fee)

References
Wheeler, Sandra. (2008). Citations Rule! Retrieved from http://idnasss.blogspot.com/cit% on March 4th 2008.