Cathy Birkenstein's 'They Say I Say'

In “Thank You For Arguing”, Jay Heinrichs teaches the reader how simple it can be to get things your own way through persuasion. Throughout the book, the author uses methods that can help move an audience from Cicero’s three-step strategy to examples with present issues. Heinrichs has been in the media business for over 30 years working as a writer, editor, executive, and consultant. With 3 books published, “Thank You For Arguing” has been used in over 3,000 college courses and has become a New York Times bestseller. In the world of persuasion we can learn from it, realize how useful just one chapter can be, and discover if a book should be continued in educational courses.

In Legally Blond, Elle Woods delivers the student address speech during graduation. Elle Woods addresses that passion is the key ingredient in the study of law and life. The purpose of this speech was to encourage the students to always have passion in everything they do, having faith in others and themselves. The thesis of the speech would be “It is with passion, courage of conviction and strong sense of self, that we take our next steps into the world.” If I was asked to write the speech I honestly would not change anything, Woods did a good job using an attention getter, and creating a thesis. She seemed excited about the topic, which made listening to her speech enjoyable. Overall, Elle Woods’ speech was very well wrote and presented.

There are tons of advice on how to complete a research analysis essay, but I will review the most important ones. To start off with for a research analysis essay there needs to be a lot of reading and research done. A couple of hours each day is needed when finding the right sources. Making sure the resources are appropriate sources. Also making sure ideas are synthesize. Meaning what do these sources say and what does the writer want to say about these sources? For avoiding plagiarism use signal phrases to introduce source material or use quotes, making sure in-text citations are used appropriately. I recommend that students show the source than get specific and show a quote, than interpret the source? And why does this information provided prove what the writer is trying to prove.

Over the course of English 1302 at Texas Tech, I feel that my skills as a writer improved significantly. When beginning the class, I knew little about writing a literature review or researched argument. With the help of my instructor’s lectures and the University Writing Center, I was able to effectively get my point across effectively while forming a well developed and well spoken manner. The advice given to me about argumentative essays and integrating sources helped significantly over the course of this class, and the skills learned in English 1302 helped me in other classes this semester when writing as well.

Life has changed so much since the times of witch trials that it is difficult to believe they are real. The writings of Mary Easty and Tituba are hard for me to take seriously because the stories and claims seem so outrageous to me. I found myself wondering how modern court trails, judges, and lawyers would handle these claims. I also wonder why some people volunteered as being guilty of witchcraft or even entertained the idea of being somehow involved in witchcraft. Tituba’s story really made me wonder why she said everything that she did. Did she simply make stuff up or is there some truths behind some of her words? Did she have a motive for outing Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne as witches and confessing to the tormenting of little girls? Could it be possible that pretending to be involved in supernatural powers or witchcraft provided thrill and excitement in an otherwise sad, boring, and oppressed life? The witch trials, as wells as Anne Hutchins trial prove how important and powerful religion was at the time.

Meghan Cox Gurdon claims in “Darkness Too Visible” that fiction for teens these days expose a high level of violence, abuse and obscenity that disturbs teenagers, causing them to learn or adopt these behaviors. The author starts of by presenting a mother’s perspective of such themes in the young-adult section of a bookstore and how there was nothing she could image giving her daughter, because of the topics these revealed. Her argument is developed by using examples of different books that have a large amount of violent content. For example, one of the books she mentions is “Rage” which uncovers the depressed life of a teenager that self harms secretly. With this said, Gurdon at the end establishes the fact that some adolescents do not read

In the Introduction, Jay Heinrichs provides the reader with a foundation about the upcoming concepts on rhetoric, persuasion, seduction, and argument used in our everyday lives and in writing. Throughout this section, he discusses rhetoric that he encounters throughout life and without rhetoric it is merely impossible. He tries to go through a non rhetorical day, but it turns “out to be pretty darn rhetorical, but nonetheless agreeable” (11). Rhetoric prevents fighting, because without an agreement, people use fighting as a way of arguing. So, although people may see rhetoric as manipulation and/or seduction, it provides an agreement, within an otherwise violent, aggravating argument. With the use of rhetoric both sides can come to a consensus.

I enjoy using the occasional curse word when I speak, and I tend to use them frequently when I speak of something that I am passionate about, argue for something, or try to ease frustration. Some may think that swearing is a new, crude, and unintelligent aspect of today’s society. However, the truth behind swearing may come to a surprise. Natalie Angier’s “Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore” reveals some of the science, history and psychology behind why humans swear and where swearing came from.

One night, one party, one person, one call, that is all it takes to change somebody’s identity and shape them into the person they truly are. Melinda Sordino is the victim of a horrible night that changed her life. In the novel speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda is faced with many challenges. Melinda attended a party the summer before ninth grade. She wasn’t thinking about the consequences that come with drinking, she was not thinking about how one little action could ruin her relationship with those around her,one action that could shape her identity into who she truly is, one action that she would be to traumatized to tell anyone about. Is Melinda strong enough to handle the rumors and lies? It often seems that

Writer have different way of getting their point across, like in the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicholas Carr. He makes an argument that google is a convenient tools and is making us less able to process deep information. He use ethos, pathos, logos and tone to prove his ideas. Carr want the audience to feel a connection to his article.

At just age 43, Theodore Roosevelt, better known as Teddy Roosevelt, became the president of the United States following a tragic incident in which William McKinley was assassinated, making him the youngest presidents. He brought a new spirit into the white house, one that believed that the president should work for his country to do whatever is necessary. As a president he expanded executive power, believed in a strong foreign policy as well as pushed many progressive reforms. On April 23, 1910, while in Paris, France, he delivered a speech to an audience filled with students of the prestigious school of Sorbonne University. Within his speech he touches on the idea of the advantages that these students have been given, however, in a polite

Qualification: (Tell listeners your personal experience with your topic, making you qualified to affect their opinions about it.)

In this short passage by William Zinsser, Zinsser used compare and contrast to inform the readers about his personal opinions of being a writer. Due to different understandings and opinions on how to be a good writer, Zinsser decided to use compare and contrast in order to present a clean and detailed differences to the reader about how different people’s writing style can vary. By doing this, it would be extremely helpful for the readers to distinguish the differences of each writing style, see the benefits and disadvantages, and ultimately gather enough information to decide which style fits them the best. At the panel with Dr. Brock, Zinsser gave the audience a broader view of different writing styles and how they contribute differently.

Rhetoric is defined as the art of persuasion using oral or written communications (Rapp). There are many theories and ideas which an orator or writer can use as tools to achieve their goal of persuading an audience. The audience is defined in rhetoric as “the listeners or spectators at a speech or performance, or the intended readership for a piece of writing or an assembled and pointed group of listeners that receive the message of the rhetor and ultimately decide the message’s effectiveness” (Enos). Within the study of rhetoric the focus is on what the speaker or writer does to create the affect and response they want from their audience; in this essay I will describe the audience and their role in the communications throughout

There has been an assumption that academic writing is getting to be less formal as it is expected by many institutions. The informality in written work has become a standard thing in most public domains. With close observation, writers have literary shifted from the normal standards of writing and styles of writing that are impersonal. However, the assumption has not been examined in the recent past. In this paper, the issue is explored, and a trial is made in ascertaining whether less formality is being associated with academic writing. If it is a true assumption, then the paper looks at how it has come to be and in which particular disciplines. Typically, the informal writing was once much spread to spoken and written domains has also spread