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Contents 1 In-Class Activities: Day 11, October 3 1.1 Argument Analysis Grading 2 Homework Due 16 October

In-Class Activities: Day 11, October 3

• group worksheet on cultural texts: medium, content, function, context
• worksheet on critical thinking skills (self and peer assessment)
• rhetorical situation and strategies (pathos, ethos, logos)
• reference frames: author's (summary), yours (analytical), in context (critical)

• transmission and ritual views of communication

James Carey famously contrasted these two perspectives on communication in the 1970s.

The transmission model is common-sense to most U.S. Americans, probably to most western-educated people. The transmission model has serious limitations. According to Daniel Chandler, the transmission model gives "a dangerously misleading misrepresentation of the nature of human communication."

The ritual view of communication understands communication as culture: "communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed."

Example: reading a newspaper (expanded upon by Razvan Sibii)

Argument Analysis Grading

Generic grading criteria: critical thinking and composition

1. the ability to create clearly written arguments;
2. the capacity to recognize reasoning strategies;
3. experience with electronic resources for information gathering; and
4. confidence incorporating and properly documenting source information in writing projects.

~Extracted from the information presented on 17 September on the Homepage of the CourseWiki, specifically from the linked section titled Writing Genres in Communication, which was covered in class on September 18.

Specific grading criteria: semiotic method

1. historical surveying and contextualization,
2. comparative associations and analytic distinctions,
3. drawing of interpretive conclusions,
4. statement of your thesis, or argument,
5. defense of your argument with the evidence ... by
6. making connections and marking differences ... and
7. go beyond the surface of a text or issue toward a meaning

~Extracted from the information presented on Day Three and Day Four regarding the grading criteria for the Argument Summary.

Homework Due 16 October

Note: bring one typed copy to class on Tuesday; please do not post them yet. I will provide specific instructions.

1) Read your assigned student's analysis of a news story for its cultural clues. (The assignments were made by lottery in class on Thursday, October 11 - if you missed class get your assignment from Steph asap.) Write a letter to the student author including:

a) a summary of how the (senior honors) student distinguishes between the transmission and ritual views of communication,

b) a statement regarding the medium, content, function, and context of the student's analysis

c) a greeting (introduction, explanation) to that student

d) a specific statement of the main thing you learned from reading their analysis.

You may put these four things together in any sequence you wish; the intent here is to practice engaging a conversation with a person you do not know on a topic with (assumedly) political implications. By Tuesday, Oct 16, you will need to have selected a specific political issue and targeted a particular audience for Paper 3.

2) Post as a comment to Steph's post, Civic Engagement: Writing for Action, concerning the political issue of your choice. Imagine (think-out-loud) how to narrow the scope of the issue so you could reasonably expect that the information in your letter might elicit a response. Brainstorm which audiences might be appropriate for your letter, e.g., who is in a position to actually do something? What will you recommend as a solution?