Post 6

For my visual argument I chose an anti-smoking advertisement. This particular ad is part of a campaign that targets parents who smoke and the effects it has on their children and their self. According to Bitzer, the exigence in this ad is to make parents who smoke aware of the harm they are putting their children in.  This answers the question “Why is this discourse needed?” Grant-Davie, however, goes into more detail about the exigence of an argument. First he asks what is the discourse about. The discourse in this ad is about the danger of smoking around children. Next, he asks why is the discourse needed, in this situation the discourse is needed to make parents aware that smoking around their children is dangerous and can lead to illnesses that can actually cut their life short. Finally, Grant-Davie asks what the discourse is trying to accomplish in the process of examining exigence. In this anti-smoking advertisement the discourse is ultimately trying to lessen the amount of smokers, especially those with children.

In this ad there are multiple rhetors. Rhetors are people real or imagines, responsible for the discourse and its authorial voice. In this ad campaign the rhetors may be the corporation that sponsored the making of the ad and similar ads, the advertising agency hired by that corporation that designed theadvertidement, the little girl modeling in the ad, a non-profit organization focused on smoking awareness, or many other things. All of these people act as a rhetorical team that is trying to reach their goal of reducing the amount of cigarette smokers in America.

Audience can be an array of different people. First and foremost the audience is parents who smoke. However, there are many other people that can achieve the rhetorical objectives. For example, if a friend or family member of a current smoker sees this ad they may pressure someone they know who smokes to quit.

Post 5

What's interesting about being in Athens is that we are not exposed to many forms of rhetoric that are the most prevalent in other, more cosmopolitan places. Rarely do I stop at the CVS on Court Street and browse the magazine stands, the only time I encounter a billboard are the one or two times a quarter I decide to venture home to Cleveland, and I'm almost too busy with school and activities to watch enough TV to see a political commercial, or any commercial for that matter.

 Although we are sheltered from some obvious examples of rhetoric, as college students we are targets for media on campus every day. For example, an Ohio University student passes many rhetorical messages when just walking through the Baker Center on any given day of the week. Many clubs and organizations stand outside of Baker passing out fliers and handouts or offering baked goods or treats to students as they pass by. As a student, or pedestrian, you have to decide whether or not you will choose to participate in these organizations or support their group and how you will choose to respond to the messages they are sending.

These clubs or organizations consider different factors in order to draw attention to the audience they are aiming to persuade. Many offer food to poor, busy, hungry college students, or try to convince them that participating in their event or club will enhance their college experience or future. "Great resume builder" "For a good cause" "Be a part of the best organization on campus" "Free Pizza at our first meeting!" these are all slogans that are commonly the main part of their fliers. This rhetorical discourse is responding to different problems these organizations may have. These can include a club looking to recruit new members, an organizations trying to raise money to help feed hungry people in Athens County, or throwing a bake sale to profit their own organization because of lack of funds. These are all possible examples of exigence. The audience is college students or passing faculty that could potentially join these organizations or offer money for donation. Constraint can be whether or not these people have any money, if they believe in the cause being supported, or if they are interested in any of these organizations. Another constraint is whether or not a passing student is eligible to join these organizations. For example, an education major probably wouldn't stop to hear about or support the psychology club.

Post 4: Porter's "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community"

I couldn't help but think about our current Wikipedia project while reading Porter's article. This made me relate to his opinions on a more realistic level. On page 88 of Writing About Writing, Porter states that “Intertextuality means looking for traces, the bits and pieces of Text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse." To me this is a the reason behind us learning about composition through Wikipedia. All texts are interdependent, the tone of our articles are all dependent on the types of articles that have been written about a our subjects in the past and future articles depend on the quality and tone of the articles we create.
According to Porter, writing "as individual, as isolated, as heroic"  is a detrimental mistake many writers make. This is because doing so creates an unrealistic view for the reader. Writing should be looked at as more of a conversation rather than a comment or statement portraying the writers views on a particular subject. Porter suggests that there is no such thing as a writer who is original, has a personal voice, is exercising a free, creative will, and whose writing comes from within. I agree with Porter when he mentions that writing is more efficient when the writer is thinking of the audience. By knowing exactly who your audience is a piece of writing becomes more of a conversation and helps the writer to think outside of their normal conventions. In order for a writer to be successful they must first learn how to be a "socialized writer." When students are taught to write for a particular discourse community instead of focusing on being completely original in writing it is easier for them to see what writing is really based on, the conversation. Writing as an individual, as isolated, or as heroic ignores the discourse community in which the writer is present, which is harmful.

Post 2: "Wikipedia Is Good For You?"

While in High School teachers preached over and over how unreliable Wikipedia was and in many cases it was forbidden as a potential source in research-based writing assignments. Although I understood completely that the basis of their argument was because of the changeability of Wikipedia, it always bothered me that we were completely forbidden to use the site as a tool.

I think Purdy makes some really good points. As I read his article I began to realize that all of the arguments he is making about Wikipedia, are the exact reasons I've always felt compelled to use it against instruction from teachers in the past. I believe that my peers and I have grown up in a cyber-age different from that of the generation before us and the use of online articles and Wikipedia in the research-writing process are valuable tools that need to be utilized. Yes, I understand that using Wikipedia as a main source without comparing and contrasting it to other articles wouldn't be good source of information, however, the same can be said for any other encyclopedia. I agree with Purdy's argument in this area.

We can learn a great deal about research-based writing through Wikipedia processes. For example, Purdy suggests that during the reviewing process of writing looking over the discussion section about your topic on WIkipedia can help you to see different view points individuals have about the topic and it can also help you to decide what your argument willbe for your writing. The discussion board is also helpful because it allows you to converse about the topic and to force you to think outside ofyour usual comfort zone about an issue or topic. The idea is to see yourself as a participant with a voice in the conversation. Purdy then goes on to suggest that one way to use Wikipedia to help with revising a course assignment is to post a change to a Wikipedia article based on a draft you are writing, see how others respond and analyze those responses.

First Day Activity

Greetings. My name is Brittany Nicole Fikter and I come from beautiful sunny Cleveland, Ohio! I'm a junior political science pre-law major - I know, exciting. Unfortunately I'm not that interesting, I probably live a life very similar to yours or any other student here at Ohio University so I'm going to go ahead and stop talking about myself.

Not only am I not that interesting but I also have a horrible memory and barely remember my experience in ENG 151. The mere fact that I don't remember anything particularly terrible or amazing about my experience leads me to believe it was a pretty average class. I remember making my first "college friend" which was probably the highlight. Anyway, we had a lot of discussions in class which I enjoyed and we almost always went over readings together which was also nice. I think it's interesting to hear other peoples thoughts or opinions on assigned readings and reevaluating my own thoughts. I came out of the class with about the same writing skill that I had going into it so I guess the course wasn't very effective but I had an overall good experience.

This course seems pretty similar to other classes I've taken in the past. I'm actually relieved there's not very much room for creativity when it comes to prompts because creativity is something I lack and I would probably pick a horrible topic involving celebrity gossip or something else that most of you would hate and/or not care about at all.

As cliche as this sounds I am hoping for an A in the course most of all (reach for the stars). Learning a thing or two along the way would also be a nice bonus. I look forward to another 10 weeks here in Athens and meeting you all along the way.

ta ta for now