Description
- Due Thursday by 11:59pm
- Points 25
- Submitting a file upload
- Available Feb 24 at 12am - Mar 2 at 11:59pm
WARNING: In this video, I use "The New Jim Crow," as an EXAMPLE---to teach you how to analyze and evaluate "How Immigrants Become Other."
Do NOT use "The New Jim Crow" or you will receive ZERO points.
Recorded Lecture: 25 minutesLinks to an external site.
Outline of Lecture
- Review the paragraph outline
- Lecture on Logos
- Consideration of Michelle Alexander's logical appeals
- Protocol for paragraph 4
- Sample paragraph 4
Assignment: Upload your developing essay---it must have:
- Introductory paragraph
- Kairos/Rhetorical Situation paragraph
- Ethos paragaph
- Logos paragraph
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What Is Logos in Rhetoric?
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What is rhetoric?
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and effective communication. It is the art and study of using language and other means of communication to influence, persuade, or inform an audience. The term "rhetoric" can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it played a vital role in the education and political systems of the time.
In its essence, rhetoric encompasses various techniques and strategies employed to create and deliver compelling speeches or written compositions. These techniques involve the skillful use of language as well as persuasive appeals to logic and to the emotions of the audience and effort to satisfy the need for credibility.
These last three are referred to as Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.
What is logos? Or the logical appeal?
The construction of an argument, like the construction of a building, relies on:
- A sound foundation
- A coherent structure
- Strong support
Logos, derived from the Greek word meaning "reason" or "logic," encompasses the logical appeal employed by writers to persuade their audience through sound reasoning and evidence. The author employs rationality, coherence, and logical consistency to construct her argument.
With logos, every time an author advances a claim the author needs to offer support in the form of evidence such as
- anecdotes
- facts,
- statistics,
- expert opinions,
- examples,
- and possibly analogies
The author must also make sure the entire argument is organized in a clear and structured manner.
How do we analyze an author's logos or the logical appeal?
To analyze logos in Alexander's essay "The New Jim Crow" we should ask the following questions:
- Does she offer a variety of evidence?
- Anecdotes: Are the anecdotes vivid and concrete? True to life and relevant? Helpful? (Anecdotes serve a dual function as a fact and an example).
- Facts: What is her source for the fact? If not given, can the fact be verified from different sources? Are the sources credible? Nonpartisan?
- Statistics: Are her statistics up do date? Do they come from reputable sources that are nonpartisan and maybe nonprofit organizations?
- Are the expert whose opinions she cities authorities in their fields?
- Are examples for abstract concepts true to life, descriptive, and relevant?
- Are the analogies she offers reasonable?
To evaluate her evidence we need to first identify the evidence in her essay and then evaluate it.
Evaluation of Logos
| Type of Evidence | Citation | Commentary |
| Example/Anecdote | Alexander claims there it is common to hear people complain that Black men need to be better fathers. As evidence, Alexander offers an anecdote of Obama as a factual example because he once said in a speech, "“If we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that too many fathers are missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes" (22). | This example of Obama's speech is an anecdote that is vivid and concrete making it effective. Besides Obama, Alexander uses Bill Cosby, Louis Farrakhan, and Tyra Banks as examples of important people who complain about Black fathers. All of these examples are true to lifeand relevant because they are members of the Black community. |
| Fact | Alexander writes, " They did not walk out on their families voluntarily; they were taken away in handcuffs, often due to a massive federal program known as the War on Drugs" (23). | This is a verifiable fact. The War on Drugs federal program can be verified using various reputable news sources and it is also common knowledge to those who lived through the 1990s in particular. |
| Statistics | Alexander writes, "More African American adults are under correctional control today — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began" (24). | This comes from a reliable source: The Pew Center in Washington D.C. which is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization. |
| Statistics | Alexander writes, "The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2002 that there are nearly 3 million more black adult women than men in black communities across the United States, a gender gap of 26 percent" (23). | The source of this statistic is the U.S. Census Bureau which is a U.S. Government federal agency that is nonpartisan and reliable. |
| Expert Opinion | Alexander writes, "The following day, social critic and sociologist Michael Eric Dyson published a critique of Obama’s speech in Time magazine. He pointed out that the stereotype of black men being poor fathers may well be false" (23). | Here, Alexander offers a credible expert opinion.Dyson, a trained sociologist, has the authority and expertise to criticize Obama's speech that complains about Black fathers. |
| Examples | Alexander writes, " Young black men today may be just as likely to suffer discrimination in employment, housing, public benefits, and jury service as a black man in the Jim Crow era — discrimination that is perfectly legal, because it is based on one’s criminal record" (24). | Examples are effective if they help illuminate an abstract idea. Here, the idea is that Blacks suffer discrimination, but it would be useful if we are given examples. Alexander offers four examples that are clear and specific and relevant to her argument. |
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Introductory Paragraph |
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Paragraph 2: Discuss Kairos and the Rhetorical Situation |
Quote it or put it in your own words--but make sure it is their main claim. |
Paragraph 3: Discuss Ethos |
Note: Total citations required for this paragraph: 3-4. |
Paragraph 4 Discuss Logos |
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Explanation & Answer
Attached.
1
How Immigrants Become Other.
Your name
Instructor's name
Course Name and Code.
Date of submission.
2
Analyzing and Evaluating the Rhetorical Appeals in How Immigrants Become Other.
Introduction
However, in America, it is thought that justice is served in the legal system, and all are
protected equally due to the law. The whole idea of this principle is enshrined in the Fourteenth
Amendment, which says, 'No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.' Historically, this clause has been used to push civil rights and extend
legal protections to previously disfavored groups. Nevertheless, this legal guarantee does not
fully translate to equality for everyone, including unauthorized immigrants who are working in
this country. Marcelo and Carola Suarez Orozco explore in How Immigrants Become Other
how unauthorized immigrants are systematically excluded from full participation in American
society through marginalization on the basis of race, ethnicity, and citizenship status. The
authors argue that these individuals are denied basic rights, treated as outsiders, and made to
be marginalized by policies. By utilizing rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, kairos) throughout
his essay, Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco are able to successfully illustrate the injustices
that unauthorized immigrants faced. All three of the rhetorical appeals add to the strengthening
of the argument; however, still, logos is the most convincing because the arguments are wellresearched evidence, statistics, and expert testimony in support of the authors’ claims, making
the argument feasible and persuasive.
Kairos & Rhetorical Situation
Kairos strengthens the effectiveness of Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco’s argument
as the message has been timed effectively. Arguing for situational appropriateness of an
argument, Kairos refers to the appropriateness of an argument based on the political, social, or
historical situation. The treatment of unauthorized immigrants is of particular interest in light
of the fact that immigration reform is one of the most contentious issues in American politics.
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The authors utilize this urgency by pointing out recent policy changes as well as recent shifts
in the public discourse regarding immigration. At that time, deb...
