From Thesis to Rhetorical Argument:Practical Strategies

Christine L. Alfano & Alyssa J. O’BrienStanford University

Program in Writing & RhetoricOctober 2010

For this workshop, we will be using material

taken from Envision, 3rd edition

& from our Website

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/envision

Visual arguments

Composing ArgumentsWriting about Visuals

Class Exercise. Imagine that you are the editor for The State and you want to use this photo for a cover story on American disasters in history. Write a headline and a caption for this photo that brings out your interpretation of the image’s argument. Share your response and peer review your work with a partner.

Composing ArgumentsTitles as Arguments

Composing ArgumentsComparing Image Choices within Arguments

Developing the Thesistext selection

Developing your thesisTeaching through example

Developing a thesisComparing examples

Thesis #1: Mike Thompson’s cartoon is very powerful.

Thesis #2: Mike Thompson’s drawing shows his opinion about SUVs.

Thesis #3: In response to rising gas prices, Mike Thompson draws a powerful editorial cartoon about the relationship between driving SUVs and consuming fossil fuels.

Thesis #4: In his 2006 editorial cartoon “Aptly Named,” Mike Thompson persuasively plays with the term fossil fuel to suggest that SUVs and the “wanton consumption” of gasoline represent an outdated approached to transportation that needs to recognize its own imminent extinction.

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

1. Write down your observations.

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

2. Work with your observations to construct a preliminary thesis statement.

Both cartoons focus on the contradiction in American border policy.

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

3. Refine your argument by asking asking that make your statement less general.

How? What contradictions? To what effect? How do I know that?

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

4. Revise the preliminary thesis statement to be more specific, perhaps including specific evidence that drives your claim.

The cartoons in Figures 1.12 and 1.12 focus on the contradictions in American border policy by showing that on the one hand, the American government wants to keep illegal immigrants out, but on the other hand, economic forces encourage them to enter the U.S. illegally.

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

5. Further polish your thesis by refining your language and asking questions about the implications of your working thesis statement.

What do you find interesting about this observation? How does it tap into larger social or cultural issues?

Defining the ThesisEmphasizing process

6. Write your working thesis to include a sense of the implications of your claim. This is the “So What?” of your claim.

The political cartoons in Figures 1 and 2 offer a pointed commentary on the recent immigration debate, suggesting ways the official government stance against illegal immigration is undermined by economic forces that tolerate, if not welcome, the entry of undocumented workers into the Unites States.

The Composition ProcessDeveloping and Testing Your Thesis

Text = Spoken, Written, Visual

Audience = Listener, Reader, Viewer

Persona = Speaker, Writer, Creator,

Developing the ThesisRhetorical Approaches To Texts

The Rhetorical Situation

Analyzing Texts RhetoricallyDeveloping a Thesis Statement

Strategies of Argumentation Understanding Rhetorical Appeals

Logos (“Rational Appeal”)

Pathos (“Pathetic Appeal”)

Ethos (“Ethical Appeal”)

Pedagogical PracticeDeveloping a Thesis with Rhetoric

A Case Study One Student's Rhetorical Argument

In a recent political cartoon posted by David Kurtzman (see Fig. 1), various rhetorical strategies portray the cartoonist’s opinion that blame should be limited to one party: the drug cartels. Through the use of color, stereotypes, and the pathos connected with images of death, the cartoonist blames the violent Latin American drug cartels for Mexico’s problems and attacks the ethos or legitimacy of the the Mexican government, as represented by the immobile piñata, in its attempts to solve the drug issue.

A Case Study One Student's Rhetorical Thesis

Composing Rhetorical ArgumentsPedagogical Resources

Composing Rhetorical ArgumentsAnalyzing Multiple Texts

Composing Visual ArgumentsCreating a Visual Thesis

For Worksheets, Lesson Plans, Student Writing

Or, Contact us:Chris - alfano@stanford.eduAlyssa - aobrien@stanford.edu

Visit the Envision Websitewww.pearsonhighered.com/envision