Evaluation of Group

Name:__________________________________________________

What roles did you assume during the course of the project?

Who did the most amount of work, and why do you think such?

Who did the least amount of work, and why do you think such?

What grade do you think your group deserves and why?

Was this project beneficial?  Please expound.

To complete the next assignment--which will be to create a formal, extended argument--do you want to work alone or with the members of your group?

Peer Critique of Group Project One

Description 

Your peers will critique your group's document after your group's presentation.  I will collect the critiques.  Then, I will take the document home to evaluate it, and your group's grade will be the average score of all the critiques.  However, if the average is well above or below my score, I will raise or lower the grade accordingly, averaging your peers' mean score and my score. 

Procedure 

We will not meet at a Paris cafe where one can leave at any time; rather, we will meet at our allocated classroom where we will be working effectively together for the entire semester.  Therefore, courteous behavior will insure that the tone is hospitable for all people at all times.  Everyone needs to leave aggressive and sensitive egos at the door on the way into the classroom.  Do not speak while someone else is speaking.  Do not insist your opinion is the only correct one.  The presenters must remain silent and humble while the audience asks questions and/or articulates their evaluations.  Do not verbally attack another person. 

Evaluation 

Name of evaluator:_______________________________________

Names of presenters:______________________________________

Title of document:________________________________________

On a scale from 0 (poor) to 5 (excellent), rate the following.

1. Use of logical appeals _____
2. Use of pathetic appeals _____
3. Use of ethical appeals _____
4. Quality of diction _____
5. Use of white space_____
6. Use of headings _____
7. Lack of capital letters _____
8. Lack of different fonts _____
9. Justification _____
10. Utilization of top left and bottom right quadrants _____
11. Use of columns _____
12. Use of highlights, decorations and colors _____
13. Creativeness of product/service _____
14. Do you want to purchase the product/service? _____

Comments:

Notes on The World of PowerPoint

"PowerPoint: Two Points of View"

• Why are twenty-page business plans obsolete?  Time: our culture focuses on speed.  We seem to value things that are either very large or very small, are noisy, and are fast.  Twenty-page presentations require too much time to analyze.
• This presentation will help you create an effective PowerPoint presentation, introducing you to the rhetorical pitfalls and possibilities of PowerPoint.

"When to Use PowerPoint"

• PowerPoint is not always an ideal medium.  For example, PowerPoint is not suitable for informal occasions, nor is it appropriate for places without the necessary technological support.
• Overhead projectors seem to be the most versatile of the media.

"Slide by Slide"

• Understand your purpose.  Your purpose will be to inform, to persuade, or to move an audience to act.  It may be a combination of the aforementioned.  What is my purpose?
• Know your audience.  Know the characteristics of your audience--focusing on size, gender, race, age, et cetera.
• Employ you-attitude.  An example is this list.
• Use positive emphasis.  You do not want to state something similar to this: MTC will be closed until January 5.  Rather, you want to state that MTC will reopen January 5.
• Use Standard English.  Standard English is the variety of English generally acknowledged as the model for the speech and writing of educated communicators.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread.  To proofread is to find and correct errors.  Ideally you want to do such at least several hours after the creation of the presentation.

"Common Mistakes"

• Lack of subtitles: create a title for each slide.  Doing such will help you organize information and will guide the audience, for the title will act as a subthesis (similar to a topical sentence).
• Impressing, not expressing: special effects often distract audiences from primary information.
• Too many details: eliminate paragraphs by creating lists or charts.
• Lack of symmetry: you want to strive for graphic uniformity with respect to backgrounds, titles, fonts and images.  Visual balance is important.  PowerPoint has templates, and they are symmetrical.
• Ending without title slide: to create a sense of closure, end your presentation with the title slide, which will remind your audience of your thesis, your purpose, and your name.  Some things you may want to include are: title of presentation, name(s) of presenter(s), title(s) of presenter(s), location of presentation, and date of presentation.

"The KISS Principle"

• KISS is the acronym for keep it short and simple.
• Use no more than one slide per minute of speech.  That advice is for speeches 15 minutes or more in length.  Of course, if your presentation is only five minutes long, you will spend about 20-30 seconds on each slide.  Your goal is to have a fluid presentation.  You do not want to spend 5 minutes on one slide and 30 seconds on the next slide.
• Break complex information into several slides.
• Follow the six-by-six or seven-by-seven guideline.  Six-by-six is six words across and six words down.

"About Design"

• Use contrastive colors for background and text.  A dark blue background and white text is effective in dark rooms.  Is a white background and yellow text a good choice?
• Use no more than two fonts per slide.  If you need to use two fonts, choose one with serifs and one without serifs.
• Use bullets to organize, numbers to prioritize.
• Use parallel constructions.  An example is this list.
• Integrate images with text.  You do not want images without text, without at least a subtitle.
• Do not overuse special effects.  Those who spend time creating special effects do so either to divert attention from information or to update (or enhance) old presentations.

"About Charts"

• Use charts to help your audience understand your data.  You do not want to use charts simply to make your presentation seem more professional.
• Keep the audience's attention on the data, not the chart itself.  In other words, explain your chart (x-axis and y-axis); then, interpret the data.  Do not allow the audience to interpret the data.
• Use the type of chart that best fits your data and your goals.  Bar graphs (bar charts) compare relative sizes or amounts.  Pie charts compare relative parts to a whole.  Line graphs show changes in data over a period of time.
• Keep charts as simple as possible; remember the KISS principle.

"Rhetoric and PowerPoint"

• PowerPoint, rather than being a barrier to communication, can improve communication and enhance one's character.  My citation appeals to the audience's sense of ethos.
• Remember, the most effective PowerPoint presentation resembles business writing.  It is clear, concise and correct.

Notes on Effective Design

White space (the empty space on a page) makes information easier to read via emphasizing the information that it separates from the rest of the text.  To create white space, use headings, vary the lengths of paragraphs, and/or use lists.  If you choose to create a list, ensure you introduce it and all items are structurally parallel.  Use numbers when you need to rank items or to indicate a process; otherwise, use bullets to separate the items.

Headings are words, phrases or clauses that group information and divide a document into sections.  Headings enable a reader to see quickly the organization of a document, to move to sections of special interest, and to compare and contrast information more easily.  Headings also divide a document, making the information less formidable and more interesting.  Try to make headings specific, complete and parallel.

Limit the use of words set in all capital letters because full capitals hide the shape of a word and slow reading 19%.  We recognize a word by its shape.  Words set in all capital letters do not have the ascenders and descenders that aid in  recognition.

Try to use no more than two fonts in a document.  A font is a complete set of type of one size and one face.  Computers offer proportional fonts (wide letters occupy more space than narrow letters) and fonts with serifs (extensions from the main strokes of a letter).  Fonts with serifs are easier to read because the serifs help the eyes move from letter to letter.  You can create emphasis with boldface, italics and different sizes.  Boldface is easier to read than italics, so use boldface if you only need one method to emphasize material.  In a complex document, use a larger typeface for headings and a smaller typeface for subheadings and text.  If you want to combine two fonts in one document, choose a font with serifs and a sans-serif typeface.

Base your decision to justify margins on the situation and the audience.  Try to use full justification when you employ proportional fonts, want a more formal appearance, want to use as few pages as possible, and write to skilled readers.  Try to use ragged right margins when you cannot employ a proportional font, want an informal appearance, use short lines, and write to poor readers.

Place important elements in the top left and bottom right quadrants of a document.  A reader of English begins in the upper left corner of a page and moves to the right and down.  The eyes of the reader move in the pattern of a Z.  Therefore, the four quadrants of a page carry different visual weights.  The top left quadrant, where the reader begins, is the most important quadrant, and the bottom right quadrant, where the reader ends, is the next important quadrant.

Use a grid to unify graphic elements.  For years graphic designers have been using a grid system to design pages.  You will want to imagine two or three columns on a page and to subdivide the columns when you are creating a complex document.  Insert all graphic elements--indentations, headings, visuals, et cetera--within the columns.  The symmetry will create a visually appealable page and will unify long documents.

Highlights, decorations and colors can make a document more interesting.  However, if you overuse them, the document will be more difficult to read.  Glossy paper will make colors more vivid, and the colors on a computer's screen are brighter than the same colors on a sheet of paper.  Remember that the connotations of colors vary among cultures.

A Brief History of Rhetoric

Timeline

• 800 B.C.E. = Homeric epics, oral culture
• 511 B.C.E. = Athens and democracy
• 480-404 B.C.E. = Athenian ascendancy
• 467 B.C.E. = Corax begins his career
• Sophists such as Empedocles (b. 493), Protagoras (b. 485), and Gorgias (b. 485)
• 436-338 B.C.E. = Isocrates
• 420-348 B.C.E. = Plato
• 384-322 B.C.E. = Aristotle

Why? 

The need for rhetoric (the art of persuasion) coincided with the birth of democracy in Athens, Greece.  Rhetoric grew out of the need for people to represent themselves in court.  Corax established the first schools to teach Greeks the principles of rhetoric to help them argue over land.  Greece, at that time, was not uniform; rather, it consisted of war-like city-states.  It was important that men argue successfully in court to keep or to gain land after the overthrow of an emperor. 

Early Rhetoricians 

Sophists were rhetoricians who wandered throughout Greece, teaching citizens for a fee.  Their definition of rhetoric was the use of everyday language in a critical or persuasive way.  Thus, the Sophists viewed rhetoric as a theoretical enterprise and a political exercise.  Isocrates was the most influential Sophist.  After he opened a school of rhetoric, he became Plato's primary competitor. 

Greek Philosophers 

Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle, through their writings, debated the nature of rhetoric--specifically, the subjects of rhetoric, the effects of rhetoric, and the media of rhetoric.  In Antidosis Isocrates argues against Plato's accusation that rhetoric is unpatriotic.  According to Plato, through Socrates, rhetoricians produce beliefs, not truths.  Rhetoricians are simply flatterers, using language to make things seem good and to manipulate people.  Plato's student, Aristotle, analyzed, critiqued and expanded his professor's philosophy.  Aristotle realized that writing and speaking have multiple purposes, some good and some bad.  In Rhetoric, Book I, Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion."¹  In other words, either the identification of persuasive techniques or the practice of persuasion or both is the goal of a rhetorician.

Aristotle's treatise is the basis of contemporary rhetoric.  However, numerous twentieth-century practitioners have expanded his definition. Sharon Crowley views rhetoric as a way to arrive at mutual understanding.  Kenneth Burke thinks that rhetoric includes any kind of means (signs, symbols, language) to persuasion, and Barry Brummett views rhetoric as the use of cultural signs, symbols and words to convey preferential meanings to a group. 

The Rhetorical Triangle 

All rhetoricians agree that a writer's or speaker's ability to persuade depends on how well he/she appeals to his/her audience in three areas: logos (appeal to reason), pathos (appeal to emotion), and ethos (appeal to character).  According to Aristotle in Rhetoric, Book I, "Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds.  The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [(ethos)]; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [(pathos)]; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [(logos)]."²  The three modes form what we now call the Rhetorical Triangle.  Imagine there is an equilateral triangle below.

                                   Ethos

                                      /\

                                    /    \

                                  /        \

                           Logos    Pathos

The appeals are what a writer or speaker uses to persuade his/her audience, aligning them with their corresponding places on the following triangle.

                            Author/Orator

                                      /\

                                    /    \

                                  /        \

                 Text/Speech    Reader/Listener

The Rhetorical Triangle is equilateral because the equal sides and angles illustrate the idea that each aspect of the triangle is as important as the other aspects.  It also suggests that a balance among the three is essential.  Too much of one aspect likely will produce a negative effect. 

Aristotle knew that different contexts demand different strategies.  In other words, to communicate well, you must know your audience and your topic.  To inform, to persuade, to move an audience requires communication and knowledge, the combination being contextual and rhetorical.  You must know what to say and how to say it.  The Rhetorical Triangle reminds us of how to approach a situation.  (For more information on the rhetorical appeals, please refer to the post, "The Three Approaches to Academic Discourse.")
_______________________________________________________

     ¹Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, eds., The Rhetorical Tradition (Boston: Bedford, 1990) 153.

     ²Ibidem.

Three Approaches to Academic Discourse

First, writing and speaking are processes.  A process is everything a writer or speaker does to prepare a discourse.  The more complete the process, the more successful the writer or speaker will be.  A successful writer or speaker considers his/her purpose, identifies his/her audience, selects a topic, generates information, organizes the information, creates a working thesis, writes a first draft, revises the discourse, edits the discourse, and titles the discourse.

Second, writing and speaking are rhetorical processes.  Rhetoric is the use of signs, symbols, images, language--either written or spoken--for the purpose of informing, persuading or moving an audience.  Rhetoric is a practical art, an art of doing, as distinguished from a productive art, an art of making, and from a speculative art, an art of inquiring.  Rhetoric is an end-means art.  In other words, given an end--the persuasion of a particular audience, for example--and a specific issue--for example, whether or not to eat broccoli--the writer or speaker must decide the means to affect his/her end.  The means will vary because every discourse grows out of a particular context, a certain situation.  The audience determines the type of discourse--whether it focuses on past, present or future events--and the audience judges the discourse on the basis of its rhetorical appeals.

When communicating with an audience, the writer or speaker must resort to three kinds of rhetorical appeals.  Logos (Greek for "word") refers primarily to the internal consistency and clarity of the discourse and to the logic of its reasons and support.  With the logical appeal, the writer or speaker seeks to manage the truth and validity of his/her argument through inductive and/or deductive reasoning.  An argument is a group of statements, one or more of which (the premises) provide support for one of the others (the conclusion).  A statement is a sentence that is either true or false, such as the following declarative sentence.  Broccoli is an ample source of vitamin A.  Questions, proposals, suggestions, commands and exclamations are not statements.  Arguments are not facts (immediately verifiable information), and they are not opinions (individual, subjective experiences of personal taste).

An inductive argument is one in which the premises support the conclusion in such a way that if the writer or speaker assumes they are true, then it is only probable the conclusion is true.  Some key words in inductive arguments are probable, improbable, plausible, implausible, likely, unlikely and reasonable to conclude.  A strong inductive argument is one that if the premises are assumed to be true, then it is only probable (more than 50%) the conclusion is true.  An example of a strong inductive argument follows.  A barrel contains 100 apples.  I selected 80 apples, and all of them were ripe.  Therefore, probably all 100 apples are ripe.  A weak inductive argument is one that if the premises are assumed to be true, then it is not probable the conclusion is true.  An example of a weak inductive argument follows.  A barrel contains 100 apples.  I selected three apples, and all of them were ripe.  Therefore, probably all 100 apples are ripe.

A deductive argument is one in which the premises support the conclusion in such a way that if the writer or speaker assumes they are true, then it is impossible for the conclusion to be false.  Some key words in deductive arguments are necessarily, certainly, absolutely and definitely.  A sound deductive argument is a valid argument with true premises.  In other words, if the writer or speaker assumes the premises are true, it is impossible for the conclusion to be false.  An example of a sound deductive argument follows.  Broccoli is an ample source of vitamin A.  You are deficient in vitamin A.  Therefore, you definitely need to include broccoli in your diet.  An unsound deductive argument is one in which a false premise or several false premises support the conclusion.  An example of an unsound deductive argument follows.  Broccoli is not an ample source of vitamin A.  You are deficient in vitamin A.  Therefore, you definitely need to include broccoli in your diet.

Pathos (Greek for "suffering" or "experience") refers to the pathetic (emotional) appeals to an audience's imaginative sympathies, to their capacity to experience what the writer or speaker has experienced.  Concrete language (specific details) heightens a writer's or a speaker's emotional appeal.  Specific examples and illustrations give a sense of presence and emotional resonance to a discourse.  Brief narratives--real or hypothetical--that either lead into a claim or embody one implicitly will appeal to an audience's imaginative sympathies.  Another way to incorporate pathos is to select words, metaphors or analogies with connotations that match the purpose of the discourse.  One of the most powerful ways to engage an audience emotionally is to incorporate visual images into the discourse.  However, the writer or speaker must reserve his/her emotional appeals for their proper context.

Ethos (Greek for "character") refers to the credibility of a writer or speaker.  A writer or speaker conveys ethos through his/her investment in his/her thesis (claim), through his/her consideration of alternative viewpoints (rebuttals), through the tone and style of his/her discourse, through his/her reputation for honesty and expertise independent of the discourse, and through his/her projection of an image of good moral character, good will, and good sense.

An audience is the primary determinant of the means that a writer or speaker chooses to affect his/her purpose.  The writer or speaker must be conscious of his/her audience, and he/she must have knowledge of that audience.  Thus, the writer or speaker must ask questions about his/her audience before he/she prepares a discourse.  Who is my audience?  How much does my audience know or care about my issue?  What is my audience's current attitude toward my issue?  What will be my audience's likely objections to my argument?  What values, beliefs or assumptions about the world do my audience and I share?

The third approach to academic discourse is that students are a part of an academic community when they write and speak, so their arguments must be logical.  Because formal logic (logos) is too rigid for everyday arguments, which are often unstable and contingent, Stephen Toulmin developed a scheme for argumentation for everyday use.  Arguments operate at the level of individual sentences.  To ensure his/her audience understands the interconnectedness of his/her sentences, the writer or speaker must establish a logical form of argumentation.  The form of an argument may show the sources of its validity and determine whether the audience accepts or rejects it.  A valid argument must make a claim--an assertion of truth open to question.  A valid argument must have grounds--reasons for and evidences of the claim.  A valid argument must have warrants--general, hypothetical statements that link the claim with the grounds.  A statement may serve as a claim, a warrant, or both.  A valid argument must have backing--justifications (moral principles, testimony of experts, references to texts, or empirical justifications) for the claim.  A writer or speaker must consider rebuttals--opposing evidence or arguments against the claim--and qualify (modify, limit or restrict) his/her claim.

To generate a complex thesis for an extended argument, a writer or speaker first asks himself/herself if there is something (an act) for consideration (a question of fact).  Second, the writer or speaker asks what the nature of the act is (a question of definition).  Third, the writer or speaker asks what the quality of the act is--that is, if it is right or wrong, good or bad (a question of evaluation).  Fourth, the writer or speaker asks if there is a reason that justifies the act (a question of cause and effect).  Finally, the writer or speaker asks what he/she can do (a question of policy).  His/her answer to each question, in an academic essay or speech, will function as a claim, and each claim will function as a topical sentence.  The complex thesis will be an amalgamation of all the topical sentences (claims).  Certainly each of the aforementioned questions may function as the basis for an independent argument, and in such cases each answer (claim) will function as a thesis.

Please refer to "A Brief History of Rhetoric" for more information on the rhetorical appeals, and for more information on argumentation, please refer to the post, "The Components of an Academic Argument."

Group Project One

Purpose 

The primary purpose of this project is to acquaint you with the power of rhetoric, the art of persuasion.  You will learn interpersonal skills, decision-making strategies, and collaborative writing skills.  The project also will emphasize the importance of effective design. 

Particulars 

Your group will produce a document (a pamphlet, a poster, a PowerPoint presentation, an advertisement, et cetera) on a nonexistent product or service.  The product or service must be relevant to your group's field of study (discipline).  The purpose of the document is to persuade your peers and me to purchase your group's product or service.  Each group will give a brief, informal presentation on their document and product or service on the day the project is due.  We will evaluate only your group's document, not the presentation. 

Procedures 

Interpersonal communication is communication between people.  Interpersonal skills such as listening and talking are used in one-to-one interchanges, in problem-solving groups, and in writing groups.  To listen means to decode and to interpret sounds correctly.  Acknowledgment responses--nods, uh huhs, smiles, frowns--send a message that you are listening. 

Individual members can play several roles in a group.  Such roles can be positive or negative.  Positive actions that may help the group achieve its goals include the following:

• seeking information and opinions--asking questions and identifying gaps in the group's knowledge,
• giving information and opinions--answering questions and providing relevant information,
• summarizing--restating major points and assembling ideas,
• evaluating--comparing group processes and products to standards and goals,
• coordinating--planning work, giving directions, and assembling contributions of members,
• encouraging participation--demonstrating openness and acceptance, recognizing the contributions of members, and inviting quieter members to participate,
• relieving tensions--joking and suggesting breaks,
• solving interpersonal problems--opening a discussion of interpersonal problems in the group and suggesting ways to solve them,
• listening actively--showing group members that they have been heard.¹

The following is a useful seven-step process for solving problems.

1. Understand what the group has to produce, in what form and by what date.
2. Identify the topic.
3. Gather information, share it, and analyze it.
4. Establish criteria.
5. Generate alternate solutions.
6. Measure the alternatives against the criteria.
7. Choose the best solution.²

Two or more people can write collaboratively.  In terms of the process of writing, a successful group understands the project as a response to a rhetorical situation, plans revisions as a group, and has a positive attitude toward revision.  Collaborative writing is most successful when the group articulates its understanding of the project's purpose, audience and context and discusses explicitly the best way to achieve its rhetorical goals.  Most writers find that composing alone is faster than composing with others.  However, composing together may reduce the time it takes to revise, since the group examines every choice.  Because writers' mastery of proper English varies, a group project requires careful proofreading and editing. 

The following guidelines will assist in the creation of a visually attractive document.

• Use white space to separate and to emphasize material.
• Use headings to group material and to lead the reader through the document.
• Limit the amount of words in all capital letters.
• Use no more than two fonts in the document.
• Base your decision to justify the margins on the audience and the situation.
• Place important material in the top left and the bottom right quadrants of the page.
• Use a grid of imaginary columns to unify visuals and other elements in the document.
• Moderate the use of highlights, decorations and colors in the document.³ 

__________________________________________________________________________
     ¹David W. and Frank P. Johnson, Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills, 6th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977) 20-21.
     ²H. Lloyd Goodall Jr., Small Group Communications in Organizations, 2nd ed. (Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown, 1990) 39-40.
     ³Kitty O. Locker, Business and Administrative Communication, 6th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003) 127.