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last.updated 9.6.08

The Rhetorical Canon

Purpose

We will continue our conversation about rhetoric by talking about the appeals–strategies that writers use to prepare and present their texts.

Discussion I–The Rhetorical Canon

In ancient Greece and Rome, the canon made up much of the curriculum young scholars learned about rhetoric. The categories of the canon help writers to think about where the information they will present will come from and how that information will be presented. As you go through these strategies, you will see that decisions that you make for one canon will influence decisions that you make for other canons, as well as the appeals. Some questions a writer might ask when using these strategies include the following:

Arrangement (The strategies one uses to organize or format a text)

• Are you using an established genre?
  • If so, what are the expectations for this genre?
  • If not, what patterns emerge from similar texts?
• How should the text be formatted so that the audience can experience it efficiently (or be slowed down, if that is desired)?

Invention (The strategies one uses to collect the ideas that will be communicated)

• What does your audience already know?
• What type of evidence or support does your audience value? (Textual research? Field research? Personal stories?)
• How much of research will be deemed necessary?
• What sources will be considered credible?

Style (The strategies one uses to decide what words, images, and sound will be used in a text)

• What tone is appropriate for my audience?
• Which words best achieve this tone?
• What language or dialect is most appropriate?
• How important is grammatical correctness?
• Will multimedia elements (e.g., images, video, sound) be appropriate? Will my audience have access to experience these elements?

Memory (The strategies one uses to remember what to say)

• Not important for this course.

Delivery (The strategies one uses for deciding how to get the text from the writer to the audience)

• How many people are in my audience?
• What media will reach this audience most effectively and efficiently?
• What type of resources do I have?
• What media does my audience have access to?
• What media helps to fulfill my purpose (to convince, to inform, to entertain)?

These questions have also been arranged for your convenience in a Graphic Organizer.

Use both the canons and the appeals to examine the two different approaches Stand Up To Cancer uses to fulfill the same purpose. Which one do you think is more effective?

Activity–Developing Your Own Message

In groups of five, you will roughly sketch a pitch for another Stand Up to Cancer ad. This does not have to be a video; choose whatever media you think will effectively reach the target audience. Address the following questions:

• Who is your target audience? What is your purpose?
• How will you appeal to your audience?
• What strategies for preparing and presenting your text will you specifically adopt to appeal to that audience?
• Why do you think these strategies will be effective?

Your group will present your pitch to the class and submit what you have produced for a process evaluation.