Organizational Rhetoric

Due by 4:00 p.m. on September 12th

*All students should complete all blog post assignments. Savannah and John will present their responses to this particular post for class discussion on the 12th.

After reading and understanding Chapter 2, make sure you have identified the organization you want to analyze for your Analysis of Organizational Rhetoric paper. Complete this posting with that organization in mind.

Select one rhetorical artifact that somehow communicates a message from this organization; this artifact could be the organization’s official website, a video promoting the organization or one of its projects, a TV commercial promoting its products/services, and so on. You should choose only one artifact at this time. The artifact should be accessible online; embed the video or image or document in your blog post or provide a link to it.

To describe the rhetorical strategies in the artifact you have selected, identify and give examples of statements that fall into the following areas:

1. Medium of Delivery: What form is the rhetoric presented in (website, promotional video, TV commercial, press release, others)?

2. Ethos: Appeals to Organizational Credibility

-Competence

-Community

3. Pathos: Appeals to Emotions

-Needs: Identify the need being created or appealed to

-Values: Identify the value being appealed to

-Values advocacy

–Explicit appeals to values

–Demonstration of how products or services uphold values

–Discussion of philanthropic activities consistent with values

–Praise of individuals who embody values

-Identification

–Common ground

–Assumed “we”

–By antithesis

–Unifying symbols

4. Logos: Use of Claims and Evidence

-Claims

-Evidence

–Statistics

–Testimony

–Examples

-Reasoning

–Inductive reasoning

—>By example

—>By analogy

—>Causal reasoning

–Deductive reasoning 

***

REMINDERS FOR THOSE WHO ARE SCHEDULED TO SHARE THEIR BLOG POST:

If you are scheduled to share your blog post and talk about it on 9/12, you should also check ‘Blog Post Sharing Schedule’ on our Canvas/Home site; the document includes expectations for your presentation. Below is a copy I am providing once. Remember that you should encourage and be available for a class discussion after your presentation so it will be your responsibility to encourage conversation with your peers in order for you and them to receive presentation/participation points. I might also help further our conversation on your posting.

Procedures:

You will individually deliver a 10- to 15-minute presentation of their own blog post due on the scheduled day. The class will then discuss various aspects of the student’s blog post.

While all class members will make the assigned posting by the blog post due dates listed below, if you are on the schedule for sharing your posting, you will also be responsible for presenting your post’s content to the class and then engaging in a discussion with your classmates about the aspects and implications of your posting (answer questions, respond to feedback, etc). Instructor may also engage in the discussion and will note participation on both sides (the effectiveness of your presentation and classmates’ participation/response as audience members).

To engage your classmates in a discussion, at the end of your presentation, check in with the listeners’ for any questions that you should address and then present to them a few discussion questions to get their viewpoints. Instructor may ask further questions to continue the discussion. Your participation points will be based on how clearly you present the blog content and how effectively your blog post answered the Instructor’s prompts as well as your discussion with the class.