Peer Review

Everyone always gets so embarrassed when it comes time to pass around their work to get it reviewed by their peers. I used to be that way! But in all honesty, they most likely feel the same way. I'm sure that everyone is worried their work sucks.

That's the whole point of peer review; getting another set of eyes on your paper, to help you build on the masterpiece you created. When you look at your own paper for a long time, you stop seeing the flaws in it. You skip right past the little things because as a whole, that paper is your creation and you are proud of it. I just realized I made a great reference to relationships with humans. The more you love them the more their flaws seem small.

Moving on though, you may be embarrassed to pass your paper around, but don't be. Everyone in the circle is in your same position. Just accept the advice and improve your paper.

Zambreno Rhetoric....so fancy

By the title of this post I bet you thought you were about to read the fanciest rhetoric tools in the world. Although my blog is important and good for your rhetoric pocketbook, Zambreno is the name of an author. (Yes, I am jealous of her name too.) 

So anyways, she uses rhetoric (!) and I got the awesome opportunity to read some of her work. It included all things Arthur, Roundtable, Kingdoms and Heroes!! Yes, very exciting. Take a look at how I analyzed her use of rhetoric.

So... what did she use? Below is a quick list of the things we discussed about her piece. 

Mutability or Plasticity: Ways in which material can be reshaped depending on the audience.

 Piecemeal: Pulling information from outside sources to support the argument.

Windows of Opportunity: Opportunity in the history of a story where there is a small piece of history behind a character or event that is used to tell the story.

Open-ended closure: Emissions brought up in the story but left alone so there is an opportunity to go back and write more. 

Using the rhetoric thing

In my English 1010 class, we had to write an essay analyzing rhetoric. The narrative we were asked to analyze was about sustainability. The narrative I analyzed speaks about the global warming theory. In this narrative the author uses historical events to support his argument. These events were natural disasters that killed thousands of people, which brought severe distress to anyone involved in the natural disasters; he uses their emotion to get their attention. This is rhetoric; specifically allusion.

                       Using tools like allusion is a very smart way to engage readers. There is nothing people like more than to feel emotion when reading; it makes everything more interesting. The definition of Allusion is, in summary, a figure of explication. Using a brief or casual reference to a famous person, historical event, or place. In modern times of technology, many people refer to social media as well. It is not limited to just a famous person, historical event, or place.  The best stories are the ones that make you think. 

            

The importance of narrative

The importance of narrative is that it grabs the reader's attention. If you are trying to pursued a person or audience, using narration is a great tool because it is interesting. When readers can relate to someone else's writing or story, they are more likely to listen. When readers are attached to the story they are more likely to be open to change, or understanding. Narrative is what gets people listening. 

The way writers use rhetoric to reach the desired audience is getting to their emotions. If you spoke to me about the importance of agriculture I would be listening to you because I love agriculture and it is a huge part of my life. The same goes for people who love a good story. If I were to start speaking about how important food is, I would tell a story about a kid that goes hungry every day. That is how you get their attention.