Assignment: Letters
Paper 2: Letters-Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Through Community Discourse
Each letter must be at least one page (typed double spaced), so choose your topics wisely. The analysis must be at least 3 pages.
Letter to a Friend: We have become so used to texting, tweeting, communicating with minimal length, the art of letter writing is perhaps a lost art. Instead of being efficient, brief, quick to make a quip, how would you develop a lengthy letter to a friend? How would you establish the intimacy of your friendship and convey your emotional state? Choose a friend and think of something you would like to explain to them that would take more than a few sentences to relay. Make it clear you are writing to a friend, not a stranger.
Academic Letter: Emails to professors, letters of appeal to the Dean, proposals to student organizations; there are a multitude of occasions where you must participate in academic conversations. At the university, it is important to appear logical, respectful, and willing to cooperate. Choose a topic to write a letter to someone in the university and demonstrate your rhetorical savvy to get what you want.
Community/Civic Letter: Consider a time when you would need to communicate with a person, business, or institution within your community. Perhaps you have a complaint with a company, an issue to discuss through a letter to the editor, or you have a proposal for the city or state representatives. Craft a letter that establishes yourself as a credible speaker and shows your awareness of the particular audience's values.
Analysis: Evaluate the different choices you made between the three letters. What strategies did you employ in order to create the appropriate rhetorical appeal? How did the context and audience influence your choices in each? Did you stay "true to your voice," or did you find it necessary to create a different character for each situation?