Introductions that Tell a Story

Here is a sample from a student paper that does a great job 

"telling the story" of the ad for the introduction. 

"Envision a typical white collar worker, running for their commuter train, amidst the cold, harsh, wintery mix of snow and frigid temperatures; barely boarding the train before the doors close and the train begins its journey to the destination where this worker endeavors the stress of daily life in the workforce. As the strained worker locates a seat, settles in, then opens the magazine for the mundane trip to the office, an advertisement for Cunard Cruise Lines is the first page this person views. The image illustrates a cruise ship in the distant ocean blue pristine waters; a cruise line steward is walking in the water to the sandy shores carrying a tray with a single glass filled with what appears to be champagne, directed toward a woman lounging on a comfortable raft, embracing the warm sun, as her fingers gently touch the sandy shores beneath the raft she is resting on. Her poise exhibits a sense of tranquility, contentment, relaxation and satisfaction, as she displays her serene effortless grin of utopia. There is a caption above the image, “Our philosophy on staffing: one crew member per every whim.”  This advertisement influences us to believe that if one books a cruise with Cunard Cruise Line, your vacation will be pure ecstasy, with the added bonus of your private steward who will walk from the ship to deliver a glass of champagne to you, as you bask in the sun, and forget about the stressors in life in the serenity of the tranquil atmosphere."

Rhetorical Analysis of a Space Blog

After you write your description (a paragraph or two) of the space, make sure post it to your blog. You can do what I did right here and just take a picture of your "Data and Interpretation" chart and a picture of your paragraph or two and post those pictures to the blog. Or, you can type it up all nice and neat. Any way is fine, just get it up on your blog so we can review them in class on Friday.

Blog: Describe Your Service Experience

·      Explain the mission statement of the organization you volunteered service for and describe some background about the organization. Provide dates and statistics. If available, post a link to the organization website. *Note, just linking to the website does not substitute for your description. Also, make sure you use quotes and cite your sources in your posting.

·      When did this experience take place? (Date, time, how long?) Where did it take place?

·      Who else was there? Who wasn’t there?

·      What did I do? What did others do? What actions did I/we take? What did I/we communicate?

·      Who didn’t speak or act? Did I/others laugh, cry, make a face, complain, criticize, argue, smile, etc?

·      If you want to take pictures of yourself in action to post on your blog, make sure you have permission from the organization (and any one included in the picture) to do so.

·      Identify and describe one effective interaction (e.g. positive, helpful) with someone during your service experience. Who talked the most? What kinds of statements were made? What were you talking about? Who ended the interaction and why?

·      What did you learn from your Service Experience? What questions do you still have? Would you do this Service Experience again? Why, or why not? Explain.

Upcoming Service Opportunities in University Ministry

Feed My Starving Children

Package meals for hungry children overseas.

Wednesday, February 18th – 2:30-4:30pm

(leave campus at 1:30pm, return by 5:30pm)

**If you would like to sign up for a service project, please email Sabrina Poulin at

ortmansa@lewisu.edu or call 815-836-5617 with

your name, what service project you’d like to do, your cell phone number, and your student ID number.**

Hurry, because spots fill up quickly!  Transportation is provided for all service projects

Rhetorical Analysis

Watch the following video and identify the target audience for this commercial. Then, identify examples of appeals to

• ETHOS, 
• PATHO, and 
• LOGOS.

 Be specific in your description of the examples and in your explanation as to how the appeal is appealing to its audience.

Since we will not be meeting today, I thought I would post this short (5 minute) video clip for you to watch and respond to on your blogs.

The first option is to reflect on the following: Have you ever had a "magical black man" moment in your life? Consider a time when you were not doing well at something and someone persuaded you not to pursue that anymore. You can discuss the person or focus on the event. It could be a sporting event, a bad grade, when you were young or old. Was there ever a time you really wanted to be good at something but it just wasn't happening for you? Was it because you felt you could never succeed? Did you decide to continue with it, or did you quit?

The second option is to reflect on the following: Think about the end of the clip. Have you ever had to let go of something in your past in order to move on? What did you have to let go of? What did you gain by letting go of that thing?

Remember, these posts are public, so compose your post with that in mind. Keep your writing appropriate for your audience (instructor, peers, and perhaps others on Blogger who might find your blog). This writing exercise is designed to get us all to start thinking about "revision." One of the scariest part of revision is being willing to listen to feedback that might make us uncomfortable (like the "magical black man" in the clip) or question our abilities. But more often than not once we confront those feelings and are willing to move forward, success can be as simple as just starting over with a clean, blank slate. We just have to be willing to discard the notebook filled with stuff that isn't working for us anymore.

I hope you enjoy this assignment. Feel free to adapt the prompts to best suit your needs. I look forward to reading your posts.