Lecture Notes: The Social Action of Writing

Understanding Genres and Their Purposes

• Genres perform social actions and have purposes.
• Examples of genres include:
  • Wedding Invitations: Invites guests.
  • Expository Writing: Exposes information or events.
  • Editorials: Express opinions and often aim to persuade or convince.

Writing and Social Action

• Writing can perform social actions; it is important to recognize these actions.
• Current event write-up as an opportunity to observe writing in action.

Assignment Instructions

• Choose a credible article on a topic of interest (e.g., animals, space, music, art, healthcare, sports).
• Write a 2-page double-spaced analysis including:
  1. Story Summary:
     • What's the story about?
     • Why does it matter?
     • Who does it affect?
  2. Identify the Genre:
     • Determine the genre of the article.
     • Recognize what the writing is doing within this genre.
     • Writer's purpose: Inform, persuade, etc.
  3. Rhetorical Devices:
     • How is the writer accomplishing their purpose?
     • Logos: Appeal to logic (e.g., uses statistics, numbers).
     • Ethos: Appeal to ethics (establishes credibility, evokes a sense of justice).
       • Example: Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
     • Pathos: Appeal to emotion (uses emotional language and imagery).
       • Derived from Greek, involves emotion and feeling.
  4. Personal Reaction:
     • Why do you care about this story?
     • What was interesting about it?
     • How does it affect you?

Additional Information

• Choose articles from credible sources.
• Access sample student papers if needed.
• Contact the instructor with any questions.

These notes capture the main ideas and instructions from the lecture on how writing functions as a social action, the importance of recognizing rhetorical devices, and the requirements for the current event write-up assignment.