EV WORDS

EV WORDS

Fidelity

Faithfulness or devotion to a standard, a person, an ideal, or a process; accuracy in details

Premise

in argument or logic, an idea that precedes another; a notion that needs to be proved in order to draw a conclusion

Conclusion

in argument, a “reasoned judgment”; in other words, a conclusion is the final decision after sufficient evidence, ideas, and reasons have been considered over the course of an argument

Lethargic

characterized by laziness or a lack of energy; affected by sluggishness to the point of perhaps even forgetting essential information

Awkward

hard to understand; a statement is difficult to understand because it might have grammatical or punctuation mistakes or be unnecessarily complicated; ungainly, lacking grace and ease

Cohesion

The action or fact of forming a united whole; in an essay, when the big ideas are laced throughout the composition

Clarity

the quality of being clear and easily understood by others

Concise

giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive

Coherence

the quality of being logical and consistent; united, as of forming a whole

Ambiguity

 the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; not easy to understand

Nuance

a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound

Articulate

express (an idea or feeling) fluently and coherently.

Integrity

the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness

Diligent

careful and persistent work or effort; hard working

Inquisitive

curious or inquiring

fallacy

a failure in reasoning which leads to an unsound, unreliable argument. There are also many specific types of logical fallacies, which are commonly used example of bad reasoning.

Straw man fallacy

a logical fallacy in which an arguer over-simplifies or distorts the opponent's premises and conclusion and then argues against them instead of the actual argument.

Ex: Abortion is killing babies, plain and simple.

-or-

Abortion is as simple as a woman’s choice and nothing else.

Ad hominem fallacy

a logical fallacy that irrelevantly attacks the opponent and their character instead of their premises and conclusion(s) 

Ex. “My opponent is a childless San Francisco liberal.” or “My opponent is a weird orange guy.”

Post hoc fallacy

a logical fallacy that presumes that since one event happened before another, the first event must have caused the second. 

Slippery Slope fallacy

a conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually, through a series of small steps, B then C, then eventually X, Y, Z will happen, too, basically equating A and Z. 

Ex: If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers.

Hasty Generalization (fallacy)

 Hasty Generalization: This is a conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence. In other words, you are rushing to a conclusion before you have all the relevant facts. 

Ex: Even though it's only the first day, I can tell this is going to be a boring course.

Either/Or (false dilemma) fallacy

 a conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices. 

Ex: We can either stop using cars or continue to destroy the earth.

Counterclaim

in argument, a premise related to a different conclusion than your own that presents an oppositional view to your own. An opposing idea.

Rebuttal

 a response to a counterclaim in which the arguer refutes the opposing premise with their own, new premise and evidence to support it.

Concession

an admission that one of an opponent’s premises is irrefutable. And acknowledgment that a part of their argument is sound and well reasoned. Well used concessions can show the writer/arguer is thoughtful and reasonable

Exigence

In argument, this is the issue that needs to be addressed and its context. For our purposes, we kind of framed the exigence/issue as our “essential question” that we are seeking to address in our writing.

Claim

 The statement being argued (your thesis or the author's thesis). For our purposes we’ve constructed claims by writing a conclusion and our two best premises to support that conclusion.

Qualifier

Parts of a claim that limit the strength of the argument or statements within a claim that propose specific conditions under which the argument is true. Such statements might include words like “some,” “might,” etc. 

Contention

 an assertion, claim, or conclusion, especially one forwarded in argument.

Assertion

a contention, claim, or conclusion, especially one forwarded in argument.

Rhetoric

non-literally, rhetoric is about the skillful use of language (via text structures, persuasive appeals, and other compositional techniques) to persuade

Audience

 the individuals the speaker/writer intends to engage with the text.

Speaker

the individual, group, or organization who authors a text.

Text

Any form of communication is a text

Context

The context refers to other direct and indirect social, cultural, geographic, political, and institutional factors that likely influence the writer, text, and audience in a particular situation.

Exigence (again — yes, it’s that important)

derived from the Latin word “exigentia” meaning “urgency.” Exigence refers to the perceived need for the text, an urgent imperfection a speaker identifies in the world and then responds to through writing, speaking, or creating. Exigence is the issue that sparks the need to communicate (to state your position, to argue, to sway). It’s a problem that demands a solution. 

Subject/Topic

in rhetoric, the subject refers to the issue at hand — the major topics the writer and text discuss.

Genre

The genre refers to the specialized type of text that the writer uses to communicate. In traditional use of rhetoric, there are two broad genres — written and visual. Written texts can be broken up into two basic categories — prose (sentences) and verse (poetry). Visual texts include things like images, paintings, or even films, ads, and documentaries. Just as artists use different media for the expression of their ideas (oil paint, clay, watercolor, etc.), so do rhetoricians use different genres.

Purpose

this is what the speaker is trying to achieve (which will tie back to the exigence).  Purpose will always connect to one (or more) of the the basic modes (types) of discourse — description, narration, exposition, argumentation and persuasion. Think about what the writer is trying to get the audience or reader to THINK, BELIEVE, FEEL, or DO.

Message

The message is what the writer or speaker wants the reader or audience to understand, to think, or to know. Similar to (if not the same) as purpose.

Ethos

Literally translated, ethos means “character.”  In this case, it refers to the character of the writer or speaker, or more specifically, his credibility.  The writer needs to establish credibility so that the audience will trust him and, thus, be more willing to engage with the argument.  If a writer fails to establish a sufficient ethical appeal, then the audience will not take the writer’s argument seriously.

Pathos

Literally translated, pathos means “suffering.”  In this case, it refers to emotion, or more specifically, the writer’s appeal to the audience’s emotions.  When a writer establishes an effective pathetic appeal, she makes the audience care about what she is saying.  If the audience does not care about the message, then they will not engage with the argument being made.

Logos

Literally translated, logos means “word.”  In this case, it refers to information, or more specifically, the writer’s appeal to logic and reason. A successful logical appeal provides clearly organized information as well as evidence to support the overall argument.  If one fails to establish a logical appeal, then the argument will lack both sense and substance.

Kairos

Literally translated, Kairos means the “supreme moment.”  In this case, it refers to appropriate timing, meaning when the writer presents certain parts of her argument as well as the overall timing of the subject matter itself.  Kairos is about the speaker “reading the room,” understanding the rhetorical situation, and responding appropriately. If the writer fails to establish a strong Kairotic appeal, then the audience may become polarized, hostile, or may simply just lose interest.

Tone

The way the author is speaking to their audience