Entry #12

• Academic inquiry—“the act of identifying shared questions and then seeking reasonable answers about subjects studied in a college or university” (Callaghan 4)
• Question at issue—“questions that have at least two possible, supportable answers” (Callaghan 12)
• Characteristics of inquiry papers—begins with question at issue, suggests several answers, gives supporting reasons for each answer, evaluates the strengths of the answers, ends with a summary of what the writer learned
• Rhetoric—“the art of inquiring about a question at issue, and planning and presenting a good answer to another person” (Callaghan 34)
• Rhetorical strategy—“any decision made by a writer to make a message more effective” (Callaghan 37) “artful, purposeful choices a writer makes in the process of achieving effective communication with an audience” (90).
• Purposes for writing—to raise questions, inform or report, criticize, entertain, share an experience or feeling, challenge, explore, present discoveries, understand, introduce, imagine, support, sell, teach, relate ideas, prove, and persuade (Callaghan 43).
• Characteristics of personal writing—“subjective prospective, an open, exploratory or flexible form, descriptive detail, reflection and interpretation” (Callaghan 50)
• Characteristics of public writing—“authoritative, informed stance, explicit purpose, predictable form, information selected and arranged to facilitate engagement or comprehension” (Callaghan 51)
• Characteristics of academic writing—“a focus on the subject, a general audience within the writer’s discipline, a purpose that involves answering a specific question at issue, a thesis that is the writer’s answer, the voices of other creditable writers, careful reasoning and relevant evidence” (Callaghan 52)
• Conciseness—“summaries are significantly shorter than the original work” (Callaghan 70)
• Rhetorical context—setting or set of circumstances in which communication occurs (Callaghan 98)
• Ethos—ethical appeal; “relies on character of the speaker and appeals to readers’ value systems” (Callaghan 100)
• Pathos—emotional appeal; “relies on the feelings of readers and appeals to their emotions” (Callaghan 100)
• Logos—logical appeal; “appeals to readers’ intellect” (Callaghan 100)