Intro to Close Reading Vocab

Purpose: What does the author hope to accomplish with this rhetoric? This is NOT necessarily the topic or the thesis of the piece.

Scope: What does the author choose to include or exclude from the discussion? What issues are fully addressed, and which are neglected?

Question at Issue: The specific aspect of the issue currently under consideration.

Evidence: Concrete facts, statistics, examples, and comparisons that show why a claim should be believed.

Concepts: Abstract ideas used to describe, clarify, or support a position on the question at issue

Inferences:Judgments based on reasoning rather than on a direct or explicit statement; understanding gained by "reading between the lines."

Assumptions: Beliefs held by the author about the subject or the audience of the piece

Implications: Possible consequences or outcomes resulting from the ideas, attitudes, or actions raised by the writing

Point of View: The perspective or frame of reference held by the author of the piece

Audience: the intended reader or listener for the piece. There may be BOTH a primary and one or more secondary audiences for the piece

Primary Audience: the people most likely to immediately hear the speech or read the text firsthand

Secondary Audience: Others who are intended to read or hear the remarks and be persuaded.

Argument To Dominate: Arguing to win agreement with your point at the cost of another

Argument To Assert: Arguing to present a possible solution, approach, or answer to a question

Argument To Negotiate: Presentation of ideas in order to reach a solution by consensus

Argument To Inquire: Presenting the process of discovery that leads to a conclusion

Biased Audience: Those who have formed tightly held opinions

Opinionated Audience: Those who have formed opinions, but realize that another view may be valid

Uninformed Audience: Those who have not formed opinions, but are interested in learning

Disengaged Audience: Those who have not formed opinions because they are uninterested in the issue

Didactic: Writing intended to teach or inform

Aesthetic: Writing concerned with sensory or emotional expression

Rhetorical: Writing intended to express opinions and/or convince the audience that the writer is believable

Rhetorical analysis: The focused study of strategies and techniques used by an author to convince the audience

Subject: The general topic addressed by the piece

Ethos: Appeals to an audience's sense of morality/trust; Achieved by projecting an image of credibility which supports the speaker's position

Pathos: Appeals to an audience's emotions

Logos: Appealing to reason; achieved by supporting claims with credible evidence clearly relevant to the claims being made

Kairos: Appealing the the specific occasion or circumstances of the discussion; crafting the argument to seize the conditions, or attitudes of the moment