Week 5: canons, sentences, all in a concise rain garden mem
Looping back to pick up rhetorical language: Aristotle's canons of communication. Here the links are from BYU's Silva Rhetoricae (Forest of Rhetoric) (Read if you wish but not required!)
Canons of Rhetoric
Invention (thinking, brainstorming, pre-writing, investigating all arguments of logos, pathos, ethos)
Arrangement (what order shall we use for this Audience, Context, Purpose)
Style (word choice, level of complexity, warmth/coolness, authority of our ethos)
Memory (are we imagining and adjusting our writing craft choices to the reader's needs, preferences)
Delivery (what about practical elements of device, platform, timing)
We are focusing on the definition (stasis 2) of what a rain garden is. Did you look at our background sources posted earlier? Reposting here for your convenience:
- Long EPA web exhibit with many links
- PG County rain garden guide (9-page color PDF)
- stasis theory and the rain garden memo (two-page Google doc)
- Have you used Wikipedia to think about rain gardens? You can use the journalism heuristic to select details that will help you write a memo (note: you are in the invention stage, here): Who what, where, when, and why -- journalism stasis questions
-- PREWRITING/DRAFTING
Who? Larry Coffman, originator/environmental engineer; Allen Davis, hydrology researcher
What? classify rain gardens as low impact development; a last-mile solution for water quality protection
Where? Prince George's County in the Somerset Development
When? Early 1990s
Why? low cost storm water remediation and pollution control (two functions; two forms)
Audience, Context, Purpose: Audience scenario for this memo: Here is Jane, our boss. She asked for the memo at the end of our last staff meeting.
Arrangement/Delivery: By the way, the OWL website at Purdue is a fabulous resource for writing. Memos also have a standard format: See the image to the left. Also, look at the email heading in your software. This electronic message is based on the memo format.
Bonus question: what is the difference between a memo and a letter?
Style/craft choice Topic Sentence: A list of qualities for you to strive for
- Usually a short direct sentence (think announcement)
- Signals the topic in the paragraph (think preview)
- Hooks the reader by 1) raising a question or 2) provoking thought
- Can be placed anywhere, but early on in the paragraph is the best default strategy for most professional documents; in other words, at the beginning of the paragraph
- Contains an element of transition from the previous paragraph
Note: topic sentences can be implied in tightly coherent prose (for now, leave this subtle technique to the professionals!)
Let's look at examples of topic sentences useful in the rain garden memo:
Rain gardens, or bioretention ponds, are a kind of low impact development. Low impact development....
Rain gardens have two components: layers of percolation material and carefully chosen plants.
Rain gardens protect the local environment by absorbing water run-off from impervious surfaces and by sequestering pollutants.
Dr. Allen Davis studies rain garden effectiveness. Davis, a civil engineering professor, has been studying bioretention for more than twenty years.
Let's also think about sentences generally. Take-away advice to you? Write shorter sentences than those you are familiar with in literature and many of your textbooks.
Now, let's think about sentences in these one-page MS Word handouts:
Sentence Patterns (direct sentence is the stem pattern)
Preview of Wednesday, on to paragraphs and the cognitive wedge (one-page Google doc with images):
Paragraph Definition: think architectures (two-page MS Word handout)
Paragraph Types: think jobs (MS Word seven-page handout)
For Friday, you will make your first post in Eli Review on prewriting/drafting your rain garden memo. You need to sign up!
- Make an account in Eli Review where you sign up for our course, using wizard248earner to enroll.
- If you need a courtesy code, as we discussed in class, email with the email you will use in Eli Review and let me know on MONDAY.
By next Monday, you will give and receive feedback in Eli Review. To be discussed AND I will place these tasks in the ELMS Calendar for your convenience.
Marybeth Shea
Wednesday! Stasis theory and the rain garden memo: paragraphs
The structure and type of BODY paragraphs you will write follow Aristotle's stasis theory (very much a system of analysis and action, scientific method steps):
- PARA 1/Stasis 2a: Simple "preview" Definition (what is a rain garden, briefly, by two functions)
- PARA 2/Stasis 2b: Definition strategy of Classification (what type of technology is this? Hint: low impact development and storm water management)
- PARA 3/Stasis 2c: Elaborate the definition by Description of the CAUSAL FUNCTION (Hint: let the paragraph be Illustrative; give detail on the layers of soil and the type of plants)
- QUESTION! Where is stasis 3? TBD: hint--practical causality is dispersed throughout
- PARA 4/Stasis 4: Evaluation (is this technology good or ineffective? we are assessing quality)? Use Dr. Davis' research as you do not have disciplinary authority to evaluate based on your expertise). This can be saved for next week but I will post a Davis source on Friday.
ETHOS: I would think you need about one source as background per these paras: classifying, illustrating, evaluating. You only need a formal source for Para 3/ Stasis 4.
Ok! What can this look like in a memo? Here is a dummy text model (two-page Google doc) that shows you what concision can give you based on the cognitive wedge for these paragraphs in the information memo genre. Note: see the opening and closing paragraphs in first person? These elements are the humanizing aspect of workplace writing. Think of them as bookends.
Hint: work with the topic sentences given. Plan for the cognitive wedge+paragraph size show in the dummy text model. You will place this prewriting/drafting version in Eli Review by Friday at midnight. Over the weekend, I will open up the review option. That will be due on Monday at midnight. Watch for prompts in the ELMS calendar functon starting on Thuesday. These prompts will ilnk to the tasks in Eli Review.
See me in Office Hours on Friday for questions. Start using GroupMe for a crowd wisdom check-in.
Be inspired! Kermit would love rain gardens.
Marybeth Shea
Today is Friday. I am available online today between 9-9:50, 10-10:50 and 11-11:50. Here is your GoogleMeet code (same for all Fridays this semester).
As of 8:25, I see seven posts! Huzzah! Will look forward to seeing more over the day. Here is a link to this Writing Task in Eli Review. Please complete by midnight (11:55) tonight. You will also note that this link is in your ELMS calendar as an Event.
Reality:
- The enemy of done is perfect. This stage is a drafting stage. You do not need to be perfect to post. Seriously, put something up, even if only dealing with two of the four-five paragraphs.
- Posting allows you to enter the next task: Review.
- You will be anonymous, so no one will see that you are not yet a fully baked perfect cake.
- If today is to crazy for you to post (even if you want to see friends, have a long commute, are just drained, you have a safety net:
- Post by 11 AM on Sat. I will not mark you late or judge you. Promise!
- I read all entries and notice pattern and lapses. At about noon, I post a customized prompt for the Review Task.
- In that Review Task, I give enough detail that you can work on this over the weekend. This Review Task is due by 11:55 Monday evening. You can ask questions in class if need be.
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