On May 18, 2017, The New York Times published three-part series called “Antarctica Dispatches”. In this series, The New York Times takes advantage of the advancement of technology to tell the story of Antarctica, the seventh continent. The first part starts off with a map of the continent and there are moving lines to show how the ice is moving, showing them move towards the Ross Sea. When you read the article itself, you learn that the ice sheets are melting at rate so rapid that scientist are worried that sooner or later, coastal cities would have to seek refuge from their own homes due to rise in sea levels. The article also goes on to explain how scientist are attempting to solve this top priority issue and to show the audience what they mean, a video is provided. The interactive video at the bottom of the article allows the viewer to move the camera around and watch the scientist equipment at work. In the article, the author stresses the importance of scientist to figure out a way to slow down the disintegration of the ice sheets and by using these visuals, this importance is stressed beyond words. The interactivity of this article allows the reader to someone experience the urgency and realize the effects that greenhouse gases have on themselves, indirectly. The visuals also act as a summarizer for the article. For people who don’t always have the time to read the full article, the visuals provided show the issue they talk about in the article following. In part two for example, as the reader scrolls, the geographical makeup of Antarctica is shown and there are short captions to indicate whats happening, acting to consolidate information. I think that this way of presenting information, especially in the STEM filed is effective because often, the information regarding STEM subject is dense and not for everyone but using these interactive ways to engage the reader’s attention can capture a wide variety of audiences.

Gillis, Justin, et al. “Miles of Ice Collapsing Into the Sea.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 May 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/18/climate/antarctica-ice-melt-climate-change.html.

The main point of Understanding Rhetoric was that rhetoric is important in writing and conveying ideas. The author first introduced rhetoric by explaining why some people believe that rhetoric is bad. The negative ideas that people have today can be traced to Plato who was an Ancient Greek philosopher. Plato believed that rhetoric is bad because it is used to deceive people and distract people from important issues. I can understand why Plato believed this because rhetoric is used in order to persuade people. By using rhetoric, people can be persuaded into doing bad things. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that rhetoric can be used for good. He believed it can be used to educate people to become good people. I agree with Aristotle because today, rhetoric has been used in order to make people better. For example, the use of rhetoric in advertisements in America against smoking and drinking have persuaded many people to not engage in those activities. Many kids and adults have stopped smoking or drinking because of the negative effects that ads talk about. Another point that the authors emphasized was the importance of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the credibility of the speaker or writer. Pathos is the use of emotion and logos is the use of logic. Using ethos, pathos and logos are really important in persuading the audience. I once watched a video on Facebook on how to sell anything. The video said that people buy stuff based on emotions and justify it with logic. Consumers will also buy products if the sellers are credible, usually from well-known brands. After reading this comic I realized that sellers use ethos, pathos, and logos in order to persuade consumers into buying things.

The main point of When Your Grades Are Based on Labor and Labor Log is to describe a different way of grading assignments. Assignments would be graded based on the time and effort that students put instead of mistakes. The author’s main point is that this grading system will help students become better writers. I like this grading system because it allows students to try new things without having the risk of receiving a bad grade. Also, students will receive a good grade as long as they work hard. I remember a lot of times I would work really long on an assignment only to receive a bad grade.

In “Understand Rhetoric:A Graphic Guide to Writing,” it talks about  many elements of writing such as rhetoric, pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos.  Rhetoric was originated from the Greek meaning to say. Basically, it means to give a space to a person to express their ideas. These includes shows, speeches and debates.  One of the Greek philosopher named Plato thought negatively about rhetoric. He thought that shows such as tragedy has negative effects on teens because teens might pick up some negative things from it.  On the other hand, Aristotle believed performing tragedy in front of teens will let them know the dangerous of doing so, which prevents them from doing it. In this case, I agree with both of them because I think shows are not the only factor that affect teens.  While it might be true that teens might pick up negative aspect from the show such as smoking and drinking alcohol, it doesn’t mean teens will always absorb these negative things, and some might even resist that. For example, when I was little, I keep watching shows about how a person betray another person. That doesn’t affect me.  I hate betraying. Therefore, even though I don’t think rhetoric in a show affect a child’s growth, sometimes it is true since child are most likely to be affected by his/her surrounding. ( I stay neutral) Also, the author is also trying to show us the importance of pathos(use of emotion), ethos(credibility), and logos(logical) in the writing. I agree with that because we need credibility, emotions and logical in our writing. Even though pathos might not be that effective in a lot of writing such as research paper, it is very effective during speeches, shows, or sometimes debate.  Personally, I think emotions are the most powerful weapon in the writing. If a speaker is having a poor background or any forms of tragedy, the speaker will mostly likely to receive more attention compare to other speakers. Also, when a character in a movie is having a poor family background, the audience will likely to feel pity about this character and want him/her to complete his/her goal. The author also introduce Kairos, which is about the importance of time. We don’t want to say any negative things during a birthday party.

The article “When your grades are based on labor” has 5 main ideas. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, take risks, don’t write to impress others, redo the assignment might be a good thing and work harder!  I agree with these, because I was afraid of making mistakes before, so I never learn. However, right now I don’t care about mistakes, I just try , try and try until I am satisfied about my assignment. And it worked.  I learned more things and I feel more confident about myself.

The authors main point was to shed light on the history of how rhetorics came to be about and how to use them in writing through examples in the comic. I see that the author shows that during the early times, people didnt really like the thought of rhetoric and didnt embrace it till Aristotle. This leads into the main point that rhetoric has been around for many centuries and has always been part of writing. Another main point that was seen in the comic was that to be effective at writing one must have three componenets. These components are ethos,pathos, and logos. I agree with this claim becuase I have written with these components last semester in my freshman english class. This can go to shows that I used these three components of writing without even knowing the name of them. This goes to show that rhetoric has been around for many generations and that we always use it involuntarly when we write. Another point made by the author is Karios. Karios is the timing of your writing. The author makes the point that we should make sure that our writing isnt rushed or else it might not come out as well as we would expect it to. I agree with this in that I have written essay the night before the due date and things recieved a decent grade. However, when you plan out your writing and organize all your ideas on paper, things become easier and the ideas flows easily on the paper and the result is better than something that was rushed. Documenting our work is also important because it allows us to get back to our work later on and make sure that we didnt miss anything if we kept on writing. This is another point that was made in the labor log. It is always a good idea to evaluate yourself and this way you can catch your mistakes faster.

-Tanvir Youhana

Authors Elizabeth Losh and Jonathan Alexander are both experienced in teaching about the art of writing. In the comic in which they contributed to, “Understanding Rhetoric A Graphic Guide to WRITING”, they are teaching the reader about the deceptive connotation it possesses, and the history behind it. Losh and Alexander have stated on page 36 that rhetoric has a bad reputation because it’s often used in regard to politics and how politicians always use rhetoric to lie their way into office. I agree with this point because when I first was introduced to rhetoric, it seemed as if it was a way for people to sugar coat what they really were trying to say in their writing and trick the readers into agreeing with their point. However, upon learning more about rhetoric, I learned that rhetoric is a way to write to strengthen the argument. By using logos, pathos, and ethos, the author is using methods to show that the argument has a point and why its logical to agree. Losh and Alexander have also showed throughout the comic the orgins of rhetoric. Dating back to Ancient Greece when Plato believed that rhetoric was a way to lie about the truth to today when people use rhetoric everywhere without even realizing- on online profiles, for example. Losh and Alexander have introduced me to kairos, the opportunity for speaking meaning that it is important to know the appropriateness and the timing of having a voice on the topic. I am in agreement with this point because one should consider the long-term effect of voicing their opinion. Are they responding to the topic because everyone else is or is it for a purpose? An example of this would be the travel bans enacted by President Trump. Many have voiced their opinion on this topic and in this case, the topic will be brought up constantly and its one that someone will always have an argument for.