Rhetoric and Creating a Frame

Yesterday in class we briefly discussed some effective rhetorical strategies. The rhetoric of your writing is the intentional composition of your message. The following are some rhetorical devices that can be used to convey your message appropriately: tell a story or narrative, utilize descriptions, illustrations, and or examples, give definitions of key terms, compare and contrast two items, or classify them into different groups. We also discussed how important it is to open up your world to enable yourself to see as much as you can. Text is not bound to words, so when we widen the "frame" we can see all the other parts of the composition which may include images or other mediums. On the other hand, viewing certain selected material allows the deselection of other material. Mary Godwin hit this ideal straight on: "Seeing is a way of not seeing."