Your First Reading Assignment for ENG 111

1) Read this overview of Rhetoric from Wikipedia. When you read this article, you are not looking to get every nuance, every name, or even what happened in every period rhetoric has been studied. You are looking for a grasp of what Rhetoric studies, why it might be valuable to you, and a very loose, very general overview of the history of rhetoric.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric

Since we have been talking about sources and kinds of sources, I should tell you that Wikipedia is a tertiary source, that is, a source, like a textbook, which provides an overview of what has been discussed and is being decided in secondary sources. As you read the material Jena gave out, ask yourself what kind of source it is.

2) Read the syllabus for ENG 111. It's posted on this blog, and come to class on Wednesday with at least two questions you have. Write down these questions.

3) As you read the material Tom gave out today for history. Think about the questions we went over in class. Who is the author? What do you think their purpose in writing the piece was? What were they hoping to accomplish? Who was their audience? OR Who were their audiences?
Can you tell what the author thought would be some of the sources of noise? Remember, noise is anything which will prevent them from accomplishing their purpose or prevent their audience from fully understanding them.