Rhetorical Appeals

A useful link to a sketch of the three types of rhetorical appeal is available here from Durham Technical College.

More discussion to follow in Wednesday's lecture...

New background article

Today's Arts & Letters Daily has this blurb to a new article online at the New Statesman:

The idea that religion is destined to die out is itself a confession of faith. No evidence will persuade secular believers they are on the wrong side of history... more»

As mentioned in lecture, New Statesman is a credible Left-Centre journal, founded by the Fabian Society, that gives us a trustworthy place to find cultural background to cultural engagements with religion for & against.

Course Reading Break

A Reading Week is a great idea: opportunity during Term to read the course texts for the second time through.

Accordingly, there are no lectures or tutorials in English 105W on the week of May 18th-20th (Monday the 18th being of course Queen Victoria day.)

Grades Incentive

Strong attendance, the politeness of full punctuality, and the courtesy of concentration provided by cell-phones & PDA kept out of sight: these lecture protocols are all not only contributions to effectiveness but standard expectations in professional life.

To promote these, this course will add a class-wide five percent bonus to the Final Exam and retroactively to the Mid-Term revision if these established norms are sustained throughout the Term, based on the Lecturer's observations.

Links....

Via today's Arts & Letters Daily, a link to an article on conspiracy theories.

Here is the link to a C. Hitchens' article condemning Dan Brown's writing

The da Vinci Code sequel is being released, and the director approves of it while others don't.