Lesson Two: Invention

Lesson Two Invention Neijiang Normal University - Instructor: Brent A. Simoneaux

We will not have class next M o nday or Tuesday. We will need to make up the class next week.

Office Hours Wednesdays 1:00 – 3:00

Web site http://www.slideshare.net/bsimoneaux

From last week’s lesson, you should know: What argument is Why we argue How culture might create obstacles when writing argumentative essays Last Week’s O bjectives

“ The aim or purpose of argument is to use logic (both inductive and deductive) to create reasoned communication of ideas, insights, and experiences to some audience so as to produce a new understanding of some issue for that audience.” So, what is argument? {argument}

A question of degree {argument} Spectrum of Content exposition argumentation persuasion facts facts + analysis emotional or irrational

{argument} L o gic Why do we argue? To create a dialogue in an effort to discover truth.

By the end of this lesson, you should know: How to use different thinking processes to systematically develop and analyze key ideas prior to the drafting process. Today’s O bjectives

Rhetoric, as an art, has long been divided into five major categories or "canons": Invention Arrangement Style Memory Delivery What is inventi o n?

These categories have served both analytical and generative purposes. That is to say, they provide a pattern for rhetorical education. What is inventi o n?

The word ‘invention’ comes from the Latin inventio , which implies a process of discovering ideas or perceiving new relationships among ideas. Invention is tied to the rhetorical appeal of logos , being oriented to what an author would say rather than how this might be said. What is inventi o n?

The Greek word is heuresis : “to find” The past perfect form of the verb is eureka: "I have found it" What is inventi o n?

"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist of creating out of void, but out of chaos. . . Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject and in the power of molding and fashioning ideas suggested by it.” -Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818) What is inventi o n?

"Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory; nothing can come of nothing." -Joshua Reynolds What is inventi o n?

Definition Exemplification Comparison Causality Effects What is inventi o n?

Always isolate and analyze key ideas 2. Pursue any vague but interesting ideas relevant to some part of the writing prompt or audience as they turn up in your thinking and notes 3. Realize that an idea discovered in definitional thinking might be further developed and analyzed in cause and effect, or exemplification or comparison Guiding C o ncepts

The basic idea of invention is simply to create as much material as you can. Create, create, and create even more. At the end you are going to have a lot of material to work with when you write your first draft. Of course, you won’t use everything. Guiding C o ncepts

It’s alright to be messy! The goals is not neatness or perfection. Rather, the goal is to generate as much material as possible. Do whatever works best for you . Guiding C o ncepts

All of our examples are going to be for the general topic: “ Love for teenagers in our culture” Guiding C o ncepts

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Whole definition formula (Key idea to be analyzed) + (form of the verb to be ) + (category idea) + (restricting ideas)

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure: Begin with a key idea to think about. 2. Follow that word by is or are or any other tense or form of the verb to be.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure: Think of a category that somehow restricts your word; you may use the phrase kind of to help create a restricting category; the category word or phrase follows is or are . 4. Use one of these words ( who , that , when , if , by , because , or caused by ) to add ideas [in a clause or phrase(s)] that further restrict and define the category word or phrase.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation The formula is a mechanical device to stimulate thinking. After the first step, each of the following steps in the formula helps to create analysis of ideas in the previous step.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Choose a key idea from the writing prompt (or an interesting but abstract idea that turns up in your notes) to place in the first slot. Some form of the verb to be will cause your mind to follow that verb with an idea that begins to define and analyze the key but vague idea.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure: Think of a category that somehow restricts your word; you may use the phrase kind of to help create a restricting category; the category word of phrase follows is or are .

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess (key idea) ( to be ) (category) Example Key idea + to be + category: Love for teenagers in our culture is a myth a need defined by peers defined by media an escape

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure: 4. Use one of these words ( who , that , when , if , by , because , or caused by ) to add ideas [in a clause or phrase(s)] that further restrict and define the category word or phrase.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Key idea + to be + category + restricting ideas Love is defined by peers when peers gain status within a group through love relationships.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Key idea + to be + category + restricting ideas Love is defined by peers because our culture places more value on youth and its ideas than on older adults.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Key idea + to be + category + restricting ideas Love is defined by peers when love relationships become associated with consumer objects or pop culture heroes.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Key idea + to be + category + restricting ideas Love is defined by peers when an understanding of love comes from immediate experience.

Definition as a Thinking Pr o cess Now, it’s your turn to try it by yourself. Whole definition formula (Key idea to be analyzed) + (form of the verb to be ) + (category idea) + (restricting ideas)

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure Create examples that illustrate key words, ideas, or concepts. These may come directly from the writing prompt or from notes in any other section of the invention guide where vague , abstract , or general ideas occur.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Exemplification is a type of analytical thinking through which a general, abstract idea or concept is analyzed or thought about by discovering the parts, the pieces that exist behind the whole.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation For example, if you were to say “friendship is important,” that would be an abstract , general idea. If you then cited or defined particular acts and explained why they are important, you would have a developed an example , not a generalization .

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Direct your mind to come up with many well-defined examples that will make an abstract idea more easily comprehended.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Example From definition thinking: Love for teenagers in our culture is defined by the media when advertisements use love or sex to sell a product.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Example

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Example According to this ad, love is instantaneous and powerful. Love is also chivalrous and dutiful, putting one in harm’s way.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Example The definition of love in the example is that love occurs immediately and is mainly physical—is between young, beautiful people—and that males can win love through “heroic” deeds and by offering gifts.

Exemplification as a Thinking Pr o cess Now, it’s your turn to try it by yourself. Direct your mind to come up with many well-defined examples that will make an abstract idea more easily comprehended.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure Look for ideas or concepts that can be thought about by comparisons of similarities and/or differences. Any important ideas in the writing prompt or in your invention guide notes that are still general or vague may be further developed by comparative thinking. Find a relevant idea or experience to create a comparison.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure Help make comparative thinking efficient by creating focus points , specific points of comparison through which two or more ideas, experiences, or objects can be analyzed.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Comparative thinking works in two basic ways: 1. Make the comparisons in terms of shared similarities or unshared contrasts. This form generates ideas when something less familiar is compared with something more familiar.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Comparative thinking works in two basic ways: 1. The result is often new ideas and insights into both halves of the comparisons. Make the comparisons in terms of shared similarities or unshared contrasts.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Comparative thinking works in two basic ways: 2. A second form is analyses for similarities and differences when both parts of the comparisons are known but unexamined. Create comparisons to reveal details of similarity and contrast for previously known but unanalyzed ideas, objects, experiences, and so on.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Remember, vague but good ideas will turn up in your invention guide notes without another comparison neatly attached. You have to recognize the possibility for comparative thinking and create the other half—the thing to compare your ideas and notes with. (Sometimes, of course, both parts of a comparison are present.)

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Once you have two halves of comparisons, help your mind to work efficiently by creating “focus points” for the comparison. Ask yourself, what do I want to learn from comparing X with Y?

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Example Given our two sides of media influences versus parental influences, here are some possible focus points : views on love views on sex definitions of who loves whom when to love what type of person is worthy to love

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Example Focus point: What type of person is worthy of love? Now, we can create a chart to help us compare and contrast.

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Someone like what you wish you could be (ie., someone attractive with the right clothes, car, cell phone) Someone like what they want you to be Someone who has the right things (ie., clothes, car, cell phone) Someone who will take care of you Someone attractive Someone responsible Media Parents

Comparison as a Thinking Pr o cess Now, it’s your turn to try it by yourself. Direct your mind to come up with many well-defined comparisons that will make an abstract idea more easily comprehended.

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure Isolate a key idea from the writing prompt or from previous invention guide notes that is relevant, but still underdeveloped. Continue to think about those ideas using causal analysis. Take a key idea or ideas from your notes and follow it with the word because or the phrase caused by .

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Causality helps you to discover why or how some idea, event, value, attitude, belief, or feeling occurs; causality provides reasons for.

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation From our comparison notes above, we might work with trying to analyze what causes some teenagers in our culture to define feelings (love) in relationship to purchase products. What are the reasons (causes for) behind buying clothes to capture or retain someone’s love?

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Example Clothes sold in magazine ads often show upper-middle-class, males and females in some comfortable setting—laughing, smiling, embracing. The ads cause the reader to associate these clothes with feelings seemingly experienced by the models.

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Example The kind of definition created by these ads suggest love is only for young, beautiful people, involves material objects to sustain love, and has nothing to do with an individual’s worth or character. Buy the object—you get the love.

Causality as a Thinking Pr o cess Now, it’s your turn to try it by yourself. Direct your mind to come up with many well-defined causalities that will make an abstract idea whole more easily comprehended.

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Procedure Review key ideas for ideas that could be further developed by analyzing the effects of those ideas. Use these two questions to generate effects analysis: What has happened because X exists? (2) What is likely to happen in the future because X exists?

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation The analysis of effects requires the mind to take an idea, action, belief, experience, or value and then to consider what will result from any one of those. Effects, as a way of thinking, allow you to take a cause X and then trace its results or series of effects in today’s world, or you can go back in time to some cause and trace its effects forward to the present.

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Explanation Another type of effects analysis allows you to speculate about possible future effects of some present cause.

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Example After watching television sitcoms such as “The Cosby Show” for years, a teenager may come to the conclusion (effects follow) that nothing could (or should) prevent love (example from “The Cosby Show”).

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Example Vanessa, the 18-year-old daughter of a doctor and a lawyer, goes off to college and falls in love with the 29-year-old maintenance man in her dorm. At first, her parents have doubts about the relationship. By the end of the show, however, they have accepted their young daughter’s fiancé as “one of the family.”

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Example The teenager then begins to see (effects follow) young love as indestructible. A young person should go to any length to guarantee the fulfillment of love. Age isn’t a factor, family background isn’t a factor, family acceptance isn’t a factor—romance is the thing.

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Example Later in life, a teen may, consciously or unconsciously, use the ideas of love gained from shows like “The Cosby Show” when deciding whether or not their present relationship is good of bad.

Effects as a Thinking Pr o cess Now, it’s your turn to try it by yourself. Direct your mind to come up with many well-defined effects that will make an abstract idea whole more easily comprehended.

Homew o rk Write 8 – 10 pages of invention notes in your writing notebook. You must use all types of invention in your notes. Remember, pursue any vague or general ideas and try to make them more concrete. This does not need to be neat! In fact, it’s probably going to be messy.

Read i ng Read Chapter 8; pages 246 - 256

Next Week Researching & The Internet

Lesson Two: Invention

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Lesson Two: Invention