The chapter on kairos talks about grounding rhetorical works in a sense of urgency in order to make the piece more relevant. The text even brings up the example of a group of disinterested college kids as the target audience, who need to be swayed into believing that something like capital punishment is an issue worth understanding. I believe that news articles such as the ones sampled within the chapter require a sense of urgency, but to what extent is this applicable for teaching English 1000?
I agree with previous bloggers and commenters that the "So what?" question is all-important in the writing center. Students get so wrapped up in the fact that they have to have an argument, and in proving that single-minded argument, that often they forget relevance altogether. But I have seen far more heavy-handed attempts to create a sense of urgency and false relevance in writing center papers than I have seen papers that completely refused to attempt to justify their own importance.
After all, introductions that lead in with "From the beginning of time..." or "Throughout recorded history..." or conclusions that try to make it seem like the course of action proposed in the paper will heal all the world's ills are attempting only this: to seem as though they are answering all-pervading questions with gravity in all our lives. Of course, these papers fall short. There are no all-pervading questions that haven't been answered in hundreds of different ways already, and I'm sorry to say that it's unlikely an underclassman will contribute anything surprising and meaningful to any of them.
My advice to writers who try to force relevance in their arguments by broad appeal like this is always, "Be more specific." If they are analyzing a written work or a piece of art, the effective parts of the paper are going to be the ones that apply directly to the written work or piece of art. It's not always possible to respond to writing assignments by first answering: "What is going on at this moment that might help the audience see that now is the time for action?" (49). What action would a successful literary analysis or personal narrative advocate? I believe the overzealousness of high school teachers to get their students writing toward "the bigger picture" is the progenitor of those vague, overreaching introductions and conclusions that always feel forced and flat. A sense of urgency and kairos are important to create in certain types of writing assignments, but many of the English 1000 assignments I have had coming into the writing center do not leave room for this sort of tactic without feeling forced.
I agree with previous bloggers and commenters that the "So what?" question is all-important in the writing center. Students get so wrapped up in the fact that they have to have an argument, and in proving that single-minded argument, that often they forget relevance altogether. But I have seen far more heavy-handed attempts to create a sense of urgency and false relevance in writing center papers than I have seen papers that completely refused to attempt to justify their own importance.
After all, introductions that lead in with "From the beginning of time..." or "Throughout recorded history..." or conclusions that try to make it seem like the course of action proposed in the paper will heal all the world's ills are attempting only this: to seem as though they are answering all-pervading questions with gravity in all our lives. Of course, these papers fall short. There are no all-pervading questions that haven't been answered in hundreds of different ways already, and I'm sorry to say that it's unlikely an underclassman will contribute anything surprising and meaningful to any of them.
My advice to writers who try to force relevance in their arguments by broad appeal like this is always, "Be more specific." If they are analyzing a written work or a piece of art, the effective parts of the paper are going to be the ones that apply directly to the written work or piece of art. It's not always possible to respond to writing assignments by first answering: "What is going on at this moment that might help the audience see that now is the time for action?" (49). What action would a successful literary analysis or personal narrative advocate? I believe the overzealousness of high school teachers to get their students writing toward "the bigger picture" is the progenitor of those vague, overreaching introductions and conclusions that always feel forced and flat. A sense of urgency and kairos are important to create in certain types of writing assignments, but many of the English 1000 assignments I have had coming into the writing center do not leave room for this sort of tactic without feeling forced.
I think you make an excellent point here, Rachel, and after hearing about your topic for the exploratory paper I wonder if the problem is vague and ambiguous directions for assignments. I have also come across this problem in the Writing Center, and so often students explain that their professors were adamant that they relate their papers to some larger issue. Maybe this needs to be explained more clearly in the classroom - that is, instead of just saying that a paper needs to address the bigger picture, perhaps giving an example of one which does so. This is a method of learning, of course - by imitation. I think you are hinting at poor assignment creation here, and though I hadn't given it much thought before, I have found myself thinking about it more and more since you brought it up in class.
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