Tracing Action & Argument Resource Pages

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Review Quiz

On this page is the resource review quiz for Tracing Action and Argument. The quiz will ask you questions related to the content on the resource pages for this skill.

Topics in the Quiz

Here is a list of topics covered in the resource pages. Most of them are represented in the quiz. Items are listed under a link to the page where you can find more information on each of them.  If you know the things and can do the tasks listed here, you have got what the resource pages have to offer.

Plot, Its Elements and Gaps

  • The difference between plot and story.
  • The elements of plot (exposition, complication, climax, resolution).
  • What a gap in a plot is.

Tracing the Action of a Story

  • Questions associated with each element of plot ("What's going on?" etc.).
  • How to identify elements of plot within a specific story.
  • How to identify gaps in a specific story.

Two-Minute Tutorial on Classical Rhetoric

  • Definitions of logos, pathos, and ethos and the role each plays in persuasion.
  • What deliberative speech is, including its aim, orientation to time and primary area of use.
  • What forensic speech is, including its aim, orientation to time and primary area of use.
  • What epideictic speech is, including its aim, orientation to time and primary area of use.
  • The difference between a premise and a conclusion and the function of each in an argument.

Steps for Following an Argument

  • Four steps for orienting yourself within an argument.
  • Various rhetorical devices and how they function.
  • Three types of conditions and what to look for (if you work with Greek) to identify them.
  • Guidelines for diagramming a text.
  • How to analyze your findings from studying a text in order to answer the questions listed under "4. Analyze your findings."

What's Next

Depending on how you are using the Resource Pages, you may want to go from here back to a problem you are already working on, or you may want to see a list of Tracing Action and Argument problems. You'll find links to problems on the Activity Grid.

If you would like to find Resource Pages on another skill, link to the Skills Page here.