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Level 2

The Purple Paper

• To stretch language as far as possible into hyperbole and sensationalism.

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Notes

1. Language as magic/ as mind control
   • It was in the evening, under grey skies, rain clouds slowly lumbering in...
   
   
2. Cynicism vs. skepticism
   • Cynic--cannot be proven wrong; can only be proven correct (once in a while)
     • Cynicism is the opposite of wisdom and relies on confirmation bias, finding that which fits my pre-framed thought, belief, or idea.
   • Skeptic--withholds judgment until proof is discerned one way or the other.
     • Skepticism is wisdom. Skeptics lead with the intent to investigate, to understand, and to accept that any pre-held notion can be wrong once proven wrong.
3. Four idols of the mind (Bacon, Novum Organum 1610)
   • The Tribe
     • Falling in line with group-think, dogma, peer pressure
   • The cave
     • personal experience is the first (and best!) frame of reference
   • The Marketplace
     • loose language, pliable words.
   • The theater
     • Seductive theories/ concepts that border on the edge of difficult but are accesible
   
   
4. Arguments can appeal to our sense of logos, pathos, ethos, mythos.
   • Logos
     • Appeal to our sense of logic: if you touch fire, your skin will burn.
   • pathos
     • Appeal to our emotions: that shirt really make you look good.
   • ethos
     • Appeal to "ethics" (credible sources): Citing legitimate sources to support a claim
   • mythos
     • Appeal to a larger belief system or worldview: A true American votes in elections

Formatting of the paper

• Font-type: Times New Roman
• Font-Size: only 12 point
• Indents: first line of each paragraph of the body indents 1/2" (not five space bar clicks)
• Spacing: Double space every line in the paper (no more, no less).
• Word sets extra spacing after paragraphs; highlight all, right click, choose paragraphs,and set Spacing after Paragraphs to zero.
• Margins: 1" from all sides
• No Bold
• No Underlines
• No exclamation marks--EVER!!!!!!!!

Paint the Anti-Science Paper Purple

• Save the original draft of the Anti-Science paper that you sent to me
• You'll need that original for both the Purple Paper and the next assignment after this, the APA paper.
• Fact and information can stay in it, but those must be wrapped in words that are so purple I want to puke
• Length: Whatever length the paper turns into is fine, but it should obviously be longer than your Anti-Science Paper.

• Purple Prose means overly elegant, flowery, poetic language.
• Originally called Purple Patch (latin, pannus purpureus)
• Purple Prose tries to instil emotion, sometimes overly sentimental emotion, in the reader.
• Purple Prose uses many adjectives and adverbs to excite the sentence and make it seem more dramatic than it is.
• Hyperbole is often home in Purple Prose.
• Fact, truth, and information are secondary (though should not be cut out)
• Why say in 10 words what you could blow up to 30 words!

Examples from former papers
• "Despite the worries, people are finding ways of coping with life during the pandemic"
• That statement is factual, but it needs some purple.
• "Even though they are riddled with worries, panicked people are desperately seeking ways to quickly handle the extreme new conditions in a pandemic life with the horrible virus called Covid-19."