essay 1: rhetorical analysisEssay 1: Grading Rubric |
Assignment One will be a rhetorical analysis of a written or visual text of that you may choose from the class readings relating broadly to the theme of prisons. Use William Covino's text on rhetorical analysis to guide you through writing this draft.
At least 900 words, and no more than 1300. Rough Draft due in your conference the week of February 17-29. |
Summarizing an argument requires that you set aside your personal views on the topic, and instead discuss how the author's argument works in terms of being persuasive. In order to perform rhetorical analysis, you will need to continue to set aside your personal opinions about the idea in the argument and instead focus on how a rhetorical artifact works to persuade a specific audience to think and act in ways it might not have - if the audience never encountered the rhetorical artifact. In essence, you are evaluating the quality of rhetorical performance of a given text.
Central to writing an evaluative argument is a thesis that takes a position on the issue by
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Goals:
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Preparing for Writing Assignment 1:
Rely on your notes regarding the controlling values operative in a text and its audience. This will help you to grasp and write about larger controversies within which the text and the event play specific roles. Additionally, begin to articulate the different rhetorical strategies that the rhetor (speaker/author)—the person attempting to persuade—employs to bring the audience toward adopting her purpose. Here are some points to explore to help you come up with material, which you will then need to arrange in a sensible progression. You do not need to answer all of these questions. They are meant to help you think about the rhetorical dimensions of your selected text and the social experience you will analyze. Which texts might you use for this assignment?
You can use any text of your choice as long as it relates in some way to the theme of incarceration. If you choose a text outside this class I do recommend that you think SMALL. If you are interested in a book, movie or TV series, choose ONE SCENE. Given the limits of this assignment you simply do not have the time or space to rhetorically analyze a text of that magnitude. Also note that if you choose a text outside this class, you would do well to choose a text that is interesting. Please see me if you have any doubts. Otherwise, you are welcome to choose any of the texts I have offered in this class. Here is a list: Use these questions to help generate material for your first draft:
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Potential Texts from this class for you to analyze:
Scientific reasoning employs either verifiable facts, and/or information drawn from such facts, and so does not leave much room for controversy. Dialectic reasoning employs socially esteemed values to argue from (“All men are created equal”), allowing for some possibility for controversy. Rhetorical reasoning employs beliefs of a given community to invent arguments and so is much more controversial (family, gender, race, sexuality, drugs, taxation, warfare, etc.). Individuals engage in false reasoning when they employ idiosyncratic beliefs to argue. This leads them into extremely controversial territory, and in many cases, such arguments are easily dismissible (arguments for the existence of aliens in collusion with the US government, etc.)—hence “false.”
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Further hints to keep in mind: |
Rhetorical Questions might be:
Format:
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Photo at the top of this page was taken from Jesse Krimes mural Apokaluptein:16389067