+1 862 207 3288 Assignment Description: The rhetorical analysis essayis an analysis paper where students must study how an author uses rhetoric to make an argument. It should be 5-7 pages with at least one entry on the Works Cited page and is worth 15% of the student’s final grade. Students should think about the analysis as the way in which the text utilizes deliberate rhetorical strategies to create an argument. Your essay needs to contain a persuasive thesis claim that it develops and supports through use of evidence from the text that you’re analyzing.Assignment Description: The rhetorical analysis essayis an analysis paper where students must study how an author uses rhetoric to make an argument. It should be 5-7 pages with at least one entry on the Works Cited page and is worth 15% of the student’s final grade. Students should think about the analysis as the way in which the text utilizes deliberate rhetorical strategies to create an argument. Your essay needs to contain a persuasive thesis claim that it develops and supports through use of evidence from the text that you’re analyzing.
Essay Format: 5-7pages;double spaced; separate title page including name, title, and date; page numbers; in-text citations and works cited in MLA form (8thedition); 1” margins; visual evidence as appropriate with rhetorical captions. Works cited does not count toward page count.
Submission Guidelines:DRAFT #1 and outline: Post appropriate folder on CanvasFinal Draft: Post after all peer reviews and editing has been completed.
Grading:20% of the overall class grade.
ASSIGNMENTGOALS
The Rhetorical Analysis essay helps you develop strategies that you can leverage both in your analysis of texts (for analytic or source-based essays) and in your own approach to creating persuasive arguments. More specifically, this assignment has the following goals:
1. Tohaveyouputintopracticethelessonsaboutrhetoricalanalysis–bothasareaderandasawriter– that we have discussed inclass2. Toencourageyoutoexperimentwithdifferentpre-writingtechniques3. To give you practice at source selection &evaluation4. Tohelpyoudevelopstrategiesforcraftinganeffectivethesisstatementandselecting/employing relevant textual evidence to support yourclaims5. Tohelpyouconsidermethodsforwritingengagingandeffectiveintroductionsandconclusions6. To have you consider questions of voice, audience andpurpose
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
For this assignment, you will read a text that has been selected, andanalyze the way that text utilizes deliberate rhetorical strategies to create an argument. Your essay needs to contain a persuasive thesis claim that it develops and supports through use of evidence from the text that you’re analyzing.
RHETORICAL ANALYSISWALKTHROUGH
STEP1:PRIMARYSOURCESELECTIONANDPRE-WRITINGAs with any writing assignment, the work you do before you officially “start” your draft is essential to providing you with the foundation for a persuasive argument.
A strong argument starts with smart text selection. Remember: don’t choose a text just because you like it; for this essay, we’ll need to identify the argument made by thetext and analyze the rhetorical strategies used to make that argument, so choose a text that provides the basis for rich analysis.
STEP2:WRITINGYOURFIRSTDRAFTHaving selected your primary text and completed some pre- writing on it to help focus yourideas, it’s time to draft your essay.
1. Read examples.Before you start writing, read some examples of past Rhetorical Analysis essays to familiarize yourself with the genre; think rhetorically even as you look at these model essays. How are the authors themselves using rhetorical strategies? Consider which strategies you might employ in your own essay. Examples will be provided in the Rhetorical Analysis Essay folder on Blackboard.
2. Draft your essay.Write a persuasive analysis ofyourprimarytextwithastrongthesisstatement,consideringnotonlyWHATthattextisarguingbutalso HOW it is making that argument. Specifically, you need to develop a persuasive claim as to how the primary text is designed to make an argument in relation toit’s
• Rhetorical situationand/or• Context and Kairos,and/or• Useofrhetoricalappeals(suchaspathos,logos,ethos,anddoksa),and/or• Useofoneormorestrategiesofdevelopmentsuchasnarration,definition,comparison/contrast, division-classification, description,example.
The goal is not to talk about as many elements as possible but instead to focus on those elements that you feel most contribute to the creation of the text’s overall argument.
STEP3:REVISINGYOURDRAFT&WRITING THE FINALDRAFTThe f first step in the revision process is one that involves workshopping, peer feedback, and focused work by you to perform both micro- revisions and macro- revisions of youressay.
1. Peer Review:We’ll have a peer review session via Canvas. The goal of peer reviewistoprovideyouwithfeedbackfromareal“audience”aboutthestrengthsofyourargument and ways that you can continue to improveit.2. Revise your essay: As you start to revise your essay, you should take into account the responses you received in class on Thursday in addition to your own evaluation of your work.Prioritize developing a strong thesis statement that is supported by evidence from the text. This is thedraftthatwewilllookatduringourrequiredRhetoricalAnalysiscomment.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
This essay will be graded according to the guidelines established at the beginning of the semester according to your course syllabus (see the enclosed essay rubric).
An exemplary rhetorical analysis would contain the following:
• A strong, sophisticated thesis statement and argumentsupported convincingly by evidence and that engages a larger “So What” or relevance• Adetailed,focusedanalysisoftherhetoricalstrategiesandappealsatworkwithinatextortexts, with a good balance between description andanalysis• Well-developed,cohesiveparagraphs,withsmoothtransitionsbetweenparagraphsandideas, and a deliberate and fluid overall organization anddevelopment• A strong, engaging introductionthat “hooks” the reader and accurately represents the topic, style, and direction of the paper and itsargument• Strategic and appropriate use of rhetorical appeals (pathos, logos, ethos &Kairos), developmental strategies(definition, cause/effect, description, example, process,categorization, narration), and visual rhetoric (as evidence, not illustration) in your own work• Clear and effective understanding and negotiation of the rhetorical situationand context/Kairosof your own writing and also of the texts underconsideration.• Aclear,engaging,appropriateandconsistentvoice/style,thatreliesonconcrete,vividlanguage, varied sentence structure and appropriate wordchoice• Astrongconclusionthatreemphasizesthecentralclaimwithoutrelyingexclusivelyonsummary.• Evident attention to ethos in the design of the paper and attention to correctness ingrammar, punctuation andspelling• Meticulous citing of sources in MLA format, including a works cited at the end that includes linkstoanyonlinesources(includingtheprimarytextthatyouareanalyzing)thatyouused.
Additional Notes
DRAFTS: The draft for this essay is NOT optional. Students who do not turn in a complete draft of their rhetorical analysis will have their overall grade for the assignment reduced severely.
LATE ESSAYS: A with all other assignments in this course late essays will not be accepted regardless of the situation.
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS FINAL SUBMISSIONCHECKLIST
Assignment sheet. Did you re-read the assignment sheet to make sure that you fulfilled all the requirements of the assignment completely and correctly? Did you re-check the grading criteria to match your work with the assessment measures?
Title page. Do you have a separate title page that includes your name, a significant but catchy title, and the date? Optional: do you have a cover image on your title page to serve as a visual “epigraph” to set the tone for your paper?
Page numbers. Do you have page numbers on each page? (It’s okay to omit page numbers on the title page and/or the first page)
Correctness. Did you enhance your ethos by correcting all typos and punctuation, grammar, and usage mistakes?Did you use quotation marks around the citations?
Design. Did you polish the design/delivery of your document? (Again, this affects your ethos.)
Evidence. Did you enclose any direct quotes in quotation marks and transcribe them verbatim from the source? Did you include appropriate citations in correct MLA parenthetical documentation form when needed in your essay?
Works Cited. Did you include a works cited for any materials you cited in your text (in correct MLA form)? At the very least, you need to have included your primary text in your works cited.. Remember: MLA dictates that citations in a Works Cited be listed in alphabetical order.
