ENG 100/101 – Rhetorical Analysis Assignment Sheet

ENG 100/101 – Rhetorical Analysis Assignment Sheet

What is a Rhetorical Analysis?

Now that you’ve written a summary, you’re ready for the next step—an analysis. As we discussed in class, “rhetoric” is the art of persuasion, that is, how language and content are used to persuade an audience. An “analysis” is a detailed examination of the component parts of a whole, showing how they fit together. So for this assignment, you will choose an essay and analyze its rhetoric to come to some conclusion about it.

An analysis is comprised of many integrated parts: an introduction to the essay including a concise and clear thesis; a brief summary of the text to be analyzed; a body in which you examine the text one rhetorical strategy at time, cite evidence from the text, and explain the link between the evidence and your assertions; and a conclusion that wraps up the essay and further asserts your thesis.

The Assignment:

For this assignment, you will analyze the Edmundson, Abend, or other essay of your choosing from The Engaged Reader (your essay must come from this text). As you did with summary, you will observe the main points of the essay, but you won’t stop with just the content: you will focus on what makes the essay persuasive (or not persuasive) to the reader. Thus, you will also observe the author’s tone, his or her appeals to the audience, organizational strategy, biases, the relevant context, and anything else that you feel is important to the persuasive success of the essay. You can’t cover all of this, so you will have to decide which elements are most important and develop and organize them appropriately.

Basic structure for a rhetorical analysis is as follows:

An introduction including
A creative hook
A brief description of the essay’s rhetoric or other appropriate information
Your thesis statement
A summary that is
Brief, neutral and independent
No more than two-three paragraphs in length
Body Paragraphs including
Topic sentences
Integration of direct quotes and paraphrased materials as support
Explanation of the support in relation to your thesis
A Conclusion including
A restatement of the main ideas and thesis
An explanation of what the author could have done to better convince their audience
A Work Cited page including
Your chosen essay

Evaluation

A successful rhetorical analysis will

Follow the structure above and include the indicated content
Use a logical and appropriate organization with sound paragraphing, including transitions

Thoughtfully examine the text, identifying and supporting appropriate elements of it

Use at least two examples per criteria to support the analysis
Correctly paraphrase and quote
Clearly explain your paraphrased or quoted material in relation to your thesis
Correctly use signal verbs
Use correct MLA documentation and citation
Correct Works Cited page
Contain few mechanical or grammatical errors
Use the literary present tense and grammatical 3rd person
Use formal, non-inflammatory language
Be at least 3 pages in length

Possible Points:

Outline that reflects the basic structure above (in class) 25 points
Draft with annotations 50 points
Revision: 75 Points

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Total possible points for the assignment: 150 Points

Due Dates:

Outline: Wednesday, March 2
Draft with annotations: Wednesday, March 9
Revision Wednesday, March 23

NOTE:

Changes to due dates from the course schedule
Less time to draft and revise this essay than the summary essay
Grades are partly dependent on the successful annotation and submission of all materials, just as with the summary assignment.