ASSIGNMENT 2: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY Length: 850-900 words Format: Double spaced, in

ASSIGNMENT 2: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY

Length: 850-900 words

Format: Double spaced, in a readable 12-point font

Citation Format: MLA

Purpose

Your purpose for this assignment is to write a coherent, compellingly structured, grammatically correct essay in which you evaluate the effectiveness of the argument presented in an academic article.

Overview

To complete this essay, you must select a topic for your final project and then begin to work on the research component of that project. (The assignment 3 will require that you incorporate at least five sources in your paper, three of which must be academic in nature.)

Once you have selected your topic and begun your preliminary research for the final project, you must choose one of your academic sources to focus on for this assignment. Then, you must complete a rhetorical analysis of that source, constructing an argument in which you evaluate the relative effectiveness of your chosen article.

Structure: Introduction and Thesis

Your introduction should introduce the topic (i.e., the one about which you plan also to write a research essay), summarize the article, and conclude with a thesis that is both specific (stating a viable argument about your subject) and detailed (including a forecast statement identifying the main subjects of the body of your analysis).

Remember: You will argue neither for nor against the issue being discussed; you will analyze how the writer develops the argument and determine whether the author’s argument is effective, credible, and valid. Effectively, you will argue some version of one of these three positions:

The author develops the thesis effectively.

The author develops the thesis somewhat effectively: some aspects are successful, but others are not.

The author does not develop the thesis effectively.

Of course, your final thesis will present a more detailed (and therefore more nuanced) position, but you will start from one of these positions.

Structure: Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should open with a topic sentence identifying its subject and reflecting your persuasive purpose (it must contain a claim about that subject). In each body paragraph, you must evaluate the author’s rhetoric. That is, you should introduce a particular aspect of the rhetoric (through quotation, paraphrase, or description) and then evaluate it.

Each body paragraph should conclude with a sentence that sums up your discussion without merely repeating your topic sentence. Each concluding sentence could plausibly begin with the phrase “as a result.” Do not, however, use this phrase mechanically to open each concluding sentence (when drafting your essay, you can use it as a prompt to guide your thinking about the summing-up sentence).

Your body paragraphs should appear in a compelling sequence. In persuasive writing, the climactic sequence is the most effective one: try to conclude with what you believe to be your most persuasive point.

Structure: Conclusion

Like the concluding sentences of each body paragraph, your concluding paragraph should neither simply repeat your introduction nor summarize the argument developed in the body paragraphs. Instead, it should bring the discussion to a close, for instance, by speculating on the positive consequences of increased compliance or on the negative consequences of unimproved compliance.

The conclusion can allow for personal reflection on a subject (if you happen to have any personal experience involving the subject: while such anecdotal evidence is not appropriate for body paragraphs in formal writing, it is acceptable in your conclusion) or for some measured editorial commentary on the positive or negative consequences of what you identify about the article’s rhetorical success or shortcomings. While such anecdotal evidence or personally inflected commentary is not as appropriate for body paragraphs in formal writing, it is acceptable in your conclusion. Remember, however, that your conclusion should never introduce new material that begs further development.

Even though you are very likely citing only the article under analysis, your assignment must conclude with a correctly-formatted Works Cited page.