- Read Part 1, Section 2, "Rhetorical Situations" (pp. 23-43) in St. Martin's Handbook
- Bring to class three copies of your rhetorical analysis (Draft 1.1). It should include your introduction, at least 3 body paragraphs (it's ok if you have more) and your conclusion. One copy will be turned in for a quiz grade and the other two will be used for in-class peer revision.
Today in class we will...
-Discuss the workshop and next week's substitute-led class
-Discuss how to write an effective conclusion
-In work groups: Revise at least two peers' drafts.
Identify:
Introduction
What strategy does the author use in the introduction? Narration? Cause and effect? (Think about what you read in 5a-5f in St. Martin's)
Where is the author's thesis located? Is this location effective?
Study the thesis. Does the author mention the title of the original text and the author(s) name(s)?
Does the thesis have a summary of the main point of the text? Is this summary accurate and specific?
Does the author have at least 3 rhetorical devices listed in the thesis? Are these devices appropriate and specific?
How is the author's communication? Does he/she have grammatical errors? Does he/she need to shorten or simplify sentences? Does the introduction flow? Does the author use transition words such as "however" and "therefore."
Body Paragraphs
Does the author have clear and specific topic sentences? What rhetorical device does he/she focus on in this paragraph? Is this device mentioned in the topic sentence?
Does the author have at least two examples from the original text? Are these good examples of this device?
Are these examples paraphrases or direct quotations? Was this choice effective?
Are all direct quotations integrated correctly? (look at pages 108-114 in your textbook for ideas)
Are the citations in MLA format?
Does the author have commentary after each example? Is this commentary specific and clear? Does the commentary discuss how the rhetorical device affects the reader?
How does the author communicate? Do they have grammatical errors? Does he/she need to shorten or simplify sentences? Does the introduction flow? Does the author use transition words such as "however" and "therefore."
Conclusion
Does the conclusion explain the "so what?" of the author's rhetorical analysis? Does the author explain how the rhetorical devices affect the reader? Is there a broad implication for society?
Does the conclusion connect back to what was stated in the introduction?
Does the conclusion synthesize instead of summarize?
Does the author use a quotation in the conclusion? Is it effective?
Does the author mention the "call to action" of the original text?
Does the author avoid using the words "in conclusion," stating a new idea in the conclusion, and making an overly emotional appeal?
Does the author avoid the "That's My Story," "Sherlock Holmes," "We Shall Overcome," and "Grab Bag" conclusions?
Has the author included a works cited in MLA format?
Draft 1.1: Rhetorical Analysis
(You do NOT have an assignment to turn into Raider Writer this Tuesday, October 4th. Your rhetorical analysis must be turned into Raider Writer on October 12th).
Objective: To demonstrate your ability to rhetorically analyze texts.
Purpose: In the first half of the course, you have been honing your writing skills so as to prepare you for college level writing. You will use all of these skills, (summarizing, paraphrasing, critical reading, constructing thesis statements, and using supporting material via quotations) throughout your writing of this assignment.
Description: To complete this assignment, you will begin by selecting a text to analyze. You may either select an essay from Ch. 11 of your textbook, or another piece of writing from a scholarly journal, reputable newspaper or website. Your classroom instructor may also have suggestions for you as to appropriate texts to analyze. After selecting your text and critically reading it, you will determine the writer’s purpose and intended audience for the text.
Once you have determined these elements, you will begin to analyze the text so as to determine the specific strategies the writer uses to achieve his or her purpose and to meet the needs of the audience. For example, you might choose to look at such elements as the types of evidence a writer puts forward and how he or she does so. Ask yourself if the writer uses evidence from sources, or if he or she tells stories from personal experience. Examine the sentence structures and word choice. How do these contribute to the author’s purpose? Evaluate the overall tone of the text, and determine how it does or does not contribute to the way in which it communicates to its audience. After you determine what these strategies are, consider how well these strategies actually work. As a result of this assignment, you should be able to take these skills and transfer them to any reading you are asked to do in college, and you should see an improvement in your ability to read and comprehend any text.
Although this is an initial draft, it should be carefully edited and written in a professional tone. Please use MLA format for both your in-text citations and your works cited in this draft.
Your draft should be 1200 words in length.
What the graders are looking for:
For draft 1.1, you will apply six of the criteria listed on the critical thinking rubric: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7:
Issue Identification and Focus
The student’s understanding of what a rhetorical analysis is should be the basis for this evaluation. The degree to which the student exhibits that understanding will determine what score is assigned.
Context and Assumptions
The student should demonstrate an understanding of the context in which the artifact being analyzed was written. That is, if the student doesn’t understand the purpose of the text in the first place, it will be difficult to write an analysis of it.
Sources and Evidence
Critical criterion here—consider the choice of quotations, balance of quotations used to identify v. quotations to analyze original author’s choices. Most of the time, this and communication will determine whether the analysis is an A, B, or C piece.
Own Perspective
The thesis will be the primary point of focus for determining this score. Specificity, accuracy, and overall understanding will be primary. Also, does the remainder of the draft indicate that the writer understood what he/she said in the thesis?
Conclusion
What conclusions does the writer draw about the effectiveness of the writer’s choices and of the resulting text overall? How specific and accurate are these?
Communication
Organization is the first thing I’d look at here—if the organization is poor, even if sentence level matters are adequate to good, the score should reflect that.
-In work groups: Revise at least two peers' drafts.
Identify:
Introduction
What strategy does the author use in the introduction? Narration? Cause and effect? (Think about what you read in 5a-5f in St. Martin's)
Where is the author's thesis located? Is this location effective?
Study the thesis. Does the author mention the title of the original text and the author(s) name(s)?
Does the thesis have a summary of the main point of the text? Is this summary accurate and specific?
Does the author have at least 3 rhetorical devices listed in the thesis? Are these devices appropriate and specific?
How is the author's communication? Does he/she have grammatical errors? Does he/she need to shorten or simplify sentences? Does the introduction flow? Does the author use transition words such as "however" and "therefore."
Body Paragraphs
Does the author have clear and specific topic sentences? What rhetorical device does he/she focus on in this paragraph? Is this device mentioned in the topic sentence?
Does the author have at least two examples from the original text? Are these good examples of this device?
Are these examples paraphrases or direct quotations? Was this choice effective?
Are all direct quotations integrated correctly? (look at pages 108-114 in your textbook for ideas)
Are the citations in MLA format?
Does the author have commentary after each example? Is this commentary specific and clear? Does the commentary discuss how the rhetorical device affects the reader?
How does the author communicate? Do they have grammatical errors? Does he/she need to shorten or simplify sentences? Does the introduction flow? Does the author use transition words such as "however" and "therefore."
Conclusion
Does the conclusion explain the "so what?" of the author's rhetorical analysis? Does the author explain how the rhetorical devices affect the reader? Is there a broad implication for society?
Does the conclusion connect back to what was stated in the introduction?
Does the conclusion synthesize instead of summarize?
Does the author use a quotation in the conclusion? Is it effective?
Does the author mention the "call to action" of the original text?
Does the author avoid using the words "in conclusion," stating a new idea in the conclusion, and making an overly emotional appeal?
Does the author avoid the "That's My Story," "Sherlock Holmes," "We Shall Overcome," and "Grab Bag" conclusions?
Has the author included a works cited in MLA format?
Draft 1.1: Rhetorical Analysis
(You do NOT have an assignment to turn into Raider Writer this Tuesday, October 4th. Your rhetorical analysis must be turned into Raider Writer on October 12th).
Objective: To demonstrate your ability to rhetorically analyze texts.
Purpose: In the first half of the course, you have been honing your writing skills so as to prepare you for college level writing. You will use all of these skills, (summarizing, paraphrasing, critical reading, constructing thesis statements, and using supporting material via quotations) throughout your writing of this assignment.
Description: To complete this assignment, you will begin by selecting a text to analyze. You may either select an essay from Ch. 11 of your textbook, or another piece of writing from a scholarly journal, reputable newspaper or website. Your classroom instructor may also have suggestions for you as to appropriate texts to analyze. After selecting your text and critically reading it, you will determine the writer’s purpose and intended audience for the text.
Once you have determined these elements, you will begin to analyze the text so as to determine the specific strategies the writer uses to achieve his or her purpose and to meet the needs of the audience. For example, you might choose to look at such elements as the types of evidence a writer puts forward and how he or she does so. Ask yourself if the writer uses evidence from sources, or if he or she tells stories from personal experience. Examine the sentence structures and word choice. How do these contribute to the author’s purpose? Evaluate the overall tone of the text, and determine how it does or does not contribute to the way in which it communicates to its audience. After you determine what these strategies are, consider how well these strategies actually work. As a result of this assignment, you should be able to take these skills and transfer them to any reading you are asked to do in college, and you should see an improvement in your ability to read and comprehend any text.
Although this is an initial draft, it should be carefully edited and written in a professional tone. Please use MLA format for both your in-text citations and your works cited in this draft.
Your draft should be 1200 words in length.
What the graders are looking for:
For draft 1.1, you will apply six of the criteria listed on the critical thinking rubric: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7:
Issue Identification and Focus
The student’s understanding of what a rhetorical analysis is should be the basis for this evaluation. The degree to which the student exhibits that understanding will determine what score is assigned.
Context and Assumptions
The student should demonstrate an understanding of the context in which the artifact being analyzed was written. That is, if the student doesn’t understand the purpose of the text in the first place, it will be difficult to write an analysis of it.
Sources and Evidence
Critical criterion here—consider the choice of quotations, balance of quotations used to identify v. quotations to analyze original author’s choices. Most of the time, this and communication will determine whether the analysis is an A, B, or C piece.
Own Perspective
The thesis will be the primary point of focus for determining this score. Specificity, accuracy, and overall understanding will be primary. Also, does the remainder of the draft indicate that the writer understood what he/she said in the thesis?
Conclusion
What conclusions does the writer draw about the effectiveness of the writer’s choices and of the resulting text overall? How specific and accurate are these?
Communication
Organization is the first thing I’d look at here—if the organization is poor, even if sentence level matters are adequate to good, the score should reflect that.
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