Overview

In this assignment you will hone your ability to analyze academic texts' persuasive operations. To complete it you will explicate the rhetorical aspects of one sample student essay (of your choice) that appears in the appendix of The Shape of Reason.

Deliverables

Analysis (20 points):

The analysis is a written document of approximately 1,200 words (no particular stylistic format is necessary) containing the following sections:

1. Summary—Provide a brief overview of the essay's subject and claims.


2. Audience—Using concrete examples, discuss how the essay positions its reader. Reveal the assumptions it makes about the reader's values, orientation, and background knowledge.


3. Context—Discuss the relevant issues, conversations, or historical events that situate this essay's argument.


4. Purpose—Identify the question at issue that this essay addresses and determine the kind of stasis question it is. Then articulate how the essay addresses this question by offering a specific argument (thesis).


5. Strategies—Analyze the essay's use of enthymeme and different kinds of appeals (to authority, to emotion, to logic) to convince the reader to accept its thesis.


6. Genre—Discuss how the essay establishes credibility and rapport by adopting (or resisting) the conventions of the academic essay genre.


7. Arrangement—Using concrete examples, show how the essay's reasoning in different places moves from general to specific (deduction) or specific to general (induction). Discuss the effects of these structures.


8. Evaluation—Determine if the document's argument is effective based on what you have uncovered. Consider if it has other intended or unintended effects apart from persuasion.

All sections should be thorough and informative. Analyses will be submitted as an electronic file in a common format (such as Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or .pdf).

Presentation (5 points):

The presentation is a brief (no more than three minutes) overview of your analysis. You will have access to the instructor station, and you should identify the academic argument you selected and provide a succinct statement of your findings about how it functions rhetorically. (Your evaluation may assist you with this.) A brief Q&A opportunity will follow each presentation.