During this second phase of this course, we will analyze and practice applying rhetorical strategies across different texts and arguments. We will also develop our critical reading and analytical practices by engaging, researching, examining, discussing, summarizing, and writing about various readings on our shared course topic of inquiry, the “Politics of Language.”
There are three parts to this assignment. For each part, you decide the order, tone, style, and language you’ll craft in order to best reach your audience. You’re welcome to draw on your “native,” “home,” or “other” languages, literacies, and ways of being as you so choose.
Part 1: Observing Rhetorical Strategies in Texts
You will study and write about three specific rhetorical strategies that you observed in any of the course texts we’ve read/watched together in Phase 1 and Phase 2: Hughes, Tan, Jordan, Saleem, Lysicott and/or Lozada-Oliva. You can stick with one text or pull from two or three.
Your goal is not to critique or evaluate the text(s) or strategies. Instead, your task is to briefly review and reflect on the rhetorical situation. That is, your task is to introduce the text in which you have observed an interesting rhetorical strategy ~50 words); name and describe the rhetorical strategy you found of interest (~100 words); and explain what you found interesting about the rhetorical strategy (~100 words). As you explain what you found interesting, discuss what you suspect the author was trying to accomplish with this strategy. What was the purpose? Who is the intended audience and how did the author attempt to appeal to them? How might have the text/genre or context influenced the author’s choices?
***Repeat these steps for each of the three rhetorical strategies you have selected.***
Part 1 should be written in paragraph form, but it does not need to be essayistic. You do not need to tie the three strategies together or formulate a cohesive thesis in any way.
Part 2: Creating Your Own Rhetorical Texts
You will translate an argument into an everyday genre designed for a popular/local community audience. You can select any argument that is made by one of our course text authors OR you can forward a new argument of your own that is related to the “Politics of Language.”
Your task is to identify an argument you want to see shared; determine an audience that you want to target (Who is ready to hear this? Who needs to hear this?); and then design your argument by choosing the genre, language, and other rhetorical strategies that you think would best appeal to that audience.
Your audience should be “everyday” or based in your “local community”: What friends, family, classmates, or community members might you target? Or, what specific cultural, racial, linguistic, political, or gendered group might you instead target? What language uses will best serve and appeal to them? Your genre should be “everyday” too. Perhaps something visual/auditory like a meme, GIF, political cartoon, subway poster, billboard ad, commercial, song/lyrics, or Youtube video. If you’d prefer a written genre, consider a short speech, poem, personal letter, series of social media posts, or perhaps a short (1-2-page) blog, op-ed, or online essay where you push the boundaries and expectations of traditional academic writing. Your rhetorical strategies could be inspired by the strategies you have observed in our course texts (see Part 1), but the main goal is to determine strategies that you feel will most appeal to your specific audience. Language choices and tone should be considered carefully. Experimenting with different languages, Englishes, and registers that fit your audience is highly encouraged.
Part 3: Analyzing Your Own Rhetorical Strategies
You will write a 1.5-2-page analysis of the rhetorical choices you incorporated into the Rhetorical Text you created for Part 2. First, briefly name your argument, intended audience, and the genre you selected, and briefly explain why you chose each of these. Then, name and analyze at least two different rhetorical strategies that you purposely incorporated into your text. No special or essayistic introduction or conclusion needed for this analysis.
Your analysis should, however, follow the “10 on 1” rule of thumb—that is, it is better to make ten observations or points about a single representative issue or example (10 on 1) than to make the same basic point about ten related issues or examples (1 on 10). Thus, provide your audience (me and your classmates) with appropriate description and interpretation to show what connections you see given your rhetorical situation: What was your purpose? How did you attempt to appeal to your intended audience? How was your selection of genre, mode, language, style, and/or other rhetorical strategies a good fit given your rhetorical situation?
“A” Option
If pursuing an “A” in the course, you will create two rhetorical texts for Part 2, and you will complete Part 3 twice (once for each of your two rhetorical texts).
Cover Letter
Your Rhetorical Analysis Assignment should be preceded by a Cover Letter when you submit the final version. Refer to the Cover Letter assignment sheet.
Due Dates
- Part 1 is due on Wednesday, March 1.
- A draft of Part 2 is due for peer review on Wednesday, March 1.
- A draft of Part 3 is due for peer review on Wednesday, October 12.
- The final drafts of Parts 2 and 3 (with cover letter) are due on Wednesday, March 8.
Assessment Rubric for the Rhetorical Analysis Assignment
| Assignment Goals and Evaluation Criteria |
| 1. Observe the relationship between an author’s rhetorical strategies and the rhetorical situation of a given text. How effective are the observations of rhetorical strategies in our course texts? How effectively are these observations connected back to elements of the rhetorical situation (i.e., information about the author, text, context/exigence, purpose, and audience)? |
| 2. Appeal to an intended audience with the creation of rhetorical texts. How effectively does the rhetorical text tailor its argument, genre, mode, rhetorical strategies, style, and language to meet the expectations of the intended audience? |
| 3. Analyze rhetorical strategies in your own texts. How effective is the analysis of the rhetorical text that you created? How effectively is that analysis supported with explanation tying back to rhetorical terms and the rhetorical situation (i.e., information about the author, text, context/exigence, purpose, and audience)? |
| 4. General Requirements. Were all requirements for length and due date met? |
