Assignment: Comparative Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Task: Compare the rhetorical strategies used by two speakers and evaluate whose text you think is more appropriate for its audience and more likely to be effective in accomplishing the writer's persuasive purpose. Your analysis essay should support your answer to the following questions: Which text is more likely to have to have successfully accomplished its rhetorical purpose? Which writer's rhetorical strategies are more appropriate for the rhetorical situation? Need Assignment Help?
Audience and purpose: Assume that your audience consists of college-educated readers. For this assignment, assume that we are not as familiar with the texts and situation surrounding this debate as you are. Your purpose is to convince us as to which text is better suited to its rhetorical situation and thus is more likely to accomplish its rhetorical purpose.
Texts: Use the following texts to complete your analysis:
Source 1: "Why AI is our ultimate test and greatest invitation" by Tristan Harris
Source 2: "The catastrophic risks of AI - and a safer path" by Yoshua Bengio
Process:
You have taken two steps towards this Comparative Rhetorical Analysis Essay already in Weeks 3 and 4 when you completed two Rhetorical Analysis Situation Reports, one on each of your assigned sources. Using these reports, you will consider all you know about each source to determine which rhetor is more effective.
Decide which text you believe is more appropriate for the rhetorical situation and more likely to be effective in accomplishing its rhetorical purpose. Your answer will form the basis for your thesis, which might follow a model such as the following:
"While both Author Last Name X and Author Last Name Y appropriately appeal to their respective audiences' emotions, Author Last Name Y is more likely than Author Last Name X to succeed in accomplishing the goal of changing their audience's mind about A because the writer presents herself as someone the intended readers will more readily identify with and offers evidence that her readers will find more compelling."
Draft your paper, supporting your thesis by drawing on details from both rhetorical situation reports you have written thus far to help back up your claim about which text is more appropriate for its rhetorical situation and which writer is more likely to be effective in accomplishing his or her rhetorical purpose for their audience.
Structure:
Your essay should follow an eight-paragraph essay format, adhering to this structure:
Paragraph 1: Introduction & Thesis
Paragraph 2: Discussion of Source 1 Ethos
Paragraph 3: Discussion of Source 2 Ethos
Paragraph 4: Discussion of Source 1 Logos
Paragraph 5: Discussion of Source 2 Logos
Paragraph 6: Discussion of Source 1 Pathos
Paragraph 7: Discussion of Source 2 Pathos
Paragraph 8: Conclusion/Synthesis
Requirements:
- Length: 800 - 1000 words (excluding Title and References page)
- APA Formatting