Task: Write a 3-4- page essay where you describe and analyze an argument, plus a one-page reflection on confirmation bias.
For your first essay, you will analyze a text making a strong argument. The task is not to argue in favor of a particular conclusion, but to examine the rhetorical moves the writer uses to make his or her case. You choose the text, but but it must represent a point of view conflicting with something on the list of "five things" about which you have strong feelings that you posted on the class blog. If stuck, you can choose a subject you've thought of since. The idea is to engage, but that's not the same as asking you to agree. One way of thinking about it is as if your subject is like a table. What are its strongest and weakest legs?
Perhaps one "leg" is quite strong but if left on its own would it be more likely to "topple" so to speak? Doing so will be hard. The best essays often benefit from subjects that use a range of rhetorical moves. Essay must be typed and printed in a 12-point standard font, double-spaced, with a title, name, date, etc. Stapled to workshop comments.
Examples of potential subjects:
For instance, if you said you think it's too hard to start a small business, you will want to find someone who has an informed opinion on the topic and arguing it's easier than ever to start a small business. If you tend to think one specific cause deserves blame for the murders at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, find something that takes a different tact. Or, say you have a more generalized belief like "the U.S. is doing enough to protect itself," you'll want to find an article that argues for a specific policy or action that makes the opposite point. The connection can be loose. (Example: "Stop Deploying Robot Zombies in Nation's Kindergartens!") It can blur the lines between politics and entertainment, or have nothing to do with politics. If you feel that Taylor Swift or Beyoncé is the best singer/performer of her generation, find someone who is critical of that person, perhaps of a controversy about an album or song or statement. If being patriotic is one of your five things, then you could find an article in support of Colin Kaepernick's protest, or vice versa. You can also choose something in the course-pack, understand that what you write will be read as having had the advantage of class discussion.
Purpose:
Demonstrate your ability to critically analyze rhetorical moves without arguing on behalf of a question. Use our natural inclination toward confirmation bias to help us "see" these moves, while also actively engaging informed opinions counter to our own and becoming a little more knowledgeable about he subject.
Criteria:
1 Rough draft. Workshop participation.
2 Defines the controversy in specific terms. For instance: "David Brooks thinks colleges aren't preparing today's young people for life after college" explicitly restates his primary argument. But also aim to reveal more implicit arguments: "David Brooks argues the culture of the 1960s is the root of most of today's societal problems." Both are accurate and in the text. One is more explicit than the other.
3 Describes (synthesizes) the argument and its context. Explain the situation. Why has it been written? Why are readers supposed to care? (What's the problem, who caused it, and what should be done?)
4 Analyzes (interprets) how the author frames and presents the controversy. What is the evidence for the author's interpretation and what is the evidence for your interpretation of how it's been presented? (What appeals are used?) Analysis should be the majority of the essay. To do so:
- Review the concepts on pages 24-46 and 118-127 in the course-pack and apply them to your subject. (Rhetorical triangle. Author, Audience, Situation, Genre, Language and Consequences, etc.) Also look at ideas on logical fallacies, arguments from outrage and storytelling to see how they might apply.
- Identify critical sections, sentences and words and explain how these choices help frame the controversy.
- Consider how the text's organization is critical to the argument. How does it start? Where does it take you?
5 Its tone is such that readers unfamiliar with the assignment will read your essay thinking its writer is critical of the article, but will have a harder time being sure they know your opinion of the subject. The essay is written as if your reader is unfamiliar with the article.
6 Backs up all observations with specific references to the text.
7 Sources: reference at least two outside sources that help you with your analysis. They may help explain the context and situation, or something about the author, or something that simply helped your thinking. Attach a Works Cited page in MLA or APA.
8 A one-page reflection on the role of confirmation bias in your approach to this assignment. This page will follow your works cited page and is your chance to say whatever you want to say about the subject, and explore how your own ideas and background and narratives about the topic shaped your reading of the article. Did it make it harder? Easier? Think of it as the story of your thought process in completing this essay.