Analytical Writing #1: the Rhetorical Situation
- You will write a one-page analysis on the article
- You will identify one or two elements of the rhetorical situation and support your findings in well-written paragraphs.
Elements of the Rhetorical Situation:
- Author's background
- Motivation/recent events
- Purpose
- Tone
- Sources used
- Intended Audience
- Logos/ethos/pathos
- You will hand in your(1) annotated article and(2) the "Basic Questions Handout for the Rhetorical Situation" with your paper.
- For structure, I recommend the following:
Introduction(3-4 sentences) -5 points
- Include the author, title, year, and topic in the first sentence.
- Next, write a one or two sentence summary
- End your introduction with a thesis statement thatgives an overview of the body paragraph(s).Think about what your purpose is for writing this paper.
- Read the following thesis statements. Would they be effective?
I am going to tell you about the author and the tone.
This paper will examine the author's background and the tone.
The author's background will be researched in order to discern whether he is credible or not.
The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the dangers of cell phones and to convince them that they should throw their cell phones in the ocean.
The author was motivated to write this paper because of the Trayvon Martin shooting.
The intended audience for this article is (primarily/mostly) the (general public/college professors/men/women/Asian men/housewives/graduate students/people who collect rocks/astonomers/fans of the Kardashians).
Body
-Identify and examineone or two aspects of the rhetorical situation. Have a clear topic sentence and make sure you support your ideas. Be sure to paraphrase and/or quote when necessary.
-For example, if you choose to discuss the author's background, you are going to need to do some research to find out more about the author. If you write about tone, you'll need to supply examples from the text which support your points.
-Use the "Basic Questions Handout for the Rhetorical Situation" for ideas.
Conclusion (2-3 sentences)
- Evaluate the aspect(s) of the rhetorical situation that you wrote about in your body paragraph(s). Determine whether it was effective or not.
Format: Typed, 12-point font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, one-inch margins
The worksheets and annotations will not be calculated as part of the writing grade, but they will be included in the OTHER category.