Task.
Compare the rhetorical strategies used by two authors and evaluate whose text you think is more appropriate for its rhetorical situation and thus more likely to be effective in accomplishing the author’s purpose.
Your analysis essay should support your answer to the following questions:
Which text is more likely to successfully accomplish its rhetorical purpose?
Which writer’s rhetorical strategies are more appropriate for the rhetorical situation?
Audience and purpose.
Your audience for this assignment consists of me and your classmates. 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.
Note that your audience and purpose are different from the audiences and purposes of the authors you are analyzing.
Texts.
You will analyze the two following texts.
Noa Gafni Slaney, “A Way to Explore and Build Relationships We Wouldn’t Otherwise Form,” from Room for Debate by The New York Times
Emerson Csorba, “Online Sharing and Selfies Erode the Value of Our Private Lives,” from Room for Debate by The New York Times
Requirements.
Length: 1000-1200 words (excluding Works Cited page)
Formatting: 12 pt Times New Roman, Calibri, or other standard font; 1-inch margins; MLA parenthetical citations and Works Cited page
The Process
You’ll complete this essay by following the process below.
· Step 1: Analyze your texts
Complete a Rhetorical Situation Analysis Report for the two texts you have selected to analyze. (See Rhetorical Situation Analysis Report #1 and #2; due Week Two.)
· Step 2: Make a decision (also known as “Write your thesis”)
Decide which text you think is more appropriate for the rhetorical situation, which one you think is 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 Author X and Author Y appropriately appeal to their respective audiences’ emotions, Author Y is more likely than Author X to succeed in accomplishing the goal of getting the audience Z to change their minds 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.”
· Step 3: Craft an outline
Using your thesis statement and the analysis you’ve conducted, think about how you’ll organize your essay.
· Step 4: Draft your essay
Be sure to support your thesis by drawing on details from both of the rhetorical situation analysis reports you have written 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/her rhetorical purpose.
· Step 5: Revise your essay
Once you’ve drafted your essay, seek out some feedback and revise your work. You’ll be submitting a draft to receive my feedback, but you should also think about making an appointment with a tutor at the LRC, connecting with your peers, or approaching other trusted sources to help you as you revise.
