Essay length: 1000-1500+ words, proper MLA style. 3rd POV only. Please include a word count either under the first page personal info section on the top left (it would be a fifth entry) or at the end of the essay before or after the Works Cited section. Include a Works Cited section in proper MLA form that has the target text as well as the authoritative source that you will also use. E1 will have 2 sources only: First, locate a target text from the internet (.com, .org, etc. are acceptable for this) or through the Cypress Library shelves or databases. It is best to choose some kind of argumentative essay, speech, blog, or article from the field of history, politics, the sciences, marketing, philosophy, etc. The more the author believes in his or her cause, the better, and the more ways that they try to persuade or prove their thesis, also the better.Locate a target text quickly! Make sure the target text is non-fiction (IE, not a short story, poem, or anything like that). No films or videos. You must work from a written transcript. I will require a link to the source. There must be ONLY 1 author for your target text. Do not choose something like a news article which itself is reviewing or commenting on someone else’s speech or text. Remember that your job in your essays will be to analyze the method that the author uses to construct his or her arguments. At NO point in your essay express any support or condemnation of the topic, theme, source, or author. Do NOT write a persuasive essay, only conduct a dispassionate structural analysis of the form that their arguments take, always maintaining critical distance and strict academic tone 3rd POV tone in MLA style. You have nothing to “prove”, fight “for” or “against”. Again, do not write a persuasive essay. Pay very close attention to the method, approach, and tone in the model essay which we will review and also have on Canvas in the E1 Module. Hint: Do not generally refer to or concentrate your mind on the ‘author’’; rather, focus-on, describe, write about, and refer to the ‘text’ instead, in your own essay. Think of it as a ‘text object’ like a lab specimen, neither good nor bad. It just is and you are trying to understand it and describe it clearly to your own audience. Also remember, no 1st (“I”) or 2nd POV (“you”). 3rd POV throughout. When you are ready, in distinct paragraphs and paragraph groups (your own internal structure is very important for success in this assignment), first describe the target text through the perspective of Stasis. What is the target text essentially Conjecturing, how does it Define the matter at stake, how is the sense of Urgency expressed, and is there a Policy put forward? Support your points throughout the essay using direct quotations from the target text. Then, look at its arguments from an Appeals standpoint, moving through and being specific, describing how the 3 avenues of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos are being employed, where and how? Of course there may be overlap and you cannot cover everything. Choose significant and representative examples. Point out patterns. Be methodical in how you move through the text; although, naturally you can draw connections between disparate parts of the text. Use the Intro and Conclusion to provide background to the target text and overview of the essay’s approach, structure, etc. Make sure to consult the model essay very closely in terms of its method, approach, and tone! Remember, you are a dispassionate scientist. Your thesis is that you are going to examine a given text in order to understand its rhetorical structure using 2 different systems: Stasis and the Greek Appeals. Your topic is the target text that you are analyzing. Always maintain critical distance and academic tone. Remember, you are analyzing the structure of arguments in a target text, NOT the issue itself. The issue itself is essentially irrelevant for this assignment. Repeat. You are NOT evaluating the issue (or author), only the structure of the target text. In terms of structure, for this essay assignment probably 9 paragraphs or more will be required (1 for the Intro, 4 for Stasis, 3 for the Appeals, 1 for the Conclusion) MY TARGET TEXT: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/05/remarks-by-president-biden-on-border-security-and-enforcement/ (SOURCE 1) (SOURCE 2): Everything’s an Argument (8th edition) ESSAY STRUCTURE The Intro should state your thesis clearly and fully identify both your target text and authoritative source (EA) full names of authors and formatted titles of works. Give some very brief descriptive context so your audience has a basic sense of what the target text is and state your own thesis very clearly. This is also the perfect situation to provide a preview element to give your audience a heads-up in terms of the sub-topics and elements that will be touched on (see the model essay). Do not provide any persuasive tone or sense or judgments of any kind. You have nothing to prove. You are only analyzing and describing the structural approach and methodology of the target text. Note: Do not quote in the Intro or Conclusion paragraphs. Quotes go in the middles of body paragraphs as evidence and must be clearly set-up, quoted, cited per last name of author and page number, aka: (Woolf 222), then utilized to support your points and observations. This is the standard for this class and is critical because multiple sources are always being used; therefore, page number (that can overlap) without author’s names provide instant confusion and extra effort for your audience. Never begin or end a paragraph on a quote, paraphrase, etc.. They must always be set-up first and utilized afterwards. This is the simple rule-of-thumb. After the Introduction paragraph, first address the 4 Stasis elements. In your 1st body paragraph, locate where the target text Conjectures (identifies) its major theme. Make sure to provide a definition of Conjecture from EA using a direct quote and also quote the passage from the target text where the Conjecture is given. Explain your reasoning. Then proceed in the same general manner, locating where the author Defines the issue (your 2nd body paragraph), back yourself up with EA, and explain your reasoning. Third, give an assessment of the Urgency (or lack of Urgency) displayed in the language or the target text (3rd body paragraph), giving direct quotes as examples explaining your reasoning, backed up by a definitional quote from EA. Lastly, locate where the Policy recommendation is made by the author, identify, back up with EA, and explain your reasoning (4th). Then, do the same for Logos, Ethos, Pathos (3 more paragraphs). Give examples of the text’s use of logos-based arguments first, then in the next paragraph focus on the use (or non-use) of ethos-based argument, and finally examine the usage of pathos-based arguments and explain your reasoning each time. Back up each paragraph with at least one direct quote from EA to provide a definition of the element as well as many direct quotes from the target text to provide examples as necessary or desired. It can be more than one example per sub-element, of course! Finish with a Conclusion paragraph that restates your topic and thesis, names the major sources, and provides a brief review of main points as desired or necessary. A Works Cited section in MLA form is required that will include an entry for EA as well as for the target text. Keep the Intro and Conclusion paragraphs tight. Please refer to the model E1 essay. Do not attempt to make a persuasive case for or against the issue or author. Remember, do not analyze the issue itself. The issue is irrelevant, only the WAY the author goes about constructing his or her arguments is to be discussed in E1 (as well as E2 and E3). Use the technical vocabulary throughout your essay, clearly framing your paragraph transitions so that your audience knows which element of Stasis or the Appeals is being addressed at a given time. Talk your audience through your subject matter precisely and clearly. Finally, make sure your essay title accurately reflects what your essay is doing (thesis), (conducting a rhetorical or structural analysis based on stasis and the appeals) as well as what is being analyzed (topic-theme) (Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech of August 1963, for instance, etc.).
