For your final essay project, you will compose one seven-page document broken into two parts:
An argumentative essay that cites at least four sources and explores the rhetorical situation of the issue you chose to write about (at least 4-5 double spaced-pages)
An annotated bibliography that cites your four (or more) sources in MLA style formatting and rhetorically analyzes their content (at least 2-3 double-spaced pages)
Expectations for the Argumentative Essay
In your 4-5 double-spaced pages, you will argue a thesis about an issue that matters to you. If you need help picking an issue, one of our library’s search tools, Opposing Viewpoints, features 474 different issues ranging from income inequality to to homeschooling to ownership of exotic animals. Your thesis should take a specific stance on the issue you choose, arguing that your audience should adopt a certain belief and/or take a certain action related to that issue.
In order to support your thesis statement, you will offer 3-5 supporting arguments in your body paragraphs that illustrate why your audience should adopt your stance. These supporting arguments should refer to researched evidence you discovered about your topic. An effective argument not only draws from researched sources that agree with your own stance, but engages with sources that oppose it. You must cite at least four sources throughout this part of the essay, and at least one of these sources should be a scholarly source. Click this link for a JCTC library site that discusses the different between popular, trade, and scholarly sources.
In addition to arguing your own stance, part of this essay should explore the rhetorical situation of the issue you chose. You can develop additional body paragraphs by considering the following questions:
If you were going to develop an awareness campaign to reach a wider audience with your argument beyond this essay, how would you do this and why? What materials would you develop (other than the essay you’re writing) if you had the resources, such as a website, public service announcement, political advertisement, pamphlet, etc. What would they look like and why? I encourage you to go into specific detail describing your ideas.
What are the challenges specific to the rhetorical situation of your issue? In other words, what stands in the way of you changing your audience’s mind? What recent events have affected how your issue is viewed by different audiences? How have other communicators tried to reach their audiences about this topic and what could they do differently to be more effective? How do ethos/pathos/logos play a role in persuading people about your issue? What rhetorical tactics do you notice opponents of your thesis using when they communicate about your issue?
Expectations for the Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is like an MLA Works Cited page, but with more detail. Just like a Works Cited page, you’ll cite each of your minimum four sources in MLA style formatting. So, whether you’re citing a website, scholarly journal, YouTube video, or book, you’ll include information about its author and publication according to MLA style, just like a Works Cited page.
However, in addition to these citations listed in alphabetical order, an annotated bibliography also asks you to write about each of the sources you researched for two or three paragraphs. In these paragraphs, you can summarize the most important aspects of the source, discuss how credible it is and why, as well as why you chose the source for your argument. Click this link for a sample annotated bibliography that you can use as a model.
Since this class focused on rhetoric, please include some rhetorical analysis of each of your sources in the paragraphs you write after each citation. Try to apply terms from Chapters 1-5 of Becoming Rhetorical to each source, discussing how they use ethos/pathos/logos, their exigence and means of communication, and (if applicable) their visual or multimodal aspects.
