Essay 2: Rhetorical Analysis

WR13300 / Fall 2012/ Dietel-McLaughlin

Overview
As weve been discussing in class, rhetoric has powerful connections to the way we construct and interpret arguments, as well as the way we negotiate identity and community. The ways in which we speak, write, dress, and gesture in many ways reflects our alignment with specific communities and our arguments about how our identity should be interpreted. Even a social networking profile can constitute a carefully planned rhetorical act, designed to influence viewers perspectives. Similarly, communities often adopt a shared set of linguistic practices, many of which contain complex, unwritten rules about acceptable ways of communicating (and acceptable topics of discussion) within that community. To extend our discussion of digital identity and community, and to deepen your understanding of the complexity and power of rhetoric, you will investigate and analyze two rhetorical artifacts that are of interest to you, noting the key points of overlap and difference between the two. You will use our readings on rhetoric, as well as our readings on digital identity and community, to help frame your analysis.

Getting Started
STEP 1: Consider your interests. Are you passionate about your major? About a sport? A social cause? How do the communities associated with the stuff youre interested in communicate their identity? What types of artifacts reveal their collective values? How does multimedia further support/complicate the expression of those values? STEP 2: Observe. Study your texts/artifacts/communities carefully. Take copious notes. Look for patterns of sameness and difference, signals of inclusion/exclusion, awareness of audience, purpose, and context, unwritten rules about language, topics, and behavior, and any other notable points for analysis. STEP 3: Return to the readings. Which of our course readings might help you explain what youre observing? Which might help you identify other points for analysis?

Requirements
Your completed essay should be 6-8 pages long (typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New roman font and in MLA format) Your essay must meaningfully integrate material from at least 3 of the sources we read in class. Your essay must include an MLA-formatted Works Cited page, with an entry for each source cited in the paper. You must also include appropriate in-text citations. You must include an introduction that offers basic information about the texts being analyzed, relevant context, and rationale for the analysis. Your essay should be driven by a clear, debatable thesis that makes a claim about the texts being analyzed. That thesis should be supported with clearly defined points of analysis All points should be supported with evidence from the texts being analyzed and the sources from class. Your essay must anticipate and respond to the legitimate counterarguments of your readers. Your essay should end with a meaningful conclusion that underscores the relevance of your analysis to a larger community,

Questions to Ask* Who (author): Who

wrote/produced each text? What do the authors have at stake? Do the authors have similar interests at stake, or different ones?

Who (reader): Who is the text

designed to reach? What are their demographics? What are their shared values? What values are shared with the author? Who might respond differently?

What:

What is the primary goal or function of each text? What are readers supposed to do or believe?

Where/when:

What context led to these texts being created? Did they emerge under very similar or very different conditions? How does the context impact the way readers respond to the texts?

Why: Why do these texts matter?

What attitudes do they reflect? What conversations do they complicate? What stereotypes do they perpetuate or resist?

How: How is the message

constructed? What are the claims? What evidence or reasoning is provided? How is credibility established and maintained? How is the audience supposed to feel?

DUE: 10/5, 11:55 p.m. (in Sakai)