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Essay Project 2: Rhetorical Analysis
Essay 2 Due Dates
□ Mon, October 8: Essay
Conference ___________
□ Wed, Oct 10: Rough
Drafts Due (Copies
□ Wed, Oct 17: Final Draft
Due
The purpose of this
assignment is to:
Help students practice the
following Student Learning
Objectives, as stated on the
course syllabus and outlined
below.
Student Learning Objectives
1. Use active/critical reading
strategies to produce
accurate, concise summaries
of college level/academic
texts.
2. Synthesize researched
material from texts to create
and support an argument in
response to a prompt. Draw
direct evidence from texts in
support of claims and analyze
how that evidence supports
the claim.
3. Utilize the various phases in
the writing process—
prewriting, writing revision,
and proofreading—to produce
clear, articulate, wellsupported, well-organized
essays.
4. Avoid plagiarism by properly
citing quoted, summarized,
and paraphrased material
using MLA format.
Assignment Overview
This assignment requires Engl 120 writers to:
1. Read and respond to a college-level text.
2. Compose college-level writing.
3. Respond to a topic with an original argument.
Required Text
• Mailhot, Therese Marie. Heart Berries. (or)
• Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. (or)
• Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.
Overview: For this particular assignment, you have two
essay prompt, and the section choice is a more creative
one.
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Traditional Essay Prompt (Choice No. 1):
Compose an essay where you provide a close reading
analysis of the text of your choice and the author’s use of at
least two rhetorical strategies. If you are stuck, please use the
provided Close Reading Worksheet. In your thesis, you should
make a claim about the effectiveness of these strategies.
Components to Include:
In your introduction, include:
1.
2.
Make sure you show examples from the text that connects to
the point/claim you want to make and support your thesis.
(These examples form the I or Illustration of PIE format.) Also,
make sure to explain how the illustration proves your claim to
be correct. (This will form part of your E or Explanation in PIE
format.)
3.
Specific Requirements
•
□ Your essay must include an academic summary of
your chosen text.
□ Your essay must also include your argument about the
effectiveness of the author’s rhetoric.
▪ That means you need a thesis and topic sentences
which state your claim and reasons why. You also
need support for your argument in the form of cited
material from the text itself.
▪ Remember, your thesis needs to contain both your
limited subject and your attitude (claim) about your
limited subject.
▪
For this essay, your limited subject is the
specific rhetorical strategies you choose to
focus on, and your attitude is whether or not
the author is successful in their implementation
of these strategies.
□ You must include a total of at least SIX direct quotes
in your essay.
□ You are required to cite your sources using proper MLA
format, so don’t forget your Works Cited page.
□ Length: 5-6 pages
□ Your essay needs to have a creative title.
•
4.
a hook or attention grabber;
background information on
the topic
Academic summary of your
chosen text
your thesis statement – your
thesis should state your limited
subject and attitude
In your body paragraphs,
include:
•
•
PIE Format
Topic sentences/Points that
make a claim about the
effectiveness of a rhetorical
strategy
Information that is directly
quoted from the text
Explanation/Evaluation of each
quote that does the following:
• Explains what the quote
means in your own words
• Connects the quote to your
point/claim. Shows how the
quotes supports the point.
• Explains the significance of
the quote.
In your conclusion, include
1.
2.
A brief summary of your key points
Restate your thesis
3.
Final thoughts about your
topic
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Visual Argument Prompt (Choice No. 2):
This assignment encourages you to go beyond only
considering the words in a text -its linguistic content- and to
also observe how visual elements, such as graphics,
typography, color, and placement, contribute to meaning and
persuasion. Visual arguments surround us in life and online. In
our daily lives, we are frequently confronted by advertising
with very little linguistic content that is still highly persuasive.
This project will help you to:
•
•
•
Come to understand that your audiences, your purposes,
and your contexts should motivate your linguistic and
visual choices
Cultivate your visual literacy
Learn some of the basic elements of design
Prompt: This project has two parts: a visual argument and
a project assessment reflection.
Specific Requirements
Your visual argument must include:
□ Be primarily visual rather than linguistic. It can take almost
any form: a painting, an advertisement, a poster (for movie,
concert, or app), a comic strip, a sculpture, a photograph,
a video, a computer generated image or animation, a
collage, etc.
□ Consider: an emotional appeal, an appeal to credibility,
an appeal to logic
□ A visual representation of that purpose and claim which
communicates not only the overall idea, but employs the
strategies we discussed in class
□ Support your claim through evidence, visual choices, such
as typography, color, placement, graphics, etc.
□ Appeal to a specific audience. Write about translating
linguistic claims into visual claims. How does your visual
support your project and purpose?
You will also compose a short essay reflection (2-3 pages)
in which you analyze the process you used to compose your
visual argument, composed of answers to the questions
below. Use essay format for this.
For your project assessment reflection, you must:
□ Write about the context. In what ways does your visual
argument appeal specifically to the audience you
identified? That is, how do your design choices persuade
your audience?
Components to Consider:
Assignment Possibilities:
1. Photographic Essay: Create a
series of photos serving your
purpose; must present images
that appeal to one of the
Aristotelian appeals.
2. Movie or Concert Poster:
Create a poster staring your
choice of text.
3. Ad Campaign: Deveop an
advertisement campaign for
your specific text.
4. Editorial Cartoons: Design a
series of cartoons and
captions for the text of your
choice.
Requirements for Essay
Reflection:
1. MLA Format
2. Length: 2-3 pages
3. If you include sources, they
must be cited properly in
MLA format, and be
included on a works cited
page.
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□ Write about how you used Ethos, Pathos and Logos.
Remember these? How did you appeal to ethos, logos,
and/or pathos in your visual? Which of these appeals is
the strongest? Why?
□
Ethos: What does your choice of medium say about
your ethos? How are does your design reflect
your character? Do you convey your ethos
through typography? Color? Some other way?
□
Logos: How does your visual rely on logos? Can
your readers easily understand your visual? Does
your visual convey information efficiently? In
what ways do you appeal to logos? Through
typography? Color? Placement? Some other way?
□
Pathos: How does your visual appeal to emotion?
Do you convey emotion through typography?
Color? Some other way?
□ Write about the process. What was the most challenging
part of composing your visual argument? Why was it so
challenging? Briefly describe and explain one of the
significant revisions you made to your visual argument
after your initial draft. What is the most effective aspect of
your project? Have you deliberately adapted a standard
form in an unusual or creative way? If so, why?
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Grading Rubric for Essay Final Draft
To grow as a writer, you must place close attention to feedback and note areas for growth. Please do not
interpret a “Well Done” or “Outstanding” as meaning that you no longer need to develop that aspect of your
writing. There is always room for growth!
Critical Thinking:
Inadequate
Developing
Skillful
Outstanding
Adequate
Skillful
Outstanding
Adequate
Skillful
Outstanding
Adequate
uses a critical voice to answer all
parts of the essay prompt and
show that you have thought
critically about the topic.
discusses complexities and does
not make things seem more
simple than they are.
considers multiple perspectives.
Central Idea:
Inadequate
Developing
has one controlling idea, stated
in a thesis statement early in
the paper that answers the
prompt and cpntains both limited
subject and attitude.
has multiple paragraphs with
a topic sentences that
develop the thesis
Support:
Inadequate Developing
cites relevant support from the
text—direct quotation and/or
paraphrase—to illustrate the
main point.
introduces cited information as
specified in MLA style.
explains the connection
between the citation and the
point by analyzing information.
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summarizes and explains the
ideas in the text(s) for your
readers who are unfamiliar with
them.
Organization:
Inadequate
Developing
Adequate
Skillful
Outstanding
Adequate
Skillful
Outstanding
organizes ideas logically and
follows a clear pattern of
development.
contains a clear introduction,
body, and conclusion.
Utilizes effective transitions
between and within paragraphs.
Mechanics:
Inadequate
Developing
has limited proofreading and
spelling errors. (Errors MUST
NOT impede clarity and
comprehension of text)
uses a variety of sentence
structures.
demonstrates correct
MLA format and citations.
has a complete Works Cited
page that demonstrates working
understanding of MLA citation
requirements.
Final Essay Packet is
Complete with Rough Draft
Copies and Brainstorm
OVERALL SCORE
Yes
No
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