Rhetorical Analysis

For Project 2 you will rhetorically analyze a chapter of your choice from our textbook Local Actions and compare and contrast the Stakeholders/Issue/Faultline with a Scholarly Primary/Secondary resource that explores this Topic and Issue in California.

Step 1- Choose a section between chapters 2 – 10 in the course textbook Local Actions: Cultural Activism, Power, and Public Life in America with a Topic and Issue that you are interested in writing and research for the rest of the term.

Step 2- Locate a Scholarly and/or Primary/Secondary non-scholary resource that explains a contemporary instance of the Topic and Issue of the chapter your chose within the state of California within the last five years.

Step 3- Compare and contrast the two resources using Rhetorical Analysis Key Terms

– – – – – – –

For the Introduction:

● Set up your paper with a clear Introduction that presents your chosen Chapter and the similar Topic/Issue that you have located in California. Note why you have chosen this issue and why you have decided to compare the two readings based on their Topic, Issue, Stakeholders, and Faultline. Use the template from Unit 1 for both the Introduction and Thesis.

For the first half of the body of the essay:

● Develop your Paragraphs around our formula of Claim/Evidence/Analysis. Your first five paragraphs should rhetorically analyze the chapter of your choice from Local Actions utilizing the Rhetorical Analysis Key Terms below to evaluate the efficacy of the thesis:

○ The author’s use of rhetorical strategies (logos, ethos, pathos, ) ○ Supporting evidence and author’s analysis/explanation of said

evidence ○ Absence or presence of one of the Five Cognitive Bias (choose

one) ○ Pattern of Organization (What is the structure of the argument?) ○ Author’s tone

For the second half of the body of the essay:

● Develop your Paragraphs around our formula of Claim/Evidence/Analysis, using the Compare/Contrast Pattern of Organization. For the final 2-4 paragraphs, compare and contrast the chapter from the textbook with the

Scholarly Primary/Secondary resource that has a similar Topic and Issue in California. You will want to pull 1-2 points of comparison and 1-2 points of contrast. Each paragraph should be dedicate to a single idea.

For the Conclusion:

● End your paper with connections that summarize the work you have completed. Connect the your observations on the similarities and differences. Offer your opinion on the issue. End your essay with an observation on what the reader should understand about this issue, based on what you have written. Note, what issues should be discussed that would further assist with solving this question. The conclusion is the only section where you should speak in First-Person Perspective (I believe, In my opinion, etc. …)

– – – – – – –

Submission guidelines

● You will submit the fully formatted Word Doc, Docx or Pdf ● Minimum of 1,500 words. ● 2 Primary/Secondary resources – Full MLA

Remember:

● Depth of Analysis – Should identify rhetorical appeals based on the list above, and provide insightful discussion of why and how they impact the persuasive power of the piece.

● Supporting Evidence – Should support ideas with specific examples or quotes from the piece and present excellent balance of summary and analysis; you use the evidence to support your thinking in the form of quotes and paraphrased material from your sources.

● Structure – Should have a clear Cohesive and Coherent structure, with topic sentences as Claims, supporting Evidence, and clear Analysis. .

● Language & Mechanics – Academic grammar, syntax, and word choice

– – – – – – –

Compare-Contrast Patterns

A compare and contrast pattern arranges information according to how two or more things are similar to or different from one another (or both). This is an effective pattern to use when the reader can better understand one subject when it is described in relation

to another. If the reader is familiar with one topic, the writer can compare or contrast it with another topic to shed insight on it.

For example, suppose a writer’s stated purpose is to help the reader make an informed decision about whether to attend a two-year college or a four-year university. One way to arrange the information is to compare and contrast the two educational options along several important dimensions, such: as cost, quality of education, and variety of educational programs. In this case, the number of main sections in the outline would depend on how many dimensions or factors were considered (three in the case below). Another way to arrange the information would be to create two main sections, one that describes similarities and one that describes differences (as shown in example # 2). Notice that either format could be equally effective.

Teacher’s Feedback on Rough Draft Remember, we want to follow a general pattern of organization for our body paragraph Claims. This will help with both our reading during our research and writing of the actual essay:

Claim 1 – Chapter from Textbook – Choose one use of rhetorical strategy (ethos, pathos, logos) and explain how author utilizes Claim 2 – Chapter from Textbook – analyze use of Evidence and explanation of Evidence (Primary/Secondary/Tertiary, Scholarly/Non-scholarly, Resource Type: Book, Journal Chapter, etc) Claim 3 – Chapter from Textbook- describe if you see the absence or presence of one of the five cognitive bias Claim 4 – Chapter from Textbook- describe what Pattern of Organization is utilized Claim 5 – Chapter from Textbook- describe the author’s tone

Claim 6 – Primary/Secondary and/or Scholarly Resource – Choose one use of rhetorical strategy (ethos, pathos, logos) and explain how author utilizes Claim 7 – Primary/Secondary and/or Scholarly Resource – analyze use of Evidence and explanation of Evidence (Primary/Secondary/Tertiary, Scholarly/Non-scholarly, Resource Type: Book, Journal Chapter, etc) Claim 8 – Primary/Secondary and/or Scholarly Resource- describe if you see the absence or presence of one of the five cognitive bias

Claim 9 – Primary/Secondary and/or Scholarly Resource- describe what Pattern of Organization is utilized Claim 10 – Primary/Secondary and/or Scholarly Resource- describe the author’s tone Claims (11-13) Compare/Contrast

Your Outline is underdeveloped and this is impacting your rough draft. Your Claims should be written as Topic Sentences so it makes it easier to transition from your Outline to the Rough Draft. You may simply copy/paste your Claims and add your Evidence and Analysis. This means that you must do more to introduce your resources, which are a specific chapter not the entire edited book.

Remember, we want to follow a general pattern of organization for our Claims. This will help with both our reading during our research and writing of the actual essay–see my comments in the document. When we look at your Claims you are still too broad and vague.

You are struggling with setting up your Evidence. Primarily, because you are not citing the correct authors, you are citing the editors of the book. Also, you need to work on how you embed your quotes. We have the homework activity to help with this.

Remember, you are simply developing a compare and contrast rhetorical analysis of the two resources.

(1) resource must be from chapter 2-10 (1) resource must be a Scholarly, Primary/Secondary resource that explores the same Topic and Issue in California within the last five years

When you revise:

Choose a chapter between 2-10 in our Textbook.

Your first five (5) paragraphs should be an analysis of the first resource based on the rhetorical analysis key terms: The author’s use of rhetorical strategies (logos, ethos, pathos, ) Supporting evidence and author’s analysis/explanation of said evidence Absence or presence of one of the Five Cognitive Bias (choose one) Pattern of Organization (What is the structure of the argument?) Author’s tone

Then, locate a Scholarly, Primary/Secondary resource that explores the same Topic and Issue in California within the last five years

Your second five (5) paragraphs should be an analysis of the first resource based on the rhetorical analysis key terms: The author’s use of rhetorical strategies (logos, ethos, pathos, ) Supporting evidence and author’s analysis/explanation of said evidence Absence or presence of one of the Five Cognitive Bias (choose one) Pattern of Organization (What is the structure of the argument?) Author’s tone

All you will need to add is an Introduction and Conclusions,and (1-3) paragraphs of discussion comparing and contrasting your findings.