I <3 Rhetorical Analysis, and So Do You!

Students,

I’ve uploaded the PowerPoint I used in class yesterday so you can refer to it at leisure, but I can’t figure out how to navigate to it without just giving you the URL:

Click to access hbpresentation6-1301.pdf

So, open the URL. It will allow you to access a PDF of yesterday’s PowerPoint.

If any of you computer buffs know of an tidier way to accomplish this kind of thing on WordPress, I’d appreciate it if you availed me of your expertise– i.e., email me.

Good luck on your drafts! Remember, I want to see 1000 words minimum when you come to class next week!

Make the Grade on BA5

I. BA5 – My Slightly Simplified Explanation (they are both the same, though)

·  Write your working thesis at top. Remember: You should only include one thesis statement; therefore, choose your best thesis statement based on the grader’s comments.
·  Copy 5-8 quotes from the primary source that you plan to use in Draft 1.1.
·  For each quote, explain:
·  Where will this quotation fit in your organization?
·  How does it further and/or support your analysis? (You must say why and how it supports your analysis, not just that it does.) In other words, how does it demonstrate the point you are trying to make about the author’s rhetoric?
·  Will you use it as a quotation or paraphrase the selection, and why?
·  Include parenthetical citations and a Works Cited in MLA format.
·  Your analysis (not including the quotations themselves) needs to be 500-650 words in total.
·  LABEL THE PIECES OF THE ASSIGNMENT. Here’s an abbreviated *example* of how your assignment should look:

Thesis: Juliette H. Walma van der Molen in “Violence and Suffering in Television News” uses appeal to experts, factual evidence and statistics to portray how television news promotes violence in the media.

1. “Survey research has shown that about one quarter of US children have a television set in their own bedroom and that in a substantial number of homes, television is turned on all day. With the rise of television channels and Internet services that broadcast news around the clock and with the growing practice of interrupting other television programming to report on ‘breaking news stories,’ children of all ages thus may be regularly confronted with highly distressing and violent accounts of murders, catastrophic accidents, war, and other suffering (van der Molen 1771).

This statistic clearly supports my thesis because it backs up the author’s argument for less violence in the media, especially in television news. This quote would probably work better if it were paraphrased because it is very lengthy and wordy. This quote would fit well in the paragraph that supports how statistics can improve an author’s argument.

2. “The American Academy of Pediatrics thus far also focused primarily on preventing the harmful effects of fictional violence. Although that focus should be continued, it should be supplemented with a more in-depth discussion of the potential negative outcomes of real violence portrayed in news programs” (van der Molen 1771).

I would quote this selection because it uses clear and concise language. This quote supports my thesis because it is a strong point that strengthens van der Molen’s argument. I also think this quote is interesting because it demonstrates an appeal to experts, which strengthens the author’s credibility. This quote could fit in two different paragraphs: my paragraph on appealing to experts or my paragraph on factual evidence. I might use this quotation as my final example in the paragraph that explains how appealing to experts builds van der Molen’s credibility, and then use it to transition into my next paragraph on how using factual evidence reinforces her argument.

….Repeat this process with 3-6 additional quotations, in-text citations, and explanations…

Works Cited

Van der Molen, Juliette, H. Walma. “Violence and Suffering in Television News Toward a Broader Conception of Harmful Television Content for Children.” Pediatrics 113.6 (2004): 1771-1775.

II. Grading Criteria for BA5:

1) Issue Identification and Focus

·  If the student doesn’t understand what a rhetorical analysis is, this criterion, evidenced by the choice of quotations and analysis, will not score well.

3) Sources and Evidence

·  Critical criterion here—consider the choice of quotations, balance of quotations used to identify v. quotations to analyze original author’s choices. Most of the time, this and communication will determine whether the analysis is an A, B, or C piece.

5) Own Perspective

·  How well the writer can explain how the quotations will be used in the analysis is critical here. Vague or non-existent explanations will not score well

7) Communication

·  Explanations should be clear.

III. Other Important Stuff:

***Remember also that the University Writing Center (UWC) is going to book up pretty quickly now that Draft 1.1 is almost due. So if you’re going to try to get tutoring from them, make an appointment NOW. The link for the UWC is on the course blog (look under the “Resources” heading). You’ll need to call them or stop by to make an appointment.***

NEW Options for Draft 1.1!

Because I am a wise and beneficent leader who is perpetually concerned with the well-being and success of my students, I have decided to make two more articles available for your use on the upcoming BA4, as well as on your rapidly approaching Draft 1.1 (due date: October 12th!).

Here they are:

“Plugging In, Tuning Out” (Don Campbell)

“Believe Me, It’s Torture” (Christopher Hitchens)

Keep in mind that I will not be emailing you these options. Yesterday, I emphatically reminded you all to CHECK MY BLOG. So, these two essay options will be available only to those responsible students who actually do so.

Also, look to the right side of the screen. There is an option to subscribe to the blog. If you click the “Sign Me Up!” button and supply your email address, you will be notified every time I post an entry.

Happy reading and writing, everyone!

 

Vanquish BA4!

BA4 Description:

For your draft 1.1, you will write a rhetorical analysis.  See the description of Draft 1.1 for a discussion of what a rhetorical analysis is and what you will be expected to do.

To create your thesis, you need to have the following:

(1) one primary text (specified by your instructor) that will serve as the object of your analysis, and

(2) the results of your close reading of this text that you will use to formulate your thesis.

To complete this assignment, compose three thesis statements that you might use in your draft 1.1.  You may write 3 statements which could be used in three different analytical papers, or try out different thesis statements for a single paper.

Critical Rubric Scoring Guide:

Criterion 1 – Issue Identification and Focus

• Does the thesis clearly present the paper as a rhetorical analysis rather than a descriptive paper or a summary?  Is the thesis sufficiently focused?

Criterion 3 — Sources and Evidence

• Does the thesis identify the author and title of the object of rhetorical analysis (the article)?  Does the thesis offer a reasonable interpretation of the central purpose of the source?

Criterion 5 – Own Perspective

• Does the student present a clear claim about how he or she will analyze the article?  Does he or she list specific strategies the author of the article uses to make a point?  In this section, you will want to be sure to examine the selected strategies carefully.  How specific are the strategies?  Does the student choose actual strategies (emotional appeal, elevated diction, allusion, sentence length, etc.)?

Criterion 7 – Communication

• How well does the student do all of the above in regard to tone, style, word choice, and other writing conventions?  Does the student communicate his or her purpose and perspective clearly to an intended audience?

***This assignment will not necessarily be easy! Make sure you fully understand the article before trying to write a thesis for it. If you haven’t already, use the Critical Reading Handout I provided you in class last week to help you work your way through the essay. Also, we started an exercise in class to help you write a thesis statement, but I bet you aren’t done yet! So:

-Write a brief summary of article

-Identify the author’s purpose

-Identify all rhetorical devices used

Once you have successfully completed these tasks, you are ready to start writing potential thesis statements about author’s use of rhetorical devices towards his/her purpose.

***If you have time, I also suggest you check out this website. It provides a few simple guidelines for thesis statements: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html

Article Choices for Draft 1.1

You must choose one of the following articles to evaluate for Draft 1.1. Print it out, annotate it, and bring it to class next Thursday:

1)  The Crying Indian

2)  Instead of Suns, the Earth

3)  How to Queer Ecology:  One Goose at a Time

4)  The Colonization of Kern County

5)  Dark Horse

Triumph Over BA3!

Abbreviated BA3 Assignment Description:

Many writers, in the academic setting and beyond, analyze other writers’ language to explore how effectively the language helps the writer make his or her point. This practice is called rhetorical analysis. Your task for this assignment is to analyze a rhetorical analysis in preparation for writing your own in draft 1.1. Your analysis should focus on the structure of the rhetorical analysis.

Write a 400-600 word essay in which you analyze the organization of one of the three articles below. Identify the author’s thesis, and then describe the organization of the essay. Describe how the paragraphs build the essay as well as how the sentences build the paragraph. Choose two examples of places where the author conducts close reading of quotations. What does the author say about the quotations, and how does the author’s analysis help him or her develop the paragraph’s topic sentence and the article’s thesis?

You should cite examples from the article to illustrate your points. Your essay should be in MLA format. (Please refer to section 16 of the St. Martins’ Handbook for information on MLA citation). You must also include the author and the title of the article in your introduction.

Choose from one of the following articles:

“Obama Reviews Thanksgiving History, or Are You Ready for Some Football” (Alexis Teagarden)

“‘Who, li’l ol’ me?’: Sarah Palin on Naivete and Credibility” (Matt Zebrowski)

“You Know Twilight Isn’t Really about Vampires, Right?” (Doug Cloud)

What graders will be looking for:

Criterion 1 – Issue Identification and Focus
Has the student focused on identifying and analyzing the pieces of the rhetorical analysis? Has the student answered all questions thoroughly?

Criterion 3 — Sources and Evidence
Has the student supported the analysis with textual evidence?

Criterion 5 – Own Perspective
Is the student’s voice apparent throughout the evaluation? Has the student asserted his or her own views of the article’s effectiveness?

Criterion 6 – Conclusion
Does the conclusion demonstrate the student’s understanding of the genre of rhetorical analysis? Does the conclusion articulate the features that make the article a rhetorical analysis and evaluate the article’s effectiveness?

Criterion 7 – Communication
How well does the student do all of the above in regard to tone, style, word choice, and other writing conventions? Does the student communicate his or her purpose and perspective clearly to an intended audience?        

***Remember to check the blog again on Saturday afternoon! I will have several articles posted. You must choose one to evaluate for Draft 1.1. Print it out, annotate it, and bring it to class next Thursday.***

***Extra Credit #1 – Work on your BA 3 with a tutor at the Writing Center before it is due on TUESDAY (9/13). This will be worth 5 points for one day of participation.***

BA2 Stuff!

First of all, it will be helpful to graders if you LABEL THE SECTIONS OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT (i.e. label your summary “Summary;” label your paraphrase “Paraphrase;” and label your Works Cited “Works Cited”).

Second, your graders determine your assignment scores according to the Critical Thinking Rubric (it’s available on your RaiderWriter). Not every element appears in every assignment, and the elements might not make sense to you until they are applied to a specific piece of your work. To help you understand how the rubric applies to each assignment, I’ll be posting the relevant rubric elements for each brief assignment. Sooooo, here are some things the graders are looking for in BA2:

Issue Identification and Focus
Author, text, and particular passage (if applicable) should be clearly identified at the beginning of both the summary and the paraphrase.

Context and Assumptions
Summary and paraphrase should show an awareness of the context in which the original piece was written.

Sources and Evidence
Writer’s references to the source material should be both specific and accurate. Both this and the previous criteria should demonstrate the writer’s understanding of the text being summarized and paraphrased.

Communication
The tone overall should be professional, with attention paid to the organization of the assignment, grammar, mechanics, etc. The student should not be inserting opinions or offering judgment as to the content of the summarized or paraphrased text.