Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

The activities below are designed to help you build up to this module's assessment, the Rhetorical Analysis Essay.  The general requirements are outlined here, but reading the textbook and completing the activities will deepen your understanding of these directions. 

Goal:  To utilize the critical reading and essay writing skills learned to better understand and evaluate a writer’s argument

Description: You’re going to write a four-page essay analyzing another essay (and just one!) for its purpose, how the writer has communicated that purpose, and your view of how effective that communication has been.  The last part of that sentence will guide your thesis. Remember, every type of essay should just be answering a good question, and in this case, it’s “has the writer successfully argued his/her point?” This assignment is designed to see how much you understand an argument aimed at you, and your ability to respond. 

Topic: Your ability to write a strong essay is greatly increased by your own interest in the subject matter.  If you don’t find the topic compelling, you’re unlikely to think deeply about the topic and will then struggle for things to write about.  So I want you to write about something you find interesting.  Therefore, I’m open to proposals.  I’ll offer some suggestions, but if you’d like to select an essay not on this list, please show me what you’re thinking ASAP.  I reserve the right of refusal, but will be flexible.

Essays:  The most obvious choice can be from the many examples in the book, especially the “casebooks” in the back. Some of these are short, and while that might seem great, keep in mind that’s less to respond to.

You can select from many famous essays in the back of our book, which would allow you to more closely follow the model in Chapter 4.  For example, “Obligation to Endure” changed the way people thought about the environment; “Politics and the English Language” is famous for arguing for the importance of words, and how polite euphemisms (or some might say, politically correct language) takes the edge off important problems, and therefore numbs people’s reactions; James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?” also explores how language shapes who we are.

For a few out-of-the-book options, David Foster Wallace writes about what a 5-star cruise says about “modern upscale Americans” in “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.”  Ta-Nehisi Coates expertly weaves logos, pathos, and ethos in his essay on how housing regulations have been used to create ghettos and suburban sprawl in “The Case for Reparations.”

Additional sources: This essay is primarily about understanding how to write an analytical essay, so it’s up to you if you want to produce your own insights or try to research some ideas. I would generally prefer you just use your own brain and a lot of deep thinking to analyze the essay you choose, but if you want to start Googling or even going through our library’s search engines, you’re obligating yourself to all of the in-text and Works Cited rules that apply when you do research.  

Audience:  You’re writing for a college audience, and remember, you want the essay to describe the work as it goes, so that anyone could pick your essay up and, even without having read the article you're discussing, understand your essay.