Writing Homework Help

popular sourceYour assignment is to write a comparative rhetorical analysis of these two sources (at least 1000 words plus Works Cited). Your claim in a rhetorical analysis states whether you think the author successfully supports the argument through the logical presentation of convincing reasons backed up by appropriate evidence. According to The Aims of Argument by Crusius and Channel, rhetorical analyses examine how an argument is put together and consider “how well the argument achieves its aim.”

Besides being well written and organized, the most successful responses to this assignment will do the following:

Address the overall effectiveness of the texts.

Consider the differences between academic writing and writing done by the popular media.

Describe the rhetorical situation (purpose, intended audience, author, genre, and context) surrounding the texts under analysis and accurately summarize the argument presented in the texts. Your argument in your essay will revolve around the rhetorical situation of the texts you are analyzing. A rhetorical situation occurs when an author, an audience, and a context come together and a persuasive message is communicated through some medium. Therefore, your rhetorical analysis essay will consistently link its points to these elements.

Include a clear and precise thesis statement (an analytical claim with reasons about how the texts work).

Explain and analyze how the authors build and present their arguments.

Explain and analyze how the authors connect with (or fail to connect with) the intended audiences.

Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how the artistic proofs (logos, pathos, ethos) are working in the texts.

Tips for Analysis

Annotate the articles and take careful notes as you read. Read first for comprehension, then reread to analyze and assess each article’s argument, structure, language, and reference. Research the publications and the authors to determine who might be the intended audience for each article. Consider the rhetorical choices each author makes and how their arguments employ specific appeals (logos, pathos, ethos) to engage the intended audience.

Examine the situation prompting the author to write the article, often referred to as the rhetorical context. Try to determine why the article was written. Is there an ongoing debate in other articles about the topic which has prompted this author to write the article? Is the article directed toward an identifiable audience? Is the article written for a popular/mainstream publication or an academic one? What characteristics, interests, and/or experiences would the people in this audience have in common? Would they be likely to have any biases concerning the topic? What does the author hope to achieve by writing this article?

Identify the author. What is his or her occupation? Personal background? Political leanings? Are they a credible source on this topic? Why? Sometimes you will need to consult other sources, such as the Internet or biographical dictionaries, to find information about the author.

Identify the argument in each text. What is the main point each author is seeking to make? The author may or may not state this directly, but you should always state your idea of the main claim in your analysis as a complete sentence. Your essay should develop an interesting and specific claim about the text itself. You are not entering into this conversation via your viewpoint on the writers’ arguments. Instead, you are thinking rhetorically about how each text is working, what types of appeals it relies on, what types of language it uses, how it establishes logos, ethos, and pathos, and the ways it engages with the issue at hand.

Consider how non-specialists are addressed in the popular source—for example, through differences in language or tone, more overt statements of significance, sweeping claims, logical fallacies (name-calling, slippery slope, bandwagon, etc.), removal of qualifiers, or other changes in phrasing. Compare this to how specialists are addressed in the scholarly piece.

Which writing conventions are similar, and which ones are different? Note both instances where the articles follow the conventional expectations for the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, or an applied field, and instances when the articles diverge from these expectations. Consider the authors’ reasons for following the conventional expectations or departing from them. Why do you think the authors made the choices that they did in writing?

Pinpoint those places both texts that speak to your thesis. What parts of each article make you argue what you are arguing in your analysis? How and why did they make you come to your claim or conclusion?

What are the qualifiers (hedges) the author includes about the claim? (What words or phrases does the author include to indicate the claim might not hold true in every situation or circumstance? What are the circumstances under which the claim is true? Look for phrases such as “on the whole,” “typically,” “usually,” or “most of the time.”) What is the effect of these qualifiers or hedges?

Determine what underlying assumptions the author might have. What ideas, beliefs, philosophies, does the author seem to accept as mutually understood between himself or herself and the audience? Are these assumptions valid?

Identify and evaluate the reasons the author gives for making the main claim. Are they good reasons? Are they relevant to the main claim? Sometimes authors present only one or two reasons, often spending much time developing and supporting just one reason.

Identify, analyze, and evaluate the evidence given in support of the reasons. What kinds of evidence are given (data, anecdotes, case studies, citations from authorities, research studies)? Is the evidence good (sufficient, accurate, relevant, credible)? Question evidence in terms of both quality and quantity.

Note refutations. These are efforts the author makes to anticipate counterarguments and answer them in advance. Try to determine whether the author demonstrates clearly why these objections, or counterclaims, do not undermine the basic argument the author is trying to make.

Note key terms. Does the author define these adequately? Would most readers agree with these definitions? What clarifications might be needed?

Please remember that your focus is not on your own opinion about the topic being discussed in your sources, but on explaining how the author of each article has put together her argument and how she appeals to the audience. In other words, if you are analyzing an essay about the Iraq war, what you think about the war will not be the focus; instead, you will need to show how each author argues her point and whether her rhetorical strategy is effective, and why.

Writing Your Essay

Write your analysis in standard essay form. A rhetorical analysis contains some summary of the articles being analyzed, but the summary should be secondary to the analysis of the texts you develop in your essay.

Your essay should demonstrate how academic writing differs from more popular kinds of writing. A strong comparative analysis will not simply explain what is different but why those differences exist and what they mean.

Do you have a title that conveys your topic and gives your audience a reason to keep reading?

Begin with an introduction that introduces the articles you will address, including pertinent publishing information. Are the article titles in “quotation marks” and are the authors’ names spelled correctly? Italicize the titles of periodicals (newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, websites) and books. Does your introduction define the subject of your critique and your point of view (your thesis)?

The body of your essay should develop your analysis of the articles’ arguments and rhetorical presentation, supporting your stance with specific details from the text.

Conclude your critique by summarizing your argument and re-emphasizing your opinion. Make sure your conclusion does more than merely restating what appears in your introduction. Does it leave your reader with a parting thought or idea?

Have you proofread carefully?

Is your Works Cited page included, and is it properly formatted according to MLA guidelines? Use MLA consistently attribute information, words, or ideas to your sources. Every time you quote or paraphrase from any source, provide the corresponding parenthetical citation in your text. On a separate page at the end of your essay, you should have a Works Cited page that includes the complete bibliographical citation for every source in your paper.

Formatting Your Essay

All of your essays should conform to the following conventions:

• 12-point type in a readable font (Times New Roman, Cambria).
• Double spaced throughout.
• One-inch margins. Do not justify the right margin; it should be uneven.
• Do not use a cover page. Put the MLA heading in the top left corner of the first page: Your Name, English 2000, Instructor’s Name, Date (double spaced). Center your title, then begin the essay