Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment

You have read these four articles from your textbook, From Inquiry to Academic Writing, and completed the Inquiry Textbook Readings 1-4 Quiz.

William Powers Not So Busy, p. 515
Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, p. 594
Mary Aiken, Designed to Addict, p. 614
Michael Pollan, Why Bother?, p. 715

Now, choose

Write a 2-4 page Rhetorical Analysis in MLA format that states the authors main argument from your chosen article and ANALYZES how the author makes their argument.

Your goal is to determine whether or not the author is successful in making their argument. A good rhetorical analysis essay examines both sides of the argument, so you should analyze not only how and why the author was effective with ethos, pathos, or logos, but how and why the author might have been ineffective

with the lack of ethos, pathos, or logos.

Do not argue your viewpoint in an analysis.

Focus on the “how” the AUTHOR made their point, not if it’s something you agree with or not.

Think about how and why the article works or doesnt work FROM THE STANDPOINT OF HOW THE AUTHOR WROTE IT.

What rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, logos) did the author use to be persuasive?
How effective were they?

In addition to being well-written and organized, the most successful essays for this assignment will do the following (not necessarily in this order). Use this checklist to see if you accomplished what you needed to for a good essay.

Did you describe the rhetorical situation, e.g. the purpose and the authors target audience?
Did you describe the authors argument?
Did you include a clear thesis statement of your own to set up the essay?
Did you describe and analyze how the author presents and builds their argument?
Did you examine and evaluate how the author connects, or fails to connect, with their audience?
Did you demonstrate your understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos and how the author used them in the text?

Keep in mind that your focus is not on your own opinion about the topic being discussed in the article, but on explaining how the author of the article has put together their argument and how they appeal to the audience. In other words, if you were writing about an essay discussing global warming, what you think about global warming would not be the focus; rather, you would need to show how the author argues their point and how effective their strategy is in the argument.

Citation and Documentation

If you quote from your text (and you should), you MUST include proper MLA in-text citation and a works cited page.

 

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