Description

Objective:

As we have noted throughout the unit, and much of the term, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. While the use of rhetoric may not be a superhuman ability, as alluded to above, it is at least integral to persuading an audience through argument, whether in public discourse or in the academy. Understanding how arguments comparatively utilize different rhetorical appeals through particular rhetorical patterns and strategies will help you decide the relative strengths of arguments and whether they will be found convincing to their audience.

Thus, the ability to successfully compare and contrast two texts (articles, scientific processes, videos, etc.) is an important skill in the academy (as well as in your daily life, I’d argue).  Analysis of rhetorical strategies used in such texts allows you to acquire, hone, and exhibit critical reading skills.  This assignment provides you with the opportunity to learn to compare (list similarities) and contrast (explain the differences) how two texts can differ in the way an argument is executed.  This ability to identify and weigh the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies in two or more texts is a skill that you will be called upon to use frequently in other classes in all disciplines.

 

Assignment Overview:

In this essay, you will offer a formal rhetorical analysis that considers the effectiveness of the persuasive strategies used by the authors of two articles for the respective intended audiences and moment they are written for (in other words, the kairos). Your main task will be to argue, through a specific thesis, (1) how the two texts you’ve chosen to write about are similar and/or different in the way that rhetorical appeals, strategies, and devices are used to engage these audiences and moment. You will also conclude by evaluating (2) whether one article is more or less persuasive than the other, given their respective audiences (note: these may be the same audience or, more likely, different audiences, depending on your selection). Please be mindful that your articles need not agree on a conclusion; but in fact, it is sometimes easier to show how two essays draw the same conclusion differently, differing in their rhetorical means of persuasion (diff appeals, argumentative strategies), or their likely effectiveness in persuading their audiences (similar arguments will be more or less effective for different audiences).

 

One of these articles you will choose from the list below (and maybe from a couple of other essays if I ad more to the list this week).

 

The second article will be a text you select to pair with this article. This second text may be a scholarly article, an editorial, a lecture online, a blog entry, a comedy sketch, film clip, advertisement, etc., that contrasts with the first article in the way that it uses rhetoric to make it’s argument. These second texts should be approved by me next week if you have any doubt about them to ensure that they are rhetorically sophisticated enough to ensure a comparison you can sustain throughout a 1000 word essay. Please consider the advice offered in AWE (98) on “Choosing a Text or Texts” to help guide your selection of this second text.

 

 

 

 

1st Texts:

 

 

• “Response to Canada’s Apology to Residential School Survivors”:

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/docview/217446062/fulltextPDF?accountid=14846

 

• “Tar Sands Need Solid Science.”

http://www.nature.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/nature/journal/v468/n7323/full/468499a.html

 

• “How Women are Harmed by Calling Sexual Assault ‘Locker Room’ Talk”

https://theconversation.com/how-women-are-harmed-by-calling-sexual-assault-locker-room-talk-67422

 

• “How Should We Teach our Kids to use Digital Media?”

https://theconversation.com/how-should-we-teach-our-kids-to-use-digital-media-67446

 

• “Why Men Trophy Hunt”

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/13/3/20160909

 

• “In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html?_r=2

 

• “If a lion did a good deed, would we understand it?”

https://aeon.co/essays/if-a-lion-did-a-good-deed-would-we-understand-it

 

• “The Curious Power of Hate Propaganda in Open Societies”

https://theconversation.com/the-curious-power-of-hate-propaganda-in-open-societies-67261

 

• “Steven Pinker is wrong about violence and war”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining

 

• “This is your Brain on Nature”

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/call-to-wild-text

 

• “Gun Culture and the American Nightmare of Violence”

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34349-gun-culture-and-the-american-nightmare-of-violence

 

• “What Rape Culture Says About Masculinity”

https://theconversation.com/what-rape-culture-says-about-masculinity-85513

 

• “The Limits of Satire”

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2015/01/16/charlie-hebdo-limits-satire/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment Requirements:

 

As we have learned, a rhetorical analysis asks you to explain how a piece of writing is constructed by analyzing ways the author appeals to his/her audience through various rhetorical strategies and devices. For each author you should consider the following:

 

• kairos–the specific rhetorical situation or opportunity of each piece (often these will be similar in the two pieces, depending on topic)
• audience–these could be the same or vary widely depending where you find the article, the venue, etc.
• purpose of arg–give a summary of the purpose of each argument, e.g., “the author attempts to show that..”
• rhetorical appeals–ethos (extrinsic and intrinsic), pathos, logos
• the specific rhetorical strategies/techniques (i.e., the evidence) used to carry out these appeals–these may include structure and form or language choices, as noted in AWE (99)
• is there a dominant appeal(s) in each article?
• how the texts differ in the appeals that they rely on
• evaluate which article is likely more effective for its given audience and why; though they could be equally effective for their respective audiences.

 

Citing Sources: We will once again be using MLA or APA citation, which includes both in-text parenthetical citation and a works cited page, or a system of your choice you may ask me to approve.

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