Purpose

By the end of this writing project, you will be able to:

Identify a significant issue appropriate for a rhetorical response
Analyze, interpret, and evaluate multiple sources in order to identify appropriate evidence to support the response.
Attribute and cite sources using signaling phrases, in-text citations, and a works cited page
Apply genre conventions for a problem analysis including structure, formatting, language usage, and mechanics
Compose a text using the writing process by drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, and editing

Task

Audience: Other students in 101 who are unfamiliar with this issue

Purpose: To identify a significant public issue and analyze

Genre: A problem analysis

Conventions: 1500-2000 words with MLA citation conventions for in-text citations and a works cited page

Due: Sunday, November 19th by 11:59 p.m. to WebCampus

For this assignment, you will write a problem analysis that identifies a significant public issue and evaluates its impact. The significant issue must be rhetorical, as in, the issue must be changeable through human action. As part of the analysis, you must describe the issue and provide necessary background information for an uninformed audience. You will then analyze why this issue needs to be addressed by evaluating its impact.

As you write your analysis, you may want to consider the following questions:

The Rhetorical Situation of Your Problem Analysis

Author: How do you wish to represent yourself in your analysis? How will you signal your own credibility?
Purpose: Given that your purpose is to identify and analyze a public issue, how will you achieve this purpose in your essay?
Audience: Given that your audience includes other 101 students and your instructor, how will you need to accommodate this audience as you write your problem analysis? How much will your audience already know about the issue? What knowledge or beliefs does your audience have that you may need to address?
Genre: Given that your genre is a problem analysis, what are the genre conventions (structure, formatting, language usage, and mechanics) that you need to apply?
Content: What is the situation that you identify? How much background information about the issue will you include? What alternative positions exist on this issue, and how will you integrate those alternative positions into your analysis?
Structure: What is the most effective structure for your analysis? How will you present your claim, use evidence to support your claim, and integrate alternative positions in your analysis?
Language: What linguistic choices will you make in your analysis? How formal or informal should your language be? How can you revise and edit your language to be most effective?

Criteria

Your rhetorical analysis will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Rhetorical choices- Does the analysis effectively fulfill its purpose of presenting and analyzing a public issue?
Content choices- Does the analysis make a claim about a public issue, support that claim with evidence, and address alternative positions?
Genre choices- Does the analysis effectively apply genre conventions?
Structural choices- Does the analysis follow a logical arrangement?
Linguistic choices- Does the analysis use effective language for the genre and rhetorical situation?

Category: Essays