English 2367

Textual Response

Argument Analysis

Value: 15% of final grade

Length: At least 1,000 polished words

Format: Typed and appropriate for the rhetorical situation, adhering to MLA format

Deadlines for Process Work and Drafts: See the syllabus course schedule

The first assignment you will compose in our course inquiry of “Everything’s an Argument” is an analysis of a text that makes an argument about a topic you are interested in researching and writing about throughout this course.

The purpose of your essay is to understand how your chosen text achieves its intended effects by identifying the strategies the author uses to persuade their intended audience, thus showing how the argument does (or doesn’t) work. Your stance may reveal your interest in the topic, but your focus will be on your analysis of the text. Questions your essay might explore include the following: What kind of text is this? Who is the intended audience? What is the text’s argument—what does the writer want the audience to believe, feel, or do? How does this text work—what are the various components? Are there any patterns? What strategies does the writer use? How do these components and strategies affect the message of the text? What is the rhetorical effect, the effect on the audience?

Your audience for this assignment includes your classmates and instructor, and depending on the one you choose, we may or may not be familiar with this text. However, we are all interested in learning about strategies and techniques writers use that we might employ in composing our own arguments.

Within the academic genre of argument analysis—including MLA format—you may play with media and design elements to help achieve your purpose for readers, including the use of visuals.

Criteria for Evaluation

As with all major assignments in the course, you will be evaluated using the standard English 2367 Writing Assignments Grading Rubric. The following are additional major essay requirements specific to this assignment and genre:

· Compose a summary or description of the text.

· Pay attention to the context.

· State your interpretation or judgment about how the argument in the text works (or doesn’t work) clearly in your thesis.

· Provide reasonable support for your conclusions by analyzing specific examples from the text that you quote and/or paraphrase and cite.