English 151-034 Short Assignment #3: Rhetorical Analysis Assignment – 10%

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Due

: Today within 4 hours

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Word Length

: 750 words minimum; 1000 words maximum

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No one will be allowed to make up this assignment without a credible

explanation for the absence and acceptable documentation to support

that explanation.  

Instructions

:  

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Rhetoric

: language designed to have a persuasive effect on its audience,

through the use of the Rhetorical Triangle: Logos (logic/evidence), Pathos

(emotion/values), and Ethos (credibility/authority).

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Rhetorical Analysis asks you to explain to your reader how the writer

communicated their essay’s content using the Rhetorical Triangle, with

assessments of how effective or ineffective the writer was in his rhetoric.  

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The Rhetorical Analysis Assignment asks you to choose one of the two

essays and write a 750-word long rhetorical analysis of it.

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The question your essay must answer and explain: Do you think the author

sufficiently supports his argument using appeals to the Rhetorical Triangle?

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Choose

ONE

of the essays listed below to write your essay about:

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, “Insulting Colin Kaepernick says more about our

patriotism than his”,

The Washington Post

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Andrew Cohen, “Olympics are an antidote to our culture of phoniness”,

The Calgary Herald

Formatting Guidelines

:

1.

Write

5 complete paragraphs

for a total of 750-1000 words.

2.

Identify the title of the reading and the author by their full name in your

introduction paragraph.  Put the reading’s title in quotation marks.

Subsequently, you do not have to refer to the full title, and you can refer to

the author by their last name only.

3.

Provide textual evidence (direct quotes, paraphrases, summaries) from

your chosen essay to clearly and directly support your conclusions.  

4.

Integrate your quotes

grammatically

into your sentence structure.  

5.

Format your document correctly according to your chosen citation style.

6.

Provide in-text citations that are correctly formatted according to your

chosen citation style.

7.

Provide a bibliography of your sources, even if this is only the original

essay, formatted according to your chosen citation style.

English 151-034 Short Assignment #3: Rhetorical Analysis Assignment – 10%

Essay Structure

:

Introduction Paragraph

: Establish your topic with a clear topic sentence

introducing which essay is under discussion including complete title and full

author name; briefly summarize what you will be explaining and arguing in

your three paragraphs; communicate your argument with a clear, direct thesis

statement explaining your position.

Thesis Statement Example

: “In (this essay), (the author) argues that (…..)

and (sufficiently/insufficiently) supports this argument using appeals to the

Rhetorical Triangle.”

First Body Paragraph

: Explain, using at least two grammatically-integrated

and relevant direct quotes from the text as support,

the most and the least

convincing

Logos

examples (facts, data, statistics, true anecdotal evidence)

the author uses to support the conclusions he draws from his examples.

Decide overall if the author sufficiently supported their thesis with Logos

appeals and briefly explain why.

Second Body Paragraph

: Describe, using at least two grammatically-

integrated and relevant direct quotes from the text as support,

the most and

the least convincing

Pathos

examples (beliefs, values, ideals, emotions,

ideologies) the author uses support his argument. Explain why you think

these examples are convincing or not convincing. Decide overall if the author

sufficiently supported their thesis with Pathos appeals and briefly explain

why.

Third Body Paragraph

: Describe, using at least two grammatically-

integrated and relevant direct quotes from the text as support,

the most and

the least convincing

Ethos

examples (personal expertise and/or connection to

topic; other experts’ opinions and evidence about topic) the author uses

support his argument. Explain why you think these examples are convincing

or not convincing. Decide overall if the author sufficiently supported their

thesis with Ethos appeals and briefly explain why.

Conclusion Paragraph

: Topic Sentence; briefly summarize the points you

made in your body paragraphs; concluding sentence(s) explaining the overall

conclusion you made regarding whether the author sufficiently or

insufficiently supported his argument using appeals to the Rhetorical

Triangle