personal space analysis essay

Personal Space Rhetorical Analysis

Basic Assignment:

Students will develop an essay that explains to a neutral audience what their personal space seems to be arguing about them to visitors.

Getting Ideas:

I mentioned early in our semester the idea that everything is an argument, from obvious, explicit arguments like advertisements, reviews, campaign slogans, and documentaries, to less obvious, implicit arguments—things that don’t even seem like arguments at first. I used in class the examples of how we dress, the stickers on our laptops, or things we choose to post on social media as ways we make implicit arguments about ourselves—whether intentional or not—everyday. As the authors of Everything’s an Argument explain, “The clothes you wear, the foods you eat, and the groups you join make nuanced, sometimes unspoken assertions about who you are and what you value [because an argument merely] expresses a point of view” (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz 5).

What then, may be fruitful, as a way to practice our ability to recognize and break down even the subtlest arguments, is to break down an argument that is very close to us—our own personal spaces. In his book Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You, Professor of Psychology (University of Texas) Sam Gosling argues that we “piece together bits of evidence, wherever you can find them, to form coherent portraits of the characters who populate [our] social spheres. You draw on information from your long history with dear old friends [and] you make snap judgments from thin slices of behavior in brief social interactions” (14). I’m sure we’ve all felt that subtle anxiety when a new friend or a date comes back to our rooms for the first time, whether its our dorm or our bedroom at home—in fact, there was a whole reality dating show where a contestant judged their dates solely by what their bedrooms looked like! (It was called Room Raiders and ran for eight seasons from 2003-2009! Check out a clip on YouTube here!)

Our goal in this assignment is to break down major aspects of a personal space of our choice—it can be a bedroom, a personal den, a dorm room, or even an office or cubicle—anywhere you spend a lot of personal time where you feel safe and comfortable. Make observations about how you’ve chosen to decorate the space, the items you’ve chosen to put in that space, and how you typically use that space. Then, we can try and connect the dots between those observations and the way we see ourselves. We can even practice our skills in analyzing potential audience questions by challenging our interpretations of our spaces and think of ways they could potentially be misinterpreted and provide a counter-argument to their hypothetical impressions.

This is intended to be a lower-stress, fun, and introspective assignment. I do not wish for students to reveal things about themselves that are overly personal, sensitive, or difficult. Indeed, during this time of social isolation, since we are spending more time in our personal spaces, it should be about exploring what solace we can find in our personal safe spaces. Indeed, for people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks or disorders are often encouraged to practice a “grounding” technique that is all about helping maintain a sense of personal place to stave off that anxiety, the “5-4-3-2-1 Coping Technique for Anxiety”: acknowledge five things you can see around you, four things you can touch around you, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste (Smith). Ultimately, we should use the assignment more to celebrate our personal spaces and the parts of ourselves we want to communicate and emphasize.

What I Really Want:

Your essay will be built utilizing your knowledge of rhetorical appeals and audience-based reasoning and research. Some areas that need to be addressed are as follows:

· Introduction: The introduction will briefly impress upon your reader the general idea of your essay—what space are you writing about? Briefly describe where it is and how you tend to use it to forecast the rest of your essay, which will focus on smaller details. Ultimately, lead your reader to a thesis statement that states broadly what you feel your space says about your, your personality, your values, and what elements of that space you’re choosing to highlight as evidence.

· Supporting Reasons: The central claim of your essay ([My space] says X about me) needs to be supported by a number of reasons (in the form of details or highlighted aspects of your personal space) that illustrate your central claim. Supporting reasons are intended to illustrate to your audience what each major aspect of your space says about you, using observation/description and/or images to help support your thinking. You should additionally explain your interpretation of your space with personal anecdotes and secondary research. Each supporting reason/aspect of your space will have [at minimum] one paragraph on which it focuses.

· Conditions of Rebuttal: In any argument, you need to be prepared to persuade a resistant audience. In the case of this essay, one may wonder how someone could argue against your own personal interpretation of your own personal space. But we should be prepared to anticipate someone who interprets things differently, or who would argue that it says something different about ourselves. Imagine someone coming into your space without you there to guide them or curate their experience—what would they think? How would they react? What conclusions would they draw about you? If they’re interpreting things in a way that you wouldn’t like, or that you feel conflict with your own self-image, how would you respond?

· Conclusion: Ultimately, a conclusion is intended to answer the question “So What?” and so in our case, we can use the conclusion as a space to reflect and meditate on what we perhaps have discovered about ourselves. Are you confident in what your space says about you? Did you find things you would change about your space to more accurately reflect your self-image?

Objectives:

By writing the Personal Space Rhetorical Analysis, students will be able to do the following:

· Construct an argument using a clear, focusing thesis for a neutral audience

· Support an argument utilizing both primary and secondary research as evidence

· Identify potential audience concerns or questions and provide rebuttal or concessions

· Utilize focusing techniques for global and local organization

· Practice citation and documentation strategies employed by the expectations of the rhetorical context

Problem Areas:

Let’s Talk:

If you have questions or concerns about your paper or just want to talk about some ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out for personal conferences. I enjoy talking with students about their work, so please don’t hesitate to e-mail me to request personal conference times—this can be accomplished in whatever format students feel most comfortable, including e-mail, instant messaging/chat, and video conferencing via Zoom.

Instructions on Format:

The Problem description should be submitted in standard MLA format (refer to syllabus or the “OWL at Purdue” MLA style-guide for instructions).

Length:

About 1,500-2,000 words, plus an MLA formatted Works Cited page for any secondary sources consulted.

	Consistent (High Pass)	Mostly Consistent (Pass)	Inconsistent (Low Pass)	Unacceptable (No Pass)
Focus and Purpose	40 pts	34 pts	30 pts	20 pts
Development	25 pts	21 pts	19 pts	12 pts
Organization	25 pts	21 pts	19 pts	12 pts
Tone and Style	5 pts	4 pts	3.5 pts	2 pts
Editing and Proofreading	5 pts	4 pts	3.5 pts	2 pts

· Focus and Purpose

· Globally, the introduction provides the necessary context for the essay and provides a clear thesis claim.

· Globally, the essay argues for an interpretation of a personal space and the writer’s personality and values.

· Globally, the essay recognizes the possibility of an audience that would interpret their space differently.

· Locally, the essay focuses each paragraph on one specific, supportive goal or purpose at a time and develops this purpose with persuasive evidence.

· Locally, the essay utilizes evidence to support and illustrate all claims, citing each secondary source used. NOTE: essays without appropriate citations, both in-text and a Works Cited page, will be an automatic failure.

· Development

· Globally, the paragraphs develop progressively, demonstrating the writer’s understanding that the argument must develop as a whole rather than in isolated parts.

· Globally, the essay shows an understanding of audience-based-reasoning, considering common cultural touchstones/Kairos.

· Globally, the essay recognizes where concessions or qualifications are necessary.

· Locally, the essay uses grounds and backing if an audience would have a difficult time interpreting something in a different context.

· Locally, the essay demonstrates a writer’s ability to both identify, gather, and incorporate both primary and secondary resources to support ideas.

· Locally, the essay explains each point explicitly and concisely how observations should be interpreted

· Organization

· Globally, the arrangement of ideas guides readers through the essay’s argument: anticipating questions, concerns, or potential counter claims of a skeptical audience, as well as making connections between body paragraphs and back to overall argument.

· Locally, paragraphs follow the Three-Es structure. When necessary, the Three-E structure can be modified to layer additional Exposition, Evidence, or Explanation as needed. When necessary, the Three-E structure can be modified to be split across multiple physical paragraphs to provide greater focus.

· Locally, paragraphs utilize Topic Sentences to give each paragraph focus, and uses both Exposition and Explanation sentences to help transition from and to additional points made in the essay.

· Locally, the essay provides connective, forward progression of thought from Exposition to Evidence to Explanation.

· Locally, the essay provides clear attributive tags when introducing sources and quotations. MLA formatted in-text citations are provided for each use of outside sources.

· Tone and Style

· Tone and style are appropriate for the audience and purpose.

· Opposing views are summarized fairly and objectively.

· Sentences and word choice are clear and concise; direct language and clear communication is emphasized.

· Excess wording and sentences are removed.

· Editing and Proofreading

· Essay is free of distracting surface errors or errors in language that would inhibit clarity.

· Essay is formatted in the required MLA style.

· Works Cited page is the last page of the document and follows MLA style.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Azar, Beth. “Does your office betray your personality?” American Psychological Association, vol. 33, no. 3, Mar. 2002, https://www.apa.org/monitor/mar02/officebetray.

Eckel, Sara. “What Your Space Says about You.” Psychology Today, 2 July 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201807/what-your-space-says-about-you.

Gosling, Sam. “What Your Stuff Says about You.” Interview for NPR by Neal Conan, 26 May 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90829875.

---. Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You. Basic Books, 2008.

Graham, Lindsay T. “What do your spaces say about you?” Center for the Built Environment, UC Berkeley, 18 Jan. 2018, https://cbe.berkeley.edu/centerline/what-do-your-spaces-say-about-you/.

Halina, Victoria. “The Psychology of Social Media—Why We Feel the Need to Share.” Noteworthy: The Journal Blog, 31 Jan. 2019, https://blog.usejournal.com/the-psychology-of-social-media-why-we-feel-the-need-to-share-18c7d2d1236.

Harvey, Lisa. “What does your bedroom say about you?” BBC, 31 May 2019, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/1cd61c5f-4784-4a12-ac88-ae6e0c8c4bad.

Lunsford, Andrea A. and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s an Argument. 7th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

MTV. “8 Jaw-Dropping ‘Room Raiders’ Discoveries.” YouTube, 20 Sep. 2018, https://youtu.be/txPwlmg_8S0.

Renner, Nausicaa. “How Social Media Shapes Our Identity.” The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/how-social-media-shapes-our-identity.

Smith, Sara. “5-4-3-2-1 Coping Technique for Anxiety.” Behavioral Health Partners, University of Rochester Medical Center, 10 Apr. 2018, https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behavioral-health-partners/bhp-blog/april-2018/5-4-3-2-1-coping-technique-for-anxiety.aspx.

Wilcox, Keith and Andrew T. Stephen. “Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 40, June 2013, DOI: 10.1086/668794.