Contrastive-Comparative Rhetorical Analysis

Project 4: Contrastive-Comparative Rhetorical Analysis, “Today in

the News” (1,500-2,000 words) – Write a contrastive-comparative

rhetorical analysis, focusing on the rhetorical situations of a US

(e.g., The New York Times, Washington Post) and a national

newspaper from your home country, region, or other

nation/region of which you can read the language (e.g., UK, China,

Japan, Mexico). You will compare the same news story in the two

(or more) presses, using the concepts of rhetoric and rhetorical

situation to explain the similarities and differences in the stories’

presentations. You may also choose to compare other newspaper

elements such as comparing the two papers’ front pages, use of

photography, and so forth. When comparing texts, the

stories/headlines/graphics must be from the same day. Your

analysis should define and describe each paper’s rhetorical

situation and use of rhetoric, provide a summary of the stories’

content, provide enough background information to contextualize

the documents for your readers, and use the following key terms:

exigence, audience, and constraints.

Paper Structure

Introduction: What is the topic/issue engaged by both stories?

How does each story approach the topic/issue in similar or

different ways?

1st Section

Give context to the rhetorical situation of story #1. What is the

exigency, audience, and constraints? Describe how it is

engaging with the topic/issue in detail, utilizing these key

terms and quoting specific language as evidence.

2nd Section

Give context to the rhetorical situation of story #2. What is the

exigency, audience, and constraints? Describe how it is

engaging with the topic/issue in detail, utilizing these key

terms and quoting specific language as evidence.

Conclusion: