rethorical analysis 2

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ASSINGMENT:

After revising, upload the final draft of your rhetorical analysis. Before you upload the draft,

please review the Guidelines for the project.

Unit 2 Project Guidelines Rhetorical Analysis of Other Writers’ Texts

Overview. For this essay, you will write a rhetorical analysis comparing two texts. A rhetorical

analysis is an essay that breaks apart a text and makes the parts meaningful by looking at the

text rhetorically. To look at a text rhetorically means that you do not focus on what the author

writes, but instead you focus on how the author writes. To complete your rhetorical analysis,

you will analyze the strategies, choices, and moves the writers use to engage their audiences

and achieve their purposes.

Though you likely won’t write a rhetorical analysis outside of this course, you will probably have

to do some form of “textual response” in which you use writing to respond to an assigned text.

The work you do while writing your rhetorical analysis will be work that is applicable to many

textual response assignments in other courses. And, we know from “Rhetoric and its

Characteristics” that rhetorical thinking is transferable across all writing and communication

situations. Hopefully, you can already see how thinking rhetorically about these situations can

prepare you be a more effective communicator, whether you’re writing your own texts or

reading others’ texts, both in and out of school.

Purpose and Audience. For this essay, you will write a rhetorical analysis comparing the two

texts, “Blue-Collar Brilliance” (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and “Shop Class

as Soulcraft.” (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Your purpose is to compare

how the two authors use 1 or 2 rhetorical strategies to meet their purposes with their intended

audiences. (Please note: You will not yet have learned about rhetorical strategies; you will do

that later in this unit.)

Your intended audience for this essay is me, and I will expect that you write a formal academic

essay with a thesis statement, clear analytical claims, and textual evidence that supports your

claims. Remember: evidence-driven writing is the gold standard in academic writing. I will also

expect that you write multiple drafts of your essay and that you edit it to the best of your

ability.

Additional details. This will be the most academic-oriented essay you write in this class, so we

will follow some general rules for academic essay writing in school. Your essay should be at

least 1000 words and should include the following:

• An introduction paragraph that:

o Eases readers into the rhetorical analysis by setting an appropriate context

o Summarizes the purpose and main argument of each text (in no more than a few

sentences)

o Identifies an intended audience for each text (in no more than a few sentences)

o Ends with a thesis statement that makes a claim comparing the two texts’ use of one or two

rhetorical strategies.

• Body paragraphs that:

o Begin with topic sentences that make claims about the author’s/authors’ use of a strategy

o Incorporate textual evidence

o Interpret the evidence

• A conclusion paragraph that:

o Summarizes your thesis and key ideas

The following evaluation criteria are what I will look for in your essay.

Evaluation Criteria:

• The introduction develops the context of the reading appropriately by summarizing the

purpose and main argument of “Blue-Collar Brilliance” and “Shop Class as Soulcraft” (in no

more than a few sentences) and identifying the intended audience for each text (in no more

than a few sentences).

• The purpose of the rhetorical analysis (stated in the essay’s thesis) clearly demonstrates an

understanding of the assignment’s goal to compare 1-2 rhetorical strategies used by the

authors of “Blue-Collar Brilliance” and “Shop Class as Soulcraft.” The focus of the rhetorical

analysis remains on supporting the stated purpose throughout the essay.

• The body of the rhetorical analysis reveals analytical claims about the authors’ uses of

rhetorical strategies.

• The body of the rhetorical analysis integrates a variety of textual evidence into the text. The

textual evidence supports the essay’s stated purpose.

• The body of the rhetorical analysis explains and interprets the strategies and textual

evidence, and the explanations and interpretations support the essay’s stated purpose.

• The rhetorical analysis is mostly free of sentence-level errors. It is formatted in MLA style,

uses in-text citations, and includes a Works Cited page.

ARTICLES FOR THE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS:

Shop class as soul craft: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft

Blue-collar Brilliance: https://theamericanscholar.org/blue-collar-brilliance/#.XAR7PdXwa34