In Defense of Graffiti

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Length: 900 words (it’s fine to be over the word count by up to 300 words)

Due date: Please refer to the course outline

Worth in overall grade: 20%

Your task in this assignment is to analyze the techniques and strategies an author uses in deploying his or her

argument. You will choose one text from the topics below and write an analysis of the rhetoric using proper

terminology, including the kinds of logical or emotional appeals being made. You should thoroughly read

through the content of Modules 4 and 5 before starting this assignment.

In your thesis, you are essentially arguing whether or not the author’s rhetoric or argument is successful and

why you understand it to be so. A successful essay will focus on demonstrating why your position on the text

is correct through a detailed analysis of the article you are engaging with.

Ensure you include the following in your essay’s introduction:

1. Who is the intended audience of the text?

2. What is the purpose of the text (to argue, inspire, cajole, etc.)?

3. What is the thesis or main argument of the essay?

4. Then, most importantly, end your instruction with YOUR thesis statement, which should be your

position on whether or not the author successfully put forward their argument, and your

supporting reasons for your position. These supporting reasons should then connect to the topic

sentences of your body paragraphs.

The majority of your essay should be based on key examples of how the author attempts to support their

position. While your analysis may not be a matter of being “right or wrong,” if you do not support your

argument about the text with evidence (examples from the text), your assertions will be ungrounded and

therefore less convincing. Exceptional essays may engage in analysis of the essay’s use of stasis theory,

structure, style, rhetorical techniques, evidence, and other aspects mentioned in Modules 4 and 5.

MLA essay format and correct citation practice are required for this assignment. Refer to your Canadian

Writer’s Reference handbook for information about necessary MLA formatting (double-spacing, page

number and course information placement, etc.) and the course syllabus for warnings regarding plagiarism.

Topic One: Songs and Politics

Please find the following essay in the library catalogue: Roxanne Harde’s “’Living in Your American Skin’:

Bruce Springsteen and the Possibility of Politics,” published in Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue

canadienne d’e´tudes americaines volume 43, issue 1 (2013), pages 125-144.

Topic Two: Videogames and Sports

Please find the following essay in eReserves: Chris Suellentrop’s “Game Changers: How Videogames Trained

a Generation of Athletes,” published in Wired Magazine, 25 January 2010.

Topic Three: Graffiti and Art

Please find the following essay in eReserves: Alex Boyd’s “In Defence of Graffiti,” BoydBlog, 21 June 2010.

Topic Four: Social Media and Rhetoric

Please find the following essay in the library catalogue: Lauren E. MacDonald and Stephanie Walsh’s

“Burkean Identification: Rhetorical Inquiry and Literacy Practices in Social Media,” published in Journal of

Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, volume 3, issue 1 (2014), 5-17.