1 page essay

To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its meaning. The context in which a passage occurs always contributes to its meaning, and the shorter the passage the larger the contribution. For this reason, the quoter must always be careful to quote enough of the context not to misrepresent the meaning of the quote. For example, Republican presidential nominee Senator John defended his statement that U.S. troops could spend "maybe 100" years in Iraq -- saying he was referring to a military presence similar to what the nation already has in places like Japan, Germany and South Korea. He claimed his opponents took him out of context. 

And they did!!! He did not mean what his opponents claimed he said. 

CONTEXT ASSIGNMENT
 

For this assignment, we are going to take president Obama’s State-of the-Union speech out of context. You will go through the speech looking for phrases to spin out-of-context. 

You will use at least three quotes from the speech. Please put the quotes in a boldfont. Pay extra attention to how the quote is introduced. Make sure it flows. Make sure it is set up so that the quote illustrates a point. Also, pay extra attention your rhetoric after the quote. Make sure it explains (or feeds off of) the quote you used.

Just like all the assignments in this portfolio, you will be developing points. The difference here is that your example / illustration will be a quote from the prseident.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

1. Exactly 1 page long so the last word is the last word that can fit on the page.

2. No grammar errors!

3. Pay extra close attention to the way the quotes are introduced. 

4. Make sure your writing is clear, direct, concise, and strong. 

In other words, revise, proofread and edit your work.

Use the 5-editing techniques after you’ve written the first draft

1. eliminate redundancies
2. avoid wordy expressions
3. cut awkward sentence openings
4. vary your sentence structure
5. use strong verbs