For Miss Deanna

Identifying & Analyzing Key Rhetorical Features of a Rhetor’s Argument

Introduction:

In “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie examines how people’s lives and human cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. In her TED Talk from 2009, “Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding (“About the Talk: The Danger of a Single Story”)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novelist who has been “inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners; [her] novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature” (“About the Talk: The Danger of a Single Story”). Author of seven books, [Adichie] was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015. In 2017, Fortune magazine named her one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. She is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (“About: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie” par. 10).

Prompt:

For this assignment, you are expected to compose a rhetorical analysis of Adichie’s argument in “The Danger of a Single Story”.

Resources

Film: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED

Transcript: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/danger-single-story

Section 1: Introduction (1 paragraph)

Introduce and contextualize Adichie’s text. Introduce key aspects of the rhetorical situation (the author, genre and title of text, the purpose, and the audience) for Adichie’s TED Talk, inform the reader about the topic’s significance, and highlight Adichie’s central claim as your thesis .

Section 2: The Body, in which you present your central analysis (3-5 paragraphs)

Accurately describe and explain Adichie’s significant supporting claims. Explain each in detail, give examples, illustrate your interpretation with one or more quotations, explain quotations, and indicate how they support your interpretation of Adichie’s argument (operate like a lawyer making a case). Make sure all of these elements line up tightly.

As you examine Adichie’s key supporting claims, include discussion of evidence. Discuss the types of evidence Adichie uses to support her claim. If more than one kind of evidence is used to support the claim, what combination of evidence does Adichie select? Explore why Adichie might have used a combination of evidence types. How does Adichie present the evidence? What do you notice about Adichie’s description of the evidence (word choice, elements selected or left out, framing, etc.?). How effective is this evidence? Note: listing evidence is not a critical discussion – the discussion must consider how the evidence supports/strengthens a specific claim.

Part 3: Your conclusion, which tells us “So What?” (1 paragraphs)

Conclude your paper by presenting a thoughtful discussion of one of the following: a) how some element of the text relates to your own experience, b) how the author has impacted your thinking/views on this topic, c) the significance of the argument for the lives of other generations of Americans.

Additional Requirements:

Papers are expected to be 4-7 pages in length.

Please select an easy-to-read font (like Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Lato), use 12 pt. font, set the margins at 1 inch on all sides of the document, and meet other MLA format guidelines.

Use specific quotes and lines of evidence, and when doing so, be sure to give credit where credit is due. Ex. Writer X asserts, “….” (Adichie 06:29-06:45).

Identifying & Analyzing Key Rhetorical Features of a Rhetor’s Argument

Introduction:

In “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie examines how people’s lives and human cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. In her TED Talk from 2009, “Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding (“About the Talk: The Danger of a Single Story”)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novelist who has been “inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners; [her] novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature” (“About the Talk: The Danger of a Single Story”). Author of seven books, [Adichie] was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015. In 2017, Fortune magazine named her one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. She is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (“About: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie” par. 10).

Prompt:

For this assignment, you are expected to compose a rhetorical analysis of Adichie’s argument in “The Danger of a Single Story”.

Resources

Film: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED

Transcript: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/danger-single-story

Section 1: Introduction (1 paragraph)

Introduce and contextualize Adichie’s text. Introduce key aspects of the rhetorical situation (the author, genre and title of text, the purpose, and the audience) for Adichie’s TED Talk, inform the reader about the topic’s significance, and highlight Adichie’s central claim as your thesis .

Section 2: The Body, in which you present your central analysis (3-5 paragraphs)

Accurately describe and explain Adichie’s significant supporting claims. Explain each in detail, give examples, illustrate your interpretation with one or more quotations, explain quotations, and indicate how they support your interpretation of Adichie’s argument (operate like a lawyer making a case). Make sure all of these elements line up tightly.

As you examine Adichie’s key supporting claims, include discussion of evidence. Discuss the types of evidence Adichie uses to support her claim. If more than one kind of evidence is used to support the claim, what combination of evidence does Adichie select? Explore why Adichie might have used a combination of evidence types. How does Adichie present the evidence? What do you notice about Adichie’s description of the evidence (word choice, elements selected or left out, framing, etc.?). How effective is this evidence? Note: listing evidence is not a critical discussion – the discussion must consider how the evidence supports/strengthens a specific claim.

Part 3: Your conclusion, which tells us “So What?” (1 paragraphs)

Conclude your paper by presenting a thoughtful discussion of one of the following: a) how some element of the text relates to your own experience, b) how the author has impacted your thinking/views on this topic, c) the significance of the argument for the lives of other generations of Americans.

Additional Requirements:

Papers are expected to be 4-7 pages in length.

Please select an easy-to-read font (like Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Lato), use 12 pt. font, set the margins at 1 inch on all sides of the document, and meet other MLA format guidelines.

Use specific quotes and lines of evidence, and when doing so, be sure to give credit where credit is due. Ex. Writer X asserts, “….” (Adichie 06:29-06:45).