Political Speeches paper

 analyze and evaluate one or more texts (written and/or non-written) that make an argument about a topic that would be of importance to a current academic audience.  Use this analysis and evaluation to support and develop your own position on the topic.  

Prompt

For this project select two speeches—one by a Republican and one by a Democrat who ran for President of the United States in 2016.

Republicans: 2016: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina

Democrats: 2016: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley

Provide context on each politician and his/her speech. Construct a brief account of their argument for academic readers who are unfamiliar with these texts.

 Analyze the claims the politicians made, the rhetorical appeals and strategies they used, and which specific voters they targeted.

Evaluate the politicians’ use of rhetorical appeals and strategies. Critique how effectively you think they engaged voters.

 Using what you learned from these two politicians/writers, propose an explanation of how you think politicians in general can use rhetoric effectively to engage voters.

How to Structure This Project

1. Introduction: Using metadiscourse, explain your project’s goals from start to finish in a mission statement.

2. Provide context for the politicians and their speeches. Construct a brief account of their argument for academic readers who are unfamiliar with these texts.

3. Analyze how each politician made claims, used rhetorical appeals and strategies, and targeted voters.

4. Evaluate how each politician used rhetoric. Critique how effectively they engaged voters.

5. Conclusion: Propose an explanation. Explain how you think politicians in general can use rhetoric effectively to engage voters.

6. Works Cited: Cite publishing info for any sources you cited within your project.