critical analyze paper

Purpose: To help students build from their work with enduring questions and personal response writing by learning to critically read, think about, and analyze arguments as arguments (Students will not express agreement or disagreement but will examine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a given presentation based on its merits or demerits.) To help students learn more about how to use the rhetorical model to closely describe, understand, and evaluate the effectiveness of arguments. To help students begin to wrestle with complex current issues and problems in reading teams or learning communities. To help students begin to effectively use secondary sources in their writing if they should choose to do so.

Process:

Prewriting: In addition to reading about the theory of argument as described in our textbooks, students should practice listening to, dividing up, and describing arguments in their critical thinking journals. Arguments should be divided and described using the rhetorical model. Preparing these rhetorical descriptions/diagrams in the journal will be a useful way to prepare for in-class discussions and to present teamwork as it has happened in class. In the critical thinking journal, students ought to make a thoughtful attempt to analyze textbook arguments in preparation for writing their papers.

Writing: The critical analysis paper should rhetorically examine the chosen argument using the rhetorical model. One of the following areas of the model may be examined in detail: 1) the context of the argument; 2) the opening paragraph and thesis of the argument, paying close attention to the accompanying language/rhetorical moves and unstated assumptions; 3) the methods used by the author, including his or her style and appeals to reason, emotion, and character; 4) the grounds or sorts of evidence and examples used by the author and their effectiveness; or 5) the concluding paragraph and the argument’s overall intended purpose and actual effect on audience. In brief, students should objectively analyze an argument of their choice for its effectiveness using the rhetorical model.

Rewriting: After participating in a peer writing workshop in class, students should revise and edit their critical analysis papers. The formal papers should be clear, focused (detailed and unified), purposeful, and thoughtful. Students may also meet with their teacher or visit the Writing Center (see Class Syllabus for further information) to discuss and develop their papers. The papers should reflect a strong reading and analysis of an argument found in the textbook. They may integrate other textbook sources as needed.

Format: Students will compose two critical analysis papers (each with an accompanying author’s note reporting only on the learning of the workshop [1 par.]). If secondary sources are used, the papers ought to follow MLA guidelines, including adding a Works Cited page. The paper should run 1.5 pages. The best one of the two papers will be submitted in four weeks (see Class Schedule). The paper that is not submitted at that time will be submitted near the end of the semester. Papers do not need a Works Cited page if the primary source is handled effectively in the paper. Students should submit visual documentation of their reading process along with the papers (1 p.). The documentation should be stapled to the back of the paper.