Paper 2 looks at an article in context. Watch and analyze it first without context. If you know the author, ignore information you know about him. If you know the circumstances of the speech, ignore that information too. Take it in a purposeful void of context and analyze its rhetorical effectiveness. Is it a logically effective argument? What makes it so? How logically effective is it? What Rhetorical Strategies effectively or ineffectively appeal to Logos? Are there any Rhetorical Fallacies? After that is determined, does the speaker establish credibility? How strongly? through which Rhetorical Strategies? How does the success or failure to establish an appeal to Ethos support or undermine the Logos-based appeal? Lastly, is it emotionally effective or ineffective? Which emotions are evoked? How strongly? What Strategies are used to evoke them? Is there a logical grounding behind the emotional appeals? How do the appeals support or undermine the effectiveness of the Main Claim?
This part should be about 3 pages.
Then, add context. Find out who Richard Nixon was, when this was made, who it was made two, and why it was necessary. Find out what the historical perception of Nixon is, and how the public remembers him. How does this information change the effectiveness of the argument? Do the Strategies stay effective? Do they lose effectiveness? Do they become Fallacies? Prove your points through analysis.
This part should be about 2 pages.
If you’re still struggling with how to analyze, the Analysis Worksheets are all here to help. You can also set up office hours with me during the week to go over either the article or what you’ve written so far to see what I would suggest improving.
This assignment will deal with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th SLOs pointed out in the Syllabus.
This paper requires:
5-7 pages
MLA format
Transcript:
If you need help making a Works Cited page:
Here is the rubric:
A Student has turned in a paper before the cut-off point that is full-length, with minimal formatting or grammatical issues and conforming to the standard MLA format, and including (if required) a Works Cited page. The student’s analysis demonstrates understanding and mastery of Rhetorical Strategies, Modes, and the Toulmin Method. The paper only briefly summarizes the author’s points in order to analyze them. Analysis effectively supports a claim (about the level of persuasiveness shown by the argument being analyzed), and would convince an unbiased but rhetorically educated audience to agree with that claim through careful and logical argumentation.
B The student’s analysis demonstrates understanding of Rhetorical Strategies, Modes, and the Toulmin Method. There may be equal parts of summary as analysis. The analysis effectively supports a claim (about the level of persuasiveness shown by the argument being analyzed), and would convince an unbiased but rhetorically educated audience to agree with that claim through careful and logical argumentation. Formatting or grammatical errors may be keeping this from an A grade. If the paper is no more than half-a-page too short, is missing a Works Cited page, has regular formatting or grammatical issues, or was turned in late, it cannot receive a higher grade than a B. Multiple errors in the aforementioned regards may take the grade down even further.
C The student’s analysis demonstrates adequate understanding of Rhetorical Strategies, Modes, and the Toulmin Method, but the analysis may be flawed in some way. If the paper has an abundance of summary with very little analysis, or if the analysis shown is brief and vague, or if the analysis shows elements of circular reasoning, it cannot receive a grade higher than a C. Additionally, if the paper is less than a full page short but greater than half-a-page, or was turned in more than a day late, it cannot receive a grade higher than a C. Lastly, if the paper has multiple examples of the followingis missing a Works Cited page, or has significant formatting or grammatical issues, or does not conform to standard MLA formattingit cannot receive a grade higher than a C.
D The paper is entirely summary, is greater than a page too short, or includes many-to-all of the issues mentioned in the previous entries: formatting and grammatical issues, missing a Works Cited page, late, and not conforming to MLA format. If the paper was turned in more than two days after the cut-off point, it cannot receive a higher grade than a D.
F The paper is less than half the length required, or was not turned in within four days of the cut-off point. This could also be applied to a paper that has evidence of plagiarism or academic dishonesty in general. This could also be applied to a paper that is unrelated to the actual prompt.
