This assignment is worth 25% of your Project 1 grade. Therefore, you need to take a little more care with this assignment and take the time to do it carefully.Please see the assignment sheetif you have questions.
Rhetoric is a part of all communication. Therefore, when we do research, we have to be aware that all the sources we are using are rhetorical. Some of the questions we should ask are: How is this source establishing it’s credibility/authority? Is that authority appropriate in this context? What is the purpose this writer had for writing this source? Who was their audience? How does all of that affect the message? How did the context shape what the writer could share? How does this text participate in the larger conversation? Is this text useful formy purposesor should I consider a text that made different choices?
Step 1:
This activity asks you to practice a number of skills you will need as an effective writer and researcher including source selection, rhetorical analysis, and summary. To start, you will find two sources on yourapproved topic. The two sources should be different from each other in terms of at least one of the following: audience, purpose, genre. For example, you can find a persuasive source and an informative source (that would be two different purposes); or you can find a source that’s written for scientists and one that’s written for a general audience; you can find one that’s a newspaper article, and one that’s a scholarly journal (that would be two different genres). Once you’ve found two sources that share at least one major difference in audience, purpose, and genre, and which are both discussing your topic, you’ll read both of them and complete the summary and analysis described in Steps 2 and 3 below.
Note:as discussed in the assignment sheet for your Unit 1 project, you must find sources that actually build on your knowledge and understanding of your topic in interesting ways. At the end of this unit, you will be required to narrow your topic significantly. Please be sure to do the following: a) find sources that answer questions for you (remember that information gathering must be driven by questions) and b) find sources that are interesting to you ("research creatively"), and c) find sources that make good use of your time ("research efficiently"). You can find these ideas explained in theInformation Literacy videofrom week 1.
Step 2:
- Summarize each of your sources.
- Note: Summaries follow a very particular structure. In other words, there are "rules" for writing a good summary. If you want help making sure your summary is correct, you can find more information on theWriting a Summary Page
Then, discuss how their arguments compare: What do they agree on? How did they build on each other? What did you learn from one source that you didn’t learn from the other source? Which do you think was most useful to helping you understand the topic and why? Was that related to the information included, or the way that information was "packaged"?
Step 3:
Analyze the rhetorical choices made by each text, paying particular attention to how the sources are different from each other. You'll want to consider how they are different (in terms of audience, purpose, and genre), what stylistic choices they make, and how their differences shape how these texts can participate in the conversation.To help you write your answer in this section, pleasesee these guiding questions, which I have provided for you.Please use specific examples from the text to support your analysis.Your answer to this section should be at least 300 words long.
- Note: Include the link for your source or include it as an attachment.
Here's how you'll be graded:
- Does the student choose appropriate texts to discuss (related to their topic and different in at least one of the following: genre, purpose, audience)? (5%)
- Does the writer summarize both texts and address the way the arguments of the texts are different from or build on each other? Are these written effectively? (5%)
- Does the writer show in-depth engagement with texts' rhetorical choices and contexts, including thoroughly addressing the provided guiding questions? Does the writer address how the texts are different from each other, and how that may impact factors such as: the information included in the text, the usefulness of the text (to the student), the design choices of the text, etc? (7%)
- Does the writer make specific references to the text(s) for support? (5%)
- Is the writing organized and polished showing evidence of audience consideration, as well as an effective proofreading and editing process? (3%)