During your reading and challenge questions, you learned about the art of persuading others, and you can use rhetorical appeals to convince your audience of your position. Before you begin writing your own persuasive content, it would be beneficial to analyze the effectiveness of another writer.
Using what you have learned, write a two-page rhetorical analysis on the effectiveness of an article. Choose one of the following texts that interests you and that you would enjoy writing about. You may want to skim each before choosing.
Elie Wiesel – "The Perils of Indifference"
Barack Obama – "Yes We Can"
Martin Luther King, Jr. – "I Have a Dream"
Hillary Clinton – "Women's Rights Are Human Rights"
Franklin Delano Roosevelt – "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation"
Why speeches? A speech operates much like an essay: there will be an introduction, a body, and a closing. In addition, many speeches are given to persuade an audience: citizens, voters, etc. Some of the most memorable lines in history -- even a few that we discussed in our tutorials -- come from persuasive speeches. In each of the texts below, we can really see how powerful persuasion and rhetoric can be in the hands of a gifted writer and speaker.
Sample Touchstone 1.1
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any recycled work will be sent back with a 0, and you will be given one attempt to redo the Touchstone.
A. ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
DIRECTIONS: For the bulk of your assignment, you will want to include your analysis of the text. However, it will be beneficial to provide context for your reader. Consider the following when writing your two-page summary:
Audience: Who was the original audience for this text?
Occasion: When/why was this text written?
Purpose: What is the author’s purpose? What does the author want the audience to learn?
Subject: What is this text about?
Tone: What is the tone? Is it formal? Celebratory? Casual? Somber?
Sample Solution