Essay Prompt
Review the essay (you should have already read it, it will be one of the example essays we’ve already discussed). Make sure you understand it before you write your response. Remember the guidelines you’ve studied on how to write a rhetorical analysis, including the rhetorical analysis prompt, the example essays, our text, and the handoutsall of which you can use. Use them in writing your response. Feel free to review them now, but remember the clock is ticking.
I would make yourself a scratch outline before you write. Your response should be an essay which is at least 3 paragraphs long. Your evidence should consist mainly of quotations from the essay, and your analysis and evaluation of those quotations.
Your thesis should probably be that the essay is 1) effective, 2) ineffective, or 3) partially effective in convincing the reader that the author’s world view is correct. You should follow this with a plan of development, laying out your arguments.
I wouldn’t worry about a hook, or a long summary at the end of the essay. While I often encourage synthesis, please DO NOT relate any long stories about your life in your response. That would miss the point of the question and get you a poor grade.
You should take no longer than two and a half hours to write your response.
Proofreading is always a good idea.
Please write on the essay “On the Front Lines of the Culture War”
Some questions to consider when writing your response (you do not have to answer these, they are suggestions for ways to approach the issue, the rhetorical analysis prompt suggests many other):
This essay doesn’t really have an explicit thesis. What do you think is the thesis of the essay?
How do you know?
How well supported is it?
What rhetorical features does it include, and how do these impact the reader?
Is it ultimately convincing or not? Why?
Instructions
The last part of this module is the midterm. It is a two and a half hour timed rhetorical analysis of a sample essay you were required to read earlier in the semester (you will find out the name of the essay to write about once you launch this one question test). Please DO NOT LAUNCH IT UNTIL you have some quiet time to work on it. Use the skills you’ve learned with regard to rhetorical analysis from the handouts in the early modules, the chapters in the text, the first rhetorical analysis that you wrote for the class (or will write in the next couple of days), and our class discussions to structure your essay.
I would suggest reviewing the prompt for the out-of-class rhetorical analysis paper & the sample rhetorical analysis paper (both of these are more extensive than you will need to write for the midterm, but the idea is the same), and the sample midterm for more insights.
Please note: NOT all students will receive the same essay to write about. The essays will be chosen from a pool. Any student submitting an essay that their test does not ask them about will receive a non-passing grade.
The test will explain more fully, but you should write a 3-5 paragraph rhetorical analysis supported by evidence for this assignment.
Teacher’s note- there are a lot of virtues to this paper, and it’s close to what I need, but I need you to revise it a little. I need a clear thesis statement along the lines I suggest in the prompt, and I need you to work a little harder to evaluate how well he argues. A bit more evidence would be nice, as well. I like almost everything that’s here, it just reads more like a summary/argument for his position, rather than an evaluation of how skillfully he argues his position. Does that make sense? (you may revise)
