Write an essay that evaluates the success or failure of your chosen reading selection on the basis of how well it deploys specific argument strategies in its writing. The fundamental critical reading question you’re asking here of your text and then trying to answer in the form of a clear, subjective thesis formulation focused on strategy and form is this:
What are the key arguments that are being made in the piece? AND Are those arguments persuasive enough to make the piece of writing a successful argument construction?
These are the core questions you must ask and answer in this essay. Again, please use the questions on the Additional Question Sets tab on the Critical Questioning Strategies sheet in the unit (and in the Resource Center) to help you develop additional lines of inquiry to focus your thesis and analysis work – that’s why I’ve given them to you. Use whole questions or parts of several, whatever works with your source text. The idea is to find questions that are useful to you in helping to tease out patterns of argument strategy and form in your selected piece which you can then critique in a more focused manner for the essay.
The purpose of this essay is to give you some practice identifying key argument strategies and forms in a classic argument text (drawn from Chapter 25 of Practical Argument), strategies and forms that are instrumental, or not, in helping to establish the success and effectiveness of the piece. You should be drawing on the critical thinking and reading strategies as well as the key argument terminology you’ve learned from Practical Argument and the other support resources provided in the unit to help you focus your short rhetorical analysis here.
When you are finished, upload your completed essay here as a document attachment.
What kind(s) of evidence is used to support the positions the author is taking, and is it effective? Could it be more effective?
What are the main arguments in the piece? Is the reading’s thesis clear and logically laid out? Could it be more nuanced or made more complex?
Are certain kinds of appeals made (e.g. logos, ethos, pathos) and do they work well to communicate the messages of the piece to the reader? Why?
Does the author offer any alternate positions or opposing arguments to his/her own? Does the argument need that? Are opposing arguments refuted effectively?
Paragraph Patterns
Notice the patterns in both of the samples above:
The introduction attempts to contextualize the evaluation of argument to follow by introducing the source text along with summarizing its primary focus for the reader
The thesis formulation at the end of the opening paragraph lays out a clear subjective evaluation of argument strategy and form in the source text, but not an evaluation of the ideas or positions themselves in the source text
The internal body paragraphs all follow the same pattern:
Open with a subjective argument claim that’s linked to the thesis, not a summary description of the text
Illustrate and support that subjective claim about the success or failure of the argument strategies in the work with direct textual references (that are correctly parenthetically cited) and explanation to tie the example back to the paragraph’s topic argument as well as the essay’s primary thesis
Close with a concluding statement that reiterates the main positions explored in the paragraph and transitions us to the next paragraph discussion after it
Your essay should follow these same structural patterns.
Length and Document Requirements
5 full pages (minimum) and/or 1700 words (minimum) *not including the required works cited list
12 pt double spaced text
Times font only
1″ margins on all four sides
Page numbers in the bottom right corner of each page (using the auto pagination tool in your word processing application)
Required works cited list (should be on its own page after the conclusion of the essay text and is not included in the 5 full pages and/or 1700 words minimum of essay text)
File type: DOC/DOCX only
Write in 3rd person only (she, he, it, the text, the author, etc.) and present tense throughout the essay
Cite your source text(s) with a parenthetically referenced paraphrase or direct quote at least once in every body paragraph
NOTE: the importance of work is the article I was assigned for this essay so you are going to be comparing this
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