Description

If you opt for the final paper option, you will produce an 6-8 page rhetorical criticism of a persuasive text of your choosing. Your chosen text should be some type of public political communication–a speech, a campaign ad, an attack ad, a presidential debate, an opinion editorial in a newspaper, etc. It cannot be any text we have analyzed in class. 

Once you have selected your text, you will delve deeper into the relevant literature to produce a more thorough analysis of the artifact.

Your paper should include the following elements:

A thesis statement articulating who and what your artifact persuades.

Example: “This artifact encourages its audience of college students to vote for Candidate Y.”

Example: “This text tries to get Group A to work with Group B to change the living conditions of low-income people in the inner-city.”

• A description of the artifact and its context.

Describe your artifact/text: what it is–campaign ad for a candidate, pamphlet to pass out around a neighborhood about a candidate’s positions and experience, an op-ed article posted in the New York Times; what are its main arguments or contents–does it focus on the candidate’s health care plan, immigration reform, etc. 

• The context of the artifact: Who created the text? How was the text circulated? Who was the primary audience of this text? What do you think the text is trying to persuade the audience to do think or feel about the text or as a result of engaging with the text?
• An analysis section that includes four discrete arguments about how the text tries to persuade its audience. Each argument should include the following elements.
• A topic sentence: the topic sentence should identify the persuasive strategy and how it persuades the audience.

Example: The author lists their credentials to establish their ethos in order to persuade the audience to trust their opinion. 

• Example: The text uses metaphors to encourage the audience to feel negatively about the candidate’s opposition.
• The definition of the persuasive strategy referenced in the topic sentence. You must define four different persuasive strategies. All of the strategies must come from either the course textbook or the peer-reviewed articles we read as a class on Fridays this semester. At LEAST TWO of the four strategies must come from the peer-reviewed articles we read as a class this semester. Each definition should be followed by an in-text citation indicating where you drew your definition from. 
• An example of the persuasive strategy being used in the text. 

Example: if you argue that they list their credentials to establish ethos, paraphrase the list or include the list.

• Example: if you argue that they use metaphor, given an example from the text of the metaphor they use.

An explanation of why the specific example of the persuasive strategy is likely to work to persuade the specific audience of the text.

• What about the list of credentials makes the audience believe the speaker is particularly qualified?
• What does the metaphor compare and how might that metaphor influence this specific audience’s opinion?
• A conclusion that restates the thesis statement and recaps the main points quickly and succinctly to draw the essay to a close.
• You must provide in-text citations as well as complete bibliographic information for the work cited at the end of your paper. You can choose between APA, MLA, or Chicago style.

Evaluation

• When evaluating the final paper, I will use the following criteria:
• Does the paper begin with a clear, concise thesis statement?
• Does the provide enough accurate context to understand the text, its persuasive goals, its intended audience, and the social factors that might influence its reception?

Does the paper identify, define, and provide examples and explanations of four distinct persuasive strategies?

• Do at least two of the four strategies come for peer-reviewed articles we discussed on Fridays during the semester?
• Are the arguments about the text’s persuasive strategy well organized and clear?
• Does the author include in-text citations throughout the paper to indicate when and from where the gleaned information?
• Does the author include a bibliography that includes information on all the sources cited in the paper?