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For your first major assignment, you will draw on the analytical skills you developed in ENGL 101 to analyze the argumentative strategies used in an opinion article or TED talk. Your paper should take a position on the persuasiveness of the author’s argument and support that position with well-chosen quotations, examples, and details from the article or presentation.
Due date the essay: Sunday, June 16
Assignment Overview
Although this is an essay is designed to analyze argumentative strategies, your essay should not make an argument about the issue the author presents. For example, if you choose to analyze an op. ed. about genetic engineering, your essay should not take a position on whether genetic engineering is good or bad. Instead, it should take a position on whether the argument is well-constructed and well-supported.
Some possible questions to consider when analyzing if an argument is well-constructed and well-supported include, but are not limited to:
Does the author effectively use ethos, pathos, and logos to support their claims?
Does the author avoid using fallacies and biased language?
Has the author acknowledged opponents of their argument? Do they acknowledge their opponents’ views fairly?
You may need to do some outside research for this essay. For example, if you are analyzing an opinion article, you may find it useful to learn a little about the publication the work appeared in to get a sense of the original audience. However, the primary focus of your essay should be the article or presentation you are analyzing, not outside sources.
Reminder: This particular assignment is asking you to analyze the argument, not summarize what the author is saying in different words. You’ll want to analyze what rhetorical devices are used and if the argument is effective versus simply restating what the author has argued.
Example of Summary:
In Caitlin Doughty’s TED talk she argues for death acceptance in the American funeral industry. By “death acceptance” she means allowing intimate mourning rituals with dead bodies to be more widely accepted in western society. She argues that the funeral industry is taking over the intimate practices of death.
Example of Analysis:
Doughty uses pathos to explore the complexities of the death industry by retelling her own experience as a mortician. She uses vivid and descriptive language to engage her audience’s senses about her intimate relationship with death and how that relationship has shaped her view on funeral practices in western society.
Choosing a Text to Analyze
The first step in writing this paper is choosing a text to analyze. You may select from the following options.
An opinion article, such as an op. ed. from a national newspaper, such as the New York Times or Washington Post. You find articles on a range of topics through the English Readings Bank.
A TED talk. If you choose this option, be sure to choose a presentation with a clear argument, not a talk that is primarily informative. You can find TED talks on a range of issues through the English Readings Bank.
Please avoid TED talks you have already watched for this class and articles assigned for this unit. Check with your instructor if you would like to analyze a work that doesn’t fall into one of these categories.
Analyzing the Text
After you’ve chosen your text, spend some time re-reading or re-watching it. Try to determine the following:
The intended audience of the work.
The author’s main claim.
The argumentative strategies the author uses to advance their main claim.
Below are some questions to consider as you analyze the text. They are meant to help guide your thinking and writing, but you may need to develop your own follow-up questions to produce a well-rounded analysis of the text. Also, keep in mind that not all these questions may be relevant to the text you’ve selected.
Questions to help you identify the intended audience:
If you’re analyzing an opinion article, what kind of publication did the work originally appear in (a newspaper, a magazine, a blog, or something else)? What kinds of people would typically read the publication it appeared in? Is this publication affiliated with any organizations? Does it appear have a particular political bias? (In order to answer this question, you may need to do some research on the publication.)
Does the text seem to be aimed at a neutral audience, an audience already sympathetic to the author’s point of view, or a hostile audience? What evidence leads you to think this?
Questions to help you identify the main claim:
What larger problem or issue does the article or presentation address?
What is the author’s proposed solution to the problem or position on the issue?
Questions to help you analyze argumentative strategies:
How does the author establish their credibility? (ethos)
What strategies does the author use to gain the viewer’s trust? For example, they might share the stories of real people that the viewers will identify with, or they might cite research to show that they’ve done their homework.
What kind of persona does the author or presenter construct? For example, do they present themselves as an expert on the topic or a regular person? Do they present themselves as open-minded or dismissive of other points of view?
How does the author appeal to their audiences’ emotions? (pathos)
How does the author engage the reader’s emotions through language, imagery, and/or anecdotes?
Does the author’s appeal to emotion benefit their overall argument.
How does the author appeal to their audience’s reason? (logos)
What evidence, such as statistics, the testimony of experts, or examples, does the author provide to support their main claim? How convincing is this evidence?
What premises does the author base their argument on?
What arguments does the author present to support their main claim?
Does the author engage in any other logical fallacies? If so, how?
Does the author identify and successfully defuse objections and counter-evidence? If so, what objections or counter-evidence do they identify, and how do they defuse them?
Organizing Your Essay
After you’ve spent some time analyzing the text you’ve chosen, write an essay that takes a position on how persuasive it is.
Your introduction should describe the issue with which the work is dealing, describe any necessary background on the larger context of the issue (e.g. is the problem being hotly debated, or is the issue a more obscure but nonetheless important one), and present your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should provide a short, specific assessment of the work’s persuasiveness and a brief summary of the reasons you found its argument convincing or not.
Example of Thesis:
Caitlin Doughty’s argument for death acceptance in western culture is persuasive because she uses her ethos as a historian of death studies and mortician to cite relevant examples of how the perspective of death and mourning has changed throughout history into the present day.
Your body paragraphs should present your analysis of the argumentative strategies used in the text. Use your responses to the above questions as a starting place for this portion of the paper. Some of the questions may not be relevant to your particular essay, but a thoughtful and well-argued essay will probably address most of the suggested areas. Ultimately, however, you are composing as an essay, not as a list of answered questions. This means that each of your body paragraphs should develop a supporting point, which should be stated in a topic sentence. You should also use transitions to help readers follow your train of thought.
Your conclusion is an opportunity to restate and elaborate on your thesis. You might also use your conclusion to reflect on the broader implications of your analysis. What weaknesses in the author’s argument did you spot that other authors may be susceptible to making? What argumentative strategies did the author use that could be prove beneficial to other writers?
Assignment Requirements
Your paper should be 3-4 full pages (not including your works cited page) and meet the following requirements:
One-inch margins on top, bottom, and sides of each page.
Double-spaced,12 pt. Times New Roman font.
A heading in the upper left corner of the first page that includes
your name
your instructor’s name
the course (English 102)
the date
A heading in the top, right corner of each page with your last name and the page number.
A title at the top of the first page
MLA-style parenthetical citations for quotations or paraphrases
Attached MLA-style works-cited page
Saved as one Word document.
If you have any questions about MLA style, consult the Purdue OWL or Excelsior OWL or email your instructor.
Remember that essays written for other courses, including 101 or other sections of English 102, are not permitted. Your essay should be written for this section of English 102.
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