Choose a piece to analyze rhetorically, the process of which we will discover through class readings and discussions. Consider that choice between two possibilities:
• Academic: if you are excited to dig into the writing that happens in your major and examine its situation, choose something in your professional field. This can include a scholarly article, chapter of a text book, professional magazine, organizational website or blog, etc. This process will definitely help you in your upper level courses.
• Fun: if you’d like to try something more tailored to your personal enjoyments, take this anywhere you want to. Social media, Reddit, Tumblr, blogs, memes, songs, movies, podcasts, YouTube videos, TEDTalks, etc.
*There is possibility of some overlap between the two (a YouTube video created by someone who conducts research in your professional field, for example).
*The single core requirement: you must be able to historicize your piece—to know where it was first published, when, and by whom.
You will create a 3-5 page rhetorical analysis detailing this piece and its rhetorical situation. In order to achieve this, move through the follow processes:
1. Read the text (duh). You need to get a sufficient handle on the text you’ve chosen to be able to explain it to your readers. This should include the thesis/purpose of the piece, its main parts or sections, its main discussion points, methods of writing the author used (creative, research, theoretical, etc.), discussions of its implications (if applicable).
2. Historicize the text. You need to collect some basic information about where this text came from. Most of this information is contextual, meaning that it lies with but outside of the text. This should include background information on who wrote the piece, who published the piece and what they generally publish, who generally reads, listens to, or watches this piece, when the piece was created and what may have been occurring at that time (either in research or culturally).
3. Interpret the text’s rhetorical ecology which includes motivation, rhetors, context, exigence, Kairos, knowledge making, narrative, values, and constraints. The main point of your analysis should have to do with what the piece does (or did at the time) and why the writer wanted it to do that.