Assignments
Unit 2 Assignments
This page contains copies of the prompts for each of your assignments in Unit 1. You can find sample essays for each assignment in your copy of Controversies.
Consult your own class syllabus for your deadlines; feel free to approach your instructor with any questions about the assignments.
Short Writing Assignment: Summary of a Primary Text
In Unit 2, you will analyze a persuasive text. To do this, you must first choose the video, image, or article that you want to analyze. In this short paper, you will summarize the text you’ve chosen to analyze—your “primary text.”
Assignment Overview:
Write a one-page (8.5 x11 ) paper summarizing a text—your primary text—that you would like to analyze in Essay 2. Evaluate that source’s credibility, and summarize its argument. Put your name in the top left-hand corner and list the speaker’s name and the full citation information of the piece you’re summarizing; set margins at 1 inch, spacing at single, and font at 12 pt. Do not exceed one page in length. You may choose to analyze any argument that you find interesting and relevant to your controversy. While you are not required to find this source in a particular venue (magazine, newspaper, website, etc.), you must evaluate the credibility of the source and its venue.
Specifics:
This research summary must include three major sections:
In the first section of your summary, identify your controversy and explain how the source is relevant to your controversy.
In the second section of your summary, explain whether or not and why you believe that this is a credible source. Consider three possible factors: the speaker, the venue, and the text. Is the speaker an authority in this area? Does the speaker write in a credible way (providing lots of sources to show research, referencing recent and relevant information, and without using inflammatory language)? Is the venue (website, magazine, newspaper) respected by a certain community? Does the venue (website, magazine, newspaper) appear respectable/believable and why? Does the text include elements that indicate careful research, such as the citation of credible sources, the careful presentation of evidence, explanation of where a reader can learn more about this evidence? Does the text argue in what seems to be a responsible manner?
In the third section of your summary, present a concise but thorough summary of the position this source is advocating. Stay as close to the text as possible, quoting the speaker’s exact words at times to tie both you and your readers to the original text itself. After each quote, cite the page numbers in parentheses (just the page numbers; no “pp.” or “p.”). If you chose to analyze a nonprint source, describe the relevant components of the argument (the images, the music, etc.). Your aim is to hand your readers your understanding of WHAT this text is arguing for. Phrases such as “Smith says/notes/states” and “according to Bell” will help you designate what is called “intellectual property.” You will not have room to cover all the points a speaker makes, so you will need to synthesize the information for us; tell us what position the text is advocating, and then offer quotes or other evidence from the text itself to demonstrate (to show us) that the speaker is arguing what you say he or she is arguing. Do not offer your own comments, opinions, or arguments about what the text says, and do not offer a rhetorical analysis of the writing. Stick to content: What is the speaker saying in this text? What position is she or he advocating?
On a separate sheet of paper, or on the back of your research summary, briefly explain how you found this source. What database or search terms did you use?
Short Writing Assignment: Summary of a Secondary Text
In order to rhetorically analyze your “primary text,” you will need to learn about the audience and the circumstances in which this argument was produced or received. In this short writing assignment, you will summarize a “secondary text” that teaches you something about the audience or the circumstances. This secondary text should inform your analysis of your primary text in Essay 2.
Assignment Overview:
Write a one-page (8.5 x 11) paper explaining a specific print source you found using the UT library resources covered in class (something that you found, for instance, using LexisNexis but that initially appeared in a magazine, newspaper, or other print venue). Summarize the source and describe what it will help you to explain in your analysis: the speaker, the audience, or the situation. Put your name in the top left-hand corner and list the speaker’s name and the full citation information of the piece you’re summarizing; set margins at 1 inch, spacing at single, and font at 12 pt. Do not exceed one page in length.
Specifics:
This research summary must include three sections:
In the first section of your summary, identify your controversy, and explain how the text you’re summarizing relates to the primary text you’ll analyze in Essay II. Does this source teach you something about the speaker, the audience, or the situation?
In the second section of your summary, explain whether or not and why you believe this is a credible source. Consider three possible factors: the speaker, the publisher, and the text. Is the speaker an authority in this area? Does the speaker write in a credible way (providing lots of sources to show research, referencing recent and relevant information, and without inflammatory language)? Is the venue (magazine or newspaper) respected by a certain community? Does the venue (magazine or newspaper) appear respectable/believable and why? Does the text include elements that indicate careful research, such as the citation of credible sources, the careful presentation of evidence, explanation of where a reader can learn more about this evidence? Does the text argue in what seems to be a responsible manner?
In the third section of your summary, offer a concise but thorough summary of the secondary text. Stay as close to the text as possible, quoting the speaker’s exact words at times to tie both you and your readers to the original text itself. After each quote, cite the page numbers in parentheses (just the page numbers, no “pp.” or “p.”). Your aim is to hand your readers your understanding of WHAT this text is arguing for. Phrases such as “Smith says/notes/states” and “according to Bell” will help you designate what is called intellectual property. You will not have room to cover all the points a speaker makes, so you will need to synthesize the information for us; tell us what position the speaker is advocating, and then offer quotes from the text itself to demonstrate (to show us) that the speaker is arguing what you say she or he is arguing. Do not offer your own comments, opinions, or arguments about what the text says, and do not offer a rhetorical analysis of the writing. Stick to content.
On a separate sheet of paper, or on the back of your research summary, briefly explain how you found this source. What database or search terms did you use?
The major writing assignment in Unit 2 is a rhetorical analysis essay. You will explain why an audience would or would not find your primary text persuasive. You will use information learned from your secondary text to show key information about the context (the audience, the circumstances, or the speaker). By teaching you to think critically about audience and argumentation, this analysis will prepare you to write your persuasive essay in Unit 3.
General:
Your purpose in this four- to seven-page essay is to closely analyze one position in your controversy. You’ll do this through the careful analysis of a single text advocating a position. For our purposes here, a “text” can be loosely defined as any persuasive effort that can be interpreted. A text may be a print article (such as an opinion column in a newspaper), a blog entry, a video, a commercial, an image, or a webpage. You should select a text that makes a clear argument—a text that very clearly asks the audience to believe, feel, or do something.
Specifics:
In this essay, you must accomplish a few goals. Your primary task is to analyze the text’s argument. Introduce the text you’ll be analyzing. Tell us the following: Who put this argument together? Where did the argument appear? Who is the audience: Who is likely to read, see, or watch this text? Also tell us how the argument speaks to your chosen controversy. In addition, you should briefly summarize what the text says and label the central reasons and key evidence. And ultimately, you must analyze how the argument relates to the audience. Some things you’ll want to discern and describe include
- the intended audience
- the context in which the text was written (the larger conversation to which this text contributes)
- where the text was published, seen, viewed, etc.
- the reasons offered in support of the advocated position
- the evidence that supports the principal argument or the reasons
Minimum Requirements:
For a C or above, your essay must
- be four to seven pages long, typed, double-spaced; have 1-inch margins and your name, class, and the date in the top left-hand corner of the first page, with the title centered two lines below the date
- analyze the text’s rhetoric with particular attention to specific reasons and evidence and their relation to the audience, the context, and the controversy
- strategically and effectively incorporate at least one credible print source (in addition to the primary text being analyzed)
- document all sources accurately (in-text and on a Works Cited page) according to MLA guidelines
- be written effectively and coherently, with very few punctuation or grammatical errors
- have been peer reviewed at the in-class workshop
- be turned in on time and be accompanied by all previous drafts, prewriting exercises, and written peer reviews.