Assignment
Directions: Study my sample analysis of a rhetorical situation in the Rhetorical Analysis folder and then use the title, author information, article summary and citation below to answer the eight questions that follow. In your response, NUMBER your answers.
Title of article: "Lawmakers Should Pass the DREAM Act "
Author information: "Marshall Fitz is director of the immigration policy program at the Center for American Progress, an institution dedicated to educating Americans about public policy and to advocating progressive change. Formerly, Fitz served as the director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association."
Summary of article: "First proposed to Congress in 2001, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act offers young undocumented immigrants a path toward citizenship if they have lived in the country for five years and either complete two years of higher education or military service. The act would affect only those immigrants who arrived in the country as minors and therefore would have no impact on subsequent migration; instead, it would benefit the children who were brought to America without having a say in the matter. Helping these young immigrants reflects the nation's ideals of offering opportunity to those who seek a better life. Passing the act would also reduce the taxpayers' burden of providing more social services to these potential wage earners, and it would create more taxpayers to help cut the nation's deficit. Congress needs to face this issue and finally pass the DREAM Act."
Source citation
Fitz, Marshall. "Lawmakers Should Pass the DREAM Act." The Children of Undocumented Immigrants, edited by David Haugen and Susan Musser, Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
Originally published as "Myth vs. Fact: The DREAM Act," Center for American Progress.
Task
A. Write down what you know about the background of the author(s). As a result-without referring to the claim of the author(s) or the content of the article-what do you infer is the angle of vision of the author(s), liberal or conservative?
B. What claim of policy is the author making? In other words, according to the author, what should or should not happen in the future? In your response, use "should" or "should not."
C. Which group is more like to make this claim, liberal or conservative?
D. Follow the word because with each of the reasons why the author makes the claim.
E. For each reason, state the warrant in terms of "[Reason] is good/bad" or "[Doing such and such] is right/wrong."
F. For each warrant above, identify whether liberals or conservatives are likely to consider it a high priority or whether the warrant is likely to appeal to a broad audience.
G. Where was this editorial originally published? Are its readers likely to be liberals or conservatives, or is the publication (such as a newspaper) likely to be read by a broad audience that includes readers of both groups?
H. Is this editorial likely to appeal to a resistant audience (i.e. the audience opposite of the one likely to make the claim)? Explain how you arrived at your conclusion.