Paper Assignment: Speech Analyze
We've been looking at what makes a text successful. We've looked at some inspirational speeches, reviewed rhetoric, and chosen a final text for analysis. Like an analysis of a piece of literature, we are examining these texts to better understand how they make meaning and, furthermore, how they achieve their rhetorical purpose. Each of the selected texts is addressing a controversial or touchy issue, so their authors need to be careful in how they construct their arguments. What techniques do they use to achieve their goal (purpose)? What is their specific purpose(s)? How do they reach their audience? An analysis is a detailed examination, so you'll want to be very specific and clear. Don't just say that the author makes the audience feel angry. Point to the specific words or phrases they use and describe why this might affect their audience in this way and why they might want that particular response. This means you'll want to directly reference quotes from the text.
An analysis is persuasive - you want your reader to understand how you've interpreted the text. Page 216 of the Norton book should be particularly helpful in examining key features of an analysis.
We've also been reviewing the fundamentals of organized academic writing, like introductions, thesis statements, topic sentences, and source integration, so you'll want to demonstrate those skills in this essay as well.
Thesis: Your thesis should put forth an argument about how the text achieves its purpose. What do you think that purpose is? What do you think the rhetor wants their audience to take away? What kind of difference do you think they're trying to make? What are the most successful (or unsuccessful) strategies the rhetor uses? How do they attempt to reach and persuade their audience? While the Norton book cautions you to not make an evaluation of the text, in this paper you can indicate whether the rhetoric is successful, given the rhetorical situation and your analysis of the text's strengths and weaknesses.
For example, I would NOT want to write: In his famous speech, Henry argues for the freedom of the colonies from British rule. - This is telling the reader the content of the speech.
Instead, I would want: Henry's most successful strategy is to appeal to his audience's patriotic desire for freedom. - This is telling the reader how Henry achieves his goal.
NOTE: While some textual analyses do ask you to make an argument about what a text means, we are focusing on how the text achieves its purpose. So just be careful. You don't want to write an essay that examines the argument that is being made-you are not reflecting on, thinking about, or explaining what the author is saying-but rather you want to write an essay that examines how the rhetor is making that argument. What strategies and tools do they use to get their point across?
Tone: This is a semi-formal paper. This means you can use I and contractions, but you don't want to sound too conversational. But be careful! While you can use I, you want to avoid "feelings" language - things like I think, I believe, I feel that, etc. because they undermine your analysis. If you are arguing that the text is doing something, simply state it!
Format your assignment according to the give formatting requirements:
a. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
b. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
c. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.