Essay 2: Analysis

WR 13300 / Dietel-McLaughlin / Fall 2011

Overview

As weve been discussing in class, rhetoric has powerful connections to the way we construct and interpret arguments, as well as the way we negotiate identity and community. The ways in which we speak, write, dress, and gesture in many ways reflects our alignment with specific communities and our arguments about how our identity should be interpreted. Even a social networking profile can constitute a carefully planned rhetorical act, designed to influence viewers perspectives. Similarly, communities often adopt a shared set of linguistic practices, many of which contain complex, unwritten rules about acceptable ways of communicating (and acceptable topics of discussion) within that community. To extend our discussion of digital identity and community, and to deepen your understanding of the complexity and power of rhetoric, you will investigate and analyze two artifacts or community discourses that are of interest to you, noting the key points of overlap and difference between the two. You will use our readings on rhetoric, as well as our readings on identity and community, to help frame your analysis. You have two options for approaching this essay:
OPTION 1: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF IDENTITY-DRIVEN TEXTS: In

this option, you will select two websites that communicate some kind of individual or collective identity and will analyze how those identities are constructed rhetorically.
OPTION 2: COMMUNITY DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: In

this option, you will examine representative texts from at least two communities that are worth comparing, at least one of which should be a digital community.

Getting Started
STEP 1: Consider your interests. Are you passionate about your major? A sport? A book series? A social cause? How do the people or groups associated with the stuff youre interested in communicate identity online? Where online do people discuss the stuff youre interested in? The texts you analyze should be of interest and significance to you. STEP 2: Observe. Study your texts and communities carefully. Take copious notes. Look for patterns of sameness and difference, signals of inclusion/exclusion, awareness of audience, purpose, and context, unwritten rules about language, topics, and behavior, and any other notable points for analysis. STEP 3: Return to the readings. Which of our course readings might help you explain what youre observing? Which might help you find other points for analysis?

Requirements

Your completed essay should be 6-8 pages long (typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font and in MLA format). Your essay must meaningfully integrate material from at least 3 of the sources we read in class. Your essay must include an MLA-formatted Works Cited page, with an entry for each of the sources cited in the paper (including the websites being analyzed). You must also use appropriate in-text citations. Your essay should include an engaging introduction that offers basic information about the texts being analyzed, relevant context, and rationale for the analysis. Your essay should include a clear, debatable thesis that makes a claim about the texts being analyzed. Your analysis should center on several clearly defined points of analysis that directly support your thesis. Your essay shoud incorporate evidence from the texts being analyzed and the sources read in class to support your points of analysis. Your essay must include attention to counterargumentsanticipate and respond to the legitimate objections and skepticism from your readers. Your essay should end with a meaningful conclusion that underscores the relevance of your analysis to a particular community, field of study, current event, etc.

Starter Questions: Who

(author): Who wrote/produced each text or community? What do the authors/founders have at stake? How are those interests similar or different?

Who (reader): Who is the

text/community designed to reach? What are their demographics? What are their shared values? What values are shared with the author? Who might respond differently?

What: What is the primary

goal or function of each text? What are readers supposed to do or believe after reading it?

Where/when: What context

led to these texts and/or communities being created? Did they emerge under very similar or very different conditions? How does the context impact the way readers respond to the texts?

Why:

Why do these texts matter? What attitudes do they reflect? What conversations do they complicate? What stereotypes do they perpetuate or resist?

How: How is the message

constructed? What are the claims? What evidence or reasoning is provided? How is credibility established and maintained? How is the audience supposed to feel?
lorem ipsum :: [Date]

DUE: Oct. 7, 11:55 p.m. (Sakai)