English Essay Extremely Important
Must Follow All Text Analysis Essay Requirements Listed Below to Receive Full Credit for this Assignment
All Text Analysis Requirements:
Here is our third and final text analysis assignment for the semester. You will follow the same process for this assignment as the others, but the big change is this time, YOU get to choose your text!
You can choose anything to analyze, as long as it makes an argument.
Maybe there's an advertisement that stands out to you (magazine, commercial, etc.) and you want to determine whether you feel this ad makes a strong case for buying their product.
Maybe there's a song you love that really seems to be pushing a certain purpose, whether it's to do something or feel a certain way, and you want to critique how effective they are in doing that.
Or there's an article, ted talk, documentary, youtube video, podcast, speech, or other argumentative text that you want to pick apart and determine whether they were really effective in their persuasive attempts.
Once you have chosen your text, you will go through the same process as you have before, identifying the critical reasoning techniques they used and considering whether their use of those techniques made their argument stronger or weakened their argument. You will then write your essay following the same recommended outline below.
***One difference in your paper: In your into, please take a bit more time than you have before to explain what the text is you used and give a brief summary of it, since I will not be familiar with it as I have been previously.
You will analyze a text closely, looking at not just which techniques they use in their argument but how they use these techniques. Please review this information from the previous text analysis assignment. Watch this video again and read over these handouts. I also highly recommend you look back at your first text analysis submission as well as your second text analysis submission and read over my feedback so you know how you can improve your writing this time.
Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss six argumentative texts (articles,
advertisements, speeches, or short videos). We will participate in at least one discussion board per
text (100 word min), analyzing various principles of critical reasoning including the elements of
argument, reasoning fallacies, and rhetorical devices and strategies. Each student will write a short
analytical essay for each article based on the online discussions. Students will complete six long
analytical essays during this semester. Each essay should be between five thousand and six thousand words and be in essay
format. You will also be required to complete a works cited page with the text cited as well as any
outside sources you may choose to bring in.
Prompt: You are writing a short persuasive essay making a claim that the author of the
assigned text either was
effective in their argument or
ineffective. Did they do a good job
persuading people who don't agree with them?
The body of your essay should analyze how the critical reasoning techniques the author used
helped strengthen or weaken their argument. You will need a strong thesis in which you state
whether you feel the text made a strong, developed argument (or not) and how the author
displayed their points (which strategies did they use?). Your supporting paragraphs will
highlight which strategies were most effective and least effective.
Read/view the text for the text analysis assignment and complete the planning sheet
for your essay. In the planning sheet, you should be looking at the various critical reasoning
techniques discussed in the beginning of the semester and how the author/speaker utilized
these elements.
Once you have completed that sheet, choose eight techniques to cover in this essay.
Depending on how much you have to say, you may only be able to cover 2 techniques. The
outline below is a sample of what your outline might look like. You can choose any of the
techniques on the planning sheet to discuss in your essay.
Notice the word count for this essay is five thousand to six thousand words. That means you should not
exceed six thousand words. That will determine whether you must cover eight elements
in your essay but I obligate you cover at least eight elements,
if not more. Remember that your analysis should be focused on how the author/speaker used these techniques to strengthen or weaken their argument, not just a list of techniques they used.
Recommended Outline:
I. Introduction
A. Brief summary of the text being analyzed
B. Clear and concise thesis statement
II. Critical Reasoning Techniques Used
A. Technique 1: Definition/explanation
B. Technique 2: Examples/evidence
C. Technique 3: Analogy/metaphor
D. Technique 4: Appeal to emotion
E. Technique 5: Appeal to authority
F. Technique 6: Counterargument/refutation
G. Technique 7: Logical fallacies
H. Technique 8: Rhetorical questions
III. Analysis of Techniques Used
A. Techniques that strengthened the argument
1. Explanation of how the technique was used effectively
2. Examples from the text to support your analysis
B. Techniques that weakened the argument
1. Explanation of how the technique was used ineffectively
2. Examples from the text to support your analysis
IV. Conclusion
A. Restate thesis statement
B. Summarize the most important points made in the essay
C. Tie everything together with a final thought or call to action.