How will you use concepts such as audience, purpose, and stance to craft your approach?

Now that you have practiced analyzing experiences and texts in your previous two essays, you will use the analytical skills that you have gained to make an argument about a public issue in your third essay. I highly encourage you to engage with an issue that is related to the text that you analyzed for your previous essay or one you may build on from your literacy narrative essay. For example, if you analyzed a speech about immigration practices, you could now do additional research and make your own argument about immigration policies in the U.S. If it is easier to engage with an issue that you mentioned in your literacy narrative, you could instead use that essay as your foundation. The goal here is for you to not have to start from scratch; draw on the analysis that you have done previously, and then use that analysis to make your own argument about an issue of public concern. Your essay should be 1,000-1,500 words.
Purpose:
This essay will serve multiple purposes. First, it is an opportunity for you to apply the rhetorical techniques that you analyzed in someone else’s text to your own argument. How will you use concepts such as audience, purpose, and stance to craft your approach? This essay also gives you an opportunity to move beyond analysis to argue your own position. In order to do this effectively, you will need to have a strong sense of the debate around your chosen issue, analyze various positions on the issue, and then position yourself among that debate, using strong evidence for your stance.
In order to learn more about multiple perspectives on your issue, you will need to engage in research. During the course of writing this essay, we will practice sound research practices including coming up with a research question, evaluating sources, and incorporating citations and paraphrases. For this essay, you will need to consult 3-4 outside sources. Because your topic will be a current public issue, you do not need to use academic sources (unless you would like to), but all your sources need to be credible. We will have a library visit during one class period to help acquaint you with research practices.

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