What kinds of key questions and critical assumptions are evident?

Reporting: Investigating a Subject in More Depth(Objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12)Created by Brian Royse (modified by )InstructionsIn your last essay, you used your memory to understand the relevance of an experience. Sometimes memories are not always accurate, so in academia, one way we check conclusions from our memories is by investigating through research the validity of the conclusion(s) made from our past experiences. For example, thinking about a past experience with communication may make one conclude a poor grades in math in high school were due to being an ESL, so it was hard to understand the instructors’ lectures, but when one researches if this is a valid conclusion, one might find that other factors were more pertinent to one’s poor math abilities, or the research could confirm the conclusion. In academia, investigating is used for more than testing the conclusions from our memories; one other purpose of investigating is to better understand a concept that one has read. For example, if one read an article that blames the eating of processed foods for the rise of ADHD, one might investigate to see if this article has made a valid conclusion, or the article might bring a question to mind that one wants to investigate—e.g., Is organic food better than processed food? What exactly is ADHD? What are other learning disabilities in children? etc. Through this investigating, one writes an informative report.For this reporting essay:Find a topic of interest to you that relates to your intended major. Then, you can both investigate and report on the validity of a conclusion in an article, or you can investigate and report on a concept in some article to understand that concept better (You will, of course, have a topic before you start looking for articles). Or you can simply report information about a topic of your choice that connects to and informs you about something related to the field in which you plan to spend thousands of hours of your life. Keep in mind two things:1. Your goal is to investigate a concept with an open mind—i.e., do not have a preconceived answer in your mind, and then search for resources that agree with you. Intellectuals must be open to learning that they may not know everything about a topic, and/or their thoughts on a topic could be wrong.2. Research sometimes changes the focus of your paper, which is fine. For example, you could be researching organic foods, and find that there is too much information, so you focus on just organic vegetables. To start this project, brainstorm research questions on your topic. The more questions you have, the more choices you will have for a focus for your paper. As you do research on your chosen question, keep in mind you should have more information than you will use because that is the reality of being an intellectual writing a research paper. A mistake that beginning intellectuals make is to find only the amount of source which are required, when those sources may not be enough to write a competent paper.
In your essay, you will state your research question, and then the paper will answer that question. (NOTE: Your research question cannot be a question that has one single answer, so start your question with “why,” “how,” what,” or “which.”)Goals of the assignmentBecome adept at finding valid sources for researchRealize that memories and even published articles are not totally accurateUnderstand that being intelligent means to adjust one’s thinking when new, valid information is presentedLearn to summarize informationLearn to paraphrase informationCreate a thesis-driven informative paperLearn to correctly document informationUnderstand the elements of informational writingReinforce the foundations of writing: purpose, audience, writer, and qualities of good writing.Practice the recursive stages of writing: prewriting, writing, responding, revising, and editingAudience for the assignmentYou will gear your essay for an audience of your choosing (an audience profile must be done, which we will do in class), so that your audience can understand better this topic.Sources for the assignmentYou must have at least FOUR sources for this project as detailed below.1. One source must be a primary source 2. One source must be a book.3. One source must be a peer-reviewed scholarly article4. Your other sources can be of any type, but keep in mind you need, at the least, four sources.Length and format for this assignmentEach draft will be 3 – 5, double-spaced, typed pages of text following either MLA or APA format. The Norton Field Guide to Writing gives an example of MLA format on pp. 468 – 476, and an example of APA format is on pp. 509 – 519. Keep in mind that your font must be Times New Roman, and it can be no larger than 12 font size

ENGL 111 Adapted from Melissa HirschRhetorical AnalysisAssignmentIn order to fully grasp the importance of a Rhetorical Analysis, we will approach the Final Paper in steps:1. Locate a form of media to evaluate.2. Complete a rough draft for your peers and your instructor.3. Consider any feedback from your peers before giving your draft to your instructor. 4. Complete the Final Draft. PurposeAll writers & designers use techniques, while sending a message, to make their writing or image more persuasive. The tools used may establish their credibility (ethos), appeal to their audience’s emotions or experiences (pathos), or state their argument based on specific reasons (logos). By reading critically to determine which rhetorical moves writers make, we can evaluate their arguments more effectively and respond appropriately. AudienceWhile I will be the person reading your papers, I would strongly suggest you consider an audience beyond me and our classroom. Who is the perceived audience for the piece you are analyzing? Be sure to address them. While you write, keep the writer’s audience and purpose in mind. Consider your own rhetorical purpose for your audience while analyzing and writing about this piece. ContentRemember, this is an analysis; it should not be a summary of your form of media (article, blog, advertisement, video, image, etc.). Do not just tell me what the author is saying; tell me how it is being said. Also, remember that your opinion of the piece does not have a place in this assignment; I do not need to know if you agree or disagree.
Rhetorical AnalysisK. Smith – modified summer 2017This exercise will give you practice in critically evaluating rhetoric according to specific criteria (discussed below). It will further give you experience mentally summarizing and critiquing secondary sources as you should when drafting any research paper, whether a persuasive essay for a 100-level English course or a master’s thesis.Directions Write a 4 – 5 page paper which describes, analyzes, and evaluates one or two sources or visuals. If you choose to consider two (probably easier than a total focus on one), compare and contrast the two.For either option, organize your paper addressing the considerations listed below; use them as starting points for analyzing the texts (but don’t hesitate to ask your own questions; you will inevitably think of some); and compare and contrast the two texts within your discussion. Naturally, some of the questions below will apply to any given article, and others won’t–use your judgment about which questions are most relevant and important to your choices. **Include, as always, a bibliography of the two sources considered.**Organizing your AnalysisHere are the elements you should consider to organize your analysis essay. Again, use the questions as starting points–you don’t have to address them in this order, and you may find that some of the questions overlap a bit or are irrelevant to your chosen articles or visuals. That’s OK–they’re just intended to get you started. Clean up any repetition in your discussion as you revise your essay. Your organization within sections ultimately should be determined by the points you want to make in your analysis, not by my list of prompts. Finally, remember you should support your claims about the source with evidence (i.e., examples).Introduction: Brief Overall Description of Sources What is the subject matter of each article/visual? What is its overall purpose (informative? Persuasive?)  Who is the intended audience?  What is the basic structure and format of the source/visual? (Conventional essay? Formal empirical research report? Billboard? Commercial?) What appeals seem to be made by writer/producer?Research Methods / Disciplinary Perspective  Characterize the research and analytic methods used by your authors. Are the methods quantitative or qualitative? Describe the approach as best you can, even if you’re not familiar will all the technical details. What kinds of key questions and critical assumptions are evident? Where are these analytic perspectives unique? If using articles, are the articles inter or multi-disciplinary in its orientation? If so, to what degree? What clues do you see to support this thought?
Data / Evidence What kind of data does the author examine–primary documents, statistical information, experimental results, anecdotal evidence, interviews from human subjects, literary or historical texts, etc.? Is the data subjective, objective, or a mix of the two? What sort of things count as “evidence” in each? How strong and compelling is this evidence? Does one article use evidence/data more effectively than your other source; or, does it simply use different kinds of evidence? How well documented is the data? Do the authors provide a way for you to evaluate the accuracy and quality of the evidence used?Credibility  Who is the author/producer? Is s/he authoritative? Published in the field? Respected among colleagues? What kind of information does the source give, if any about the speaker(s)?  What is the publishing body of the source? Is it a respected journal or institution? Does the publishing body lend the author credibility? If your choice means you are unclear about this, you can imagine appropriate and effective choices for presentation of the article/image. Does the source seem to be trustworthy? Why or why not? Rhetoric and Style If appropriate to choice(s) made, characterize the writing style and rhetoric (persuasive techniques) of your articles–what techniques and features does it share with other sources, and how are they different? Assuming your articles are persuasive to some degree, how does each author qualify claims and present evidence in the best light? Are assumptions explicit or left implicit? How does the author connect with his/her specified audience? Think here about what kind of tone is adopted (objective, judgmental, reserved, strident, urgent, partisan, etc.), what sorts of examples are used, how the author might frame a particular point or example, what kind of jargon is used (or not used, as the case may be), and anything else you can think of. How well does each author address the significance of the topic? Are you made to care about the issue’s importance, the implications of the study, etc.? Here are points to keep in mind as you write your essay: Make sure your essay has a clear, focused thesis. You can’t simply hand in a list of rhetorical appeals you found in the text; instead, you should look at the notes you’ve made and determine whether there is an overall pattern of rhetorical appeals that makes the text effective or ineffective – or one more effective than the other. Your analysis should be just that—yours—in that you’re presenting and defending your own understanding of the texts.  NOTE: Your own opinion of the subject matter of the texts is irrelevant. This assignment does not ask you to agree or disagree with one or both authors, only to analyze how they make points.Data / Evidence What kind of data does the author examine–primary documents, statistical information, experimental results, anecdotal evidence, interviews from human subjects, literary or historical texts, etc.? Is the data subjective, objective, or a mix of the two? What sort of things count as “evidence” in each? How strong and compelling is this evidence? Does one article use evidence/data more effectively than your other source; or, does it simply use different kinds of evidence? How well documented is the data? Do the authors provide a way for you to evaluate the accuracy and quality of the evidence used?Credibility  Who is the author/producer? Is s/he authoritative? Published in the field? Respected among colleagues? What kind of information does the source give, if any about the speaker(s)?  What is the publishing body of the source? Is it a respected journal or institution? Does the publishing body lend the author credibility? If your choice means you are unclear about this, you can imagine appropriate and effective choices for presentation of the article/image. Does the source seem to be trustworthy? Why or why not? Rhetoric and Style If appropriate to choice(s) made, characterize the writing style and rhetoric (persuasive techniques) of your articles–what techniques and features does it share with other sources, and how are they different? Assuming your articles are persuasive to some degree, how does each author qualify claims and present evidence in the best light? Are assumptions explicit or left implicit? How does the author connect with his/her specified audience? Think here about what kind of tone is adopted (objective, judgmental, reserved, strident, urgent, partisan, etc.), what sorts of examples are used, how the author might frame a particular point or example, what kind of jargon is used (or not used, as the case may be), and anything else you can think of. How well does each author address the significance of the topic? Are you made to care about the issue’s importance, the implications of the study, etc.? Here are points to keep in mind as you write your essay: Make sure your essay has a clear, focused thesis. You can’t simply hand in a list of rhetorical appeals you found in the text; instead, you should look at the notes you’ve made and determine whether there is an overall pattern of rhetorical appeals that makes the text effective or ineffective – or one more effective than the other. Your analysis should be just that—yours—in that you’re presenting and defending your own understanding of the texts.  NOTE: Your own opinion of the subject matter of the texts is irrelevant. This assignment does not ask you to agree or disagree with one or both authors, only to analyze how they make points.

Last Completed Projects