Task:
Begin writing Essay #2: your analysis of one of the assigned sources. Please use the “Helpful Analysis Questions” and Analysis Workshop Questions found in Week Six’s folder as guides. Your essay will not be completely finished yet (the final is 1000 words), but this will give us a good start. Does the draft start by naming the source, its author, and its main idea? Pay particular attention to the main idea: Is this accurately and clearly stated? Do you think the writer has in fact named the article’s main idea? Does the analysis provide a context for the argument, such as genre, audience, purpose, etc.? Is this context precisely defined? If the context seems vague or overly general to you (“the article is about the internet,” for example), can you suggest ways the writer might make it more precise? Does the analysis then proceed to examine the article’s use of appeals to be persuasive, appeal to the audience, address constraints, etc. ( logos use of evidence, appeals to reason, logic, and pathos-emotions, etc. Does the analysis discuss how effective these appeals are? Does the discussion make one or more clear points about the kinds of evidence the source uses? Does the analysis address the how the author creates a sense of credibility or ethos with their audience?
Does the analysis address the article’s organization, tone, etc. Does the analysis assess the article’s value and persuasiveness? Are these dependent on the audience reading the article? (In other words, is the article persuasive to some but not to others? Why?)Do you agree with your classmate’s assessment of the article? Have they missed some key points or misunderstood anything. Help them out. Point to any places where the language confuses you or is hard to follow. Do the in-text citations and work cited formulas look correct. Point out any errors
you see.
