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Goal
Students will closely analyze a text, consider the relationship between what
is said (the argument being made/ the thesis) and how it is said (rhetorical
strategy, tone and stance, audience, language), evaluate the value of the ideas,
and develop an argument about the relationship of content to form based on this
judgment. The purpose of this assignment is for students to further develop
their reading and analytical skills and to construct an argument based on their
observations.
Requirements for Analytical Essay II
Read at least four essays or 20 pages in the unit.
Paper: 2-3 pages of Times New Roman 12 point font.
Analytical Essay II should
- Critique an essay in The Presence of Others.
(See pp. 20-21 in The Presence of Others on "Writing a Rhetorical Analysis"
and "Writing a Critical Analysis" and see the examples referred to.)
- Have an idea that is complex and intriguing in some way that captures your
overall perspective on the essay you're critiquing. This idea should take into
account the relationship between what the text means and how it means it.
- Have an introduction that pulls readers into your question/issue and gives
them a general but clear sense of what will follow.
- Cite particular passages in The Presence of Others essay as evidence for
your point, integrating them smoothly into your own text. Summarizes concisely
and accurately the Presence essay's ideas.
- Lead the reader through the parts of your essay in a way that the reader
sees where you're headed and gives the read a sense of having arrived
somewhere by the conclusion.
- Convey a sense of your writer's voice--without being too informal and
"talky." That is, the style of the essay has a certain enlivening energy to
it.
- Follow MLA format and be 3-4 pages long, with metatext, submitted to
Blackboard and final draft submitted as a printed copy.
Challenges for students
- to go beyond summary when critiquing.
See “Summary vs. Critique.”
- to learn a few analytic tools and use them on a text (see questions on
Bedford Handbook, 478-491). Also, see
Critical Thinking website.
- to make their own idea central to their analytic essay, so that they make
a judgment that takes into account all their various analytic observations.
See “Own Idea as Central.”
- to go smoothly in and out of quotes or paraphrasing.
See “Use of Quotes.”
- to make the parts of their essay (the observations about the essay they’re
critiquing) into a whole through effective ordering of the parts and good
transitions.
Example of a superior essay.
This essay won one
of the College English awards in 2002.
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