Session 1: Today we will discuss the requirements for the Rhetorical Critical Analysis project. Following the discussion we will have an in-class exercise listening to Tears Dry on Their Own by Amy Winehouse.
Assignment 3: RHETORICAL CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Due: Week 8, Session 2 (8 points)
Objectives
This assignment should help us to accomplish the following objectives:
1. Provide you with the opportunity to evaluate a text from a critical perspective.
2. Increase your abilities as a rhetorical critic.
3. Provide you with a comparative base from which to assess your own ability to engage in rhetorical communication.
4. Increase your ability as a writer of criticism.
Logistics
Music is a universal form of communication. In many way music can communicate things that are much more difficult with words. When music and lyrics are combined into song the human condition is never better understood. Choose a song that has lyrical content that can be criticized and analyzed in a rhetorical fashion. Look for metaphors and paradoxes. Use Aristotle’s modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, and logos) in your analysis.
Ethos (sometimes called an appeal to ethics is used as a means of convincing an audience via the authority or credibility of the persuader, be it a notable or experienced figure in the field or even a popular celebrity. Pathos (appeal to emotion) is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response to an impassioned plea or a convincing story. Logos (appeal to logic) is a way of persuading an audience with reason, using facts and figures.
1. Find a significant piece of oral rhetoric (a song) that you would like to analyze.
2. Gather information about the rhetorical situation of the song:
Who is the artist, why are they in this situation, what is their credibility (ethos) with the audience and why?
What is the controlling exigency (ethos) in the situation? How is the exigency perceived by the artist and the audience?
What constraints might there be in the situation? What is the occasion? How do you imagine the physical space?
Who is the audience? Who among the listeners is a member of the “rhetorical audience?”
Much of this requires you to investigate the historical context and circumstances of the song. What in the artists past may have led them to write what they did?
3. Review the song from a critical position. Try to identify the strategies the artist employs in the lyrics. Note where you find the most important elements of the piece. Among other things, look for:
The introduction – what was done and how was it received?
The organization – was it clear or confusing? did it follow a pattern? did it affect the message the audience might remember or respond to, etc.?
The evidence – what forms did it take, how well was it connected with an argument or persuasive appeal, was it varied, interesting and impactful?
The language used: was it poetic, functional, metaphoric, etc.?
The conclusion – how did it end?
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the speaker’s delivery?
4. Prepare your critical analysis, selecting from #2 and #3 above, those central elements that you think led to the level of success reached by the artist in their piece. Include a YouTube link to the song and the song lyrics with your paper. Write the review in 5–6 pages (not including the lyrics page) and provide the reader with a unique and insightful understanding of how this rhetorical message worked in this situation. Are there any lessons we can learn from this artist and their music? How effective (or ineffective) were they in this situation?
5. Turn in your review through Canvas before class on the due date.
6. These papers will be graded on the basis of how well they:
Meet the requirements for the assignment
Demonstrate an understanding of rhetoric and criticism
Reflect your level of insight about speech-making
Write the review with clarity, accuracy, and engagement
Session 2: Today we will be discussing the Web Based Informational Campaign requirements. I would also like to get the artists and song titles for your Rhetorical Critical Analysis. If time permits I will being demonstrating the the techniques for creating the Web Based Informational Campaign.
Assignment 4: WEB BASED INFORMATION CAMPAIGN
Due: Week 11, Session 1 (10 points)
Objectives
The purpose of this assignment is to write and design a web based informational campaign to persuade us that:
1) there is a significant and harmful problem that merits consideration, and that,
2) through the implementation of a policy change solution the problem will be solved and/or result in advantages.
The website will be presented with a 6–8 minute persuasive presentation and contain the usual components of a good informational campaign. The proposed policy change will be structured in the form of a resolution; resolved, that the organization will engage in a policy.
The website will contain the following elements that are easily identified by the listeners:
1. The topic/resolution is clear to the audience – we need to know what you’re asking us to consider.
2. The components of the introduction are clear and compelling: opening attention-getter, identification of the topic and the thesis statement.
3. The problem is structured to emphasize one or more main points, and contain evidence that proves the significance and harm of the problem.
4. The solution is presented in a clear manner, with emphasis on the listeners’ understanding of the policy change being proposed.
5. The website contains an “argumentation” section that has a plan-meet-need argument and/or a comparative advantages argument. Other pre-emptive arguments, such as workability, cost, disadvantages and/or desirability, may be included where appropriate and necessary.
6. The websites will contain a variety of evidence forms and at least three different sources cited.
7. Emotional appeals may be used where appropriate and if necessary.
Logistics
1. Build the website using the templates provided by the instructor. Follow along with the demos produced in class. Videos of the in-class demos will be provided so that you can review them outside of class.
2. Use a color scheme, images, typesetting, and layout that supports your campaign.
3. Create a folder that contains all the files necessary and then archive the folder using .zip format and turn it into Canvas before the due date.
4. Your website will be used as the topic and slides for your Persuasive Speech.
5. The Web Info Campaign will be graded on the basis of how well it meets the requirements for the assignment and makes use of the strategies for persuasion outlined in the reading.
Reading: A Sharp Pencil Works Best PDF (before 3/7)
