We’ve been practicing a technique known as a rhetorical précis: a highly structured summary that explicates what a writer is arguing, how she does it, why she does it, and for what intended audience. The third major writing assignment in this class is a textual analysis, which draws on those skills in an extended format. A textual analysis is an argument for a probable interpretation of a text. In this case, your challenge is to find and analyze any persuasive (and thus argumentative) piece. You will need to support your points with direct quotes, references to tone, and other examples found in the text.
For this assignment, you need to find an essay that you can use to write your textual analysis. You'll need to chose something that is long enough to allow you to address all of the relevant and critical elements of the textual analysis.
Once you have read, re-read, and taken notes on the article for analysis, write your draft:
Introduce the general and specific topics in such a way that generates some curiosity in your reader
Craft a thesis that makes an argument about meaning
Summarize the writer’s main points–what is the argument?
Illustrate how the writer makes those points, with examples and direct quotes
Why does she make this argument? What’s her purpose or agenda in this article?
Discuss the intended audience and what kind of relationship the writer establishes – or does not establish — with that audience. What strategic and rhetorical choices does the writer make that seem particularly keyed to the intended audience?
Conclude your analysis by helping your reader get past the “so what?” question: are there any interesting connections between the article you are analyzing and the concepts we’ve been discussing in class? Does the article add to a larger conversation?
Sample Solition