Part 1: ARTICLE: Choose an opinion piece or article that presents an opinion based on one of the following topics:

• • Race relations
  • Discrimination
  • Women’s rights
  • Work and parenting
  • Diversity in education

-The article MUST BE CURRENT (published after July 2020) and present an opinion. The Conversation (Links to an external site.) website have plenty of articles that present an opinion. You should read and annotate the article before completing the prewriting exercise.

Part 2: PREWRITING EXERCISE:
-Create a document with the title “Prewriting for Rhetorical Analysis Assignment.” Answer the questions below to evaluate the article. Number responses to the model questions. For example, Model 1 has nine questions, so you should number your responses 1-9.

• You should ANSWER EVERY question, and each response should be 1-3 sentences each. The number of sentences will depend how many parts the question has. For example, the first question for has one main question and three sub questions, so the response should be 3 sentences minimum. You should answer all parts of each question.
• You can upload the assignment as a document or use the text box option.
• MLA formatting and style required. You do not need a Works Cited page, but you should cite the article at the beginning of the document.
• DO NOT copy sentences from the article. You should describe the information in YOUR words.

Questions:

1. Who is the author/speaker?

• What are the author’s credentials?
• Does he/she come across as knowledgeable? fair?
• How does the author establish authority?

2. What is his/her intention for writing the article? Explain why you chose the option(s) (choose 1-2)

• To attack or defend?
• To inform?
• To entertain?
• To praise or blame?
• To teach, to delight, or to persuade?

3. Who make up the audience?

• Who could be an intended audience? Who might be a secondary audience?

4. What is the content of the message?

• What is the topic of the article?
• Can you summarize the main idea?
• What is the tone? Serious? Funny? Casual?

5. Which rhetorical strategies does the writer/speaker use?

• How does the author or speaker appeal to reason? to emotion? to logic?
• Is the language casual, formal, first person, third person, etc.?
• What descriptive or illustrative language strategies are used? (metaphors, analogies, etc.)