AP Lang & Comp Rhetorical Analysis Group Project & Paper

The Paper:

After reading The Other Wes Moore, you have learned how some people or groups are marginalized in society. We are asking that you work in groups to examine a specific topic/issue by collecting a sample of writings which will enable you to examine the writings through rhetorical analysis. The purpose is to examine and analyze how writers of your in your topic area use rhetoric to advance or oppress a marginalized group/or people.

The power of language is unlimited. Nationsrise and fall based on a few words or mere placement of punctuation. You will need to ask yourself who do you think is silenced or marginalized in our society? Who is speaking for them, and how are they doing it? This, dear students, is your charge – to analyze what and how the writers treat a specific group through their writing.

The Research:

The texts must be from valid and credible sources. A list of credible sources is included in this handout. You are only able to use writing from the list of approved sources. This is a scholarly assignment and failure to follow the guidelines will mean a ZERO grade. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Original ideas and good analysis are expected.

As with the other essays, you will need to approach this assignment with great caution. You will need to select a topic all the members in your group will agree upon. Then, you will need to find scholarly articles to read and analyze. As you read the articles, you will have to be able to decide what the authors’ goals are and what strategies, devices, and rhetoric is used to achieve their goals. So, even though you are looking at the same subject as your group members, you will have to analyze your articles differently than your fellow group members.

You will need to read your articles several times, annotate and take notes in order to fully examine how the writings are produced. Each reading should look for specific ideas – the first read should be to identify the author’s thesis, main idea, or argument; the following rereads will be for the analysis. Look for rhetorical features. Use the “What in the World is a Rhetorical Analysis” hand-out we gave you in order to help with this process. Your group must find a minimum of 8 articles to use for this assignment.

The Paper

Finally, you will analyze and examine your selected writings. You will create and original thesis of your own about the writing samples. Then, you should organize the rhetorical strategies in a logical way. Remember, as you write, you need to make points and evaluations about the strategies, not simply summarizing them. For example, if an author uses anecdotes, why are those anecdotes given? What effect do they have upon the reader? Use the graph at the end of the hand-out in order to help analyze, organize, and critique the sources.

The Group Presentation

After you have a topic and selections analyzed, your group will present the findings to the rest of the class. Each member will be required to present orally what he/she discovered rhetorically in their writings. Each group presentation will be required to have the following:

  • 15 minute presentation
  • Visual Aid (interactive PowerPoint or Prezi)
  • Speech
  • Discussion

For example, after reading The Other Wes Moore, a chapter-by-chapter analysis of the book could be presented. Each member would write a rhetorical analysis of specific chapters. One person could look for language repeated or emerging in the selections. The group could explore the topic of whether or not it was genetics or poverty that ‘creates’ young criminals.

Possible Group Topics Ideas

Some of the possible topics include:

  • Women
  • Human Trafficking
  • Refugees
  • Immigrants/Refugees
  • War Veterans
  • Children
  • Homosexuals
  • Hispanics
  • Asians
  • Blacks
  • Native Americans
  • The Elderly
  • Minimum Wage Earners
  • Single Parent Families
  • Co- Habitation
  • Animal Welfare/Cruelty
  • Public Servants: Teachers, Police, Fire, First Responders
  • ______Your idea?

Approved Sources you may use for research:

Newspapers

The New York Times

The Washington Post

The Christian Science Monitor (Excellent for World Issues – not a religious newspaper)

The Detroit Free Press

The Detroit News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer

The Chicago Tribune

The Wall Street Journal

The London Times

The LA Times

*Magazines

The Economist Science News

The Atlantic Popular Science

Harpers JAMA

The New Yorker Lancet

New York Magazine Vanity Fair

Time Forbes

Newsweek Fortune

US News & World Report Reader’s Digest (with permission)

Discover *Any journal or magazine published by a major university

Psychology Today (*See Dobbs or Murphy if you are unsure)

Foreign Policy The National Review

The UTNE Reader The New Republic

Mother Earth News

The New Republic