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Unit 2 Essay: Propaganda and Rhetorical Analysis
DUE DATE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2020, 08:00 A.M.
Upload to Canvas in one of the following formats, using the
“Submit” button on the official Assignment 1 page:
‣ Portable Document Format .pdf
‣ MS Word .doc or .docx
VALUE
10 points; graded (scored). (Late submissions will result
in a lowered grade, as explained in 0.2 Course Overview,
Goals, and Objectives.)
CONTEXT
In this unit, you have read, discussed, and critically
examined a variety of texts examining propaganda, truth
and “post-truth,” and media manipulation of public opinion.
ASSIGNMENT TASK
Select a short news article or news story you believe to be
an example of propaganda, media bias, and/or
manipulation of “truth.” (See “Rules About Outside Texts”
for more details about what you can use.) Then, compose
an essay in which you evaluate that text’s rhetorical
attributes, then respond with your own critical arguments
to its claims and ideas and techniques.
Your essay must quote and/or paraphrase five of the
assigned readings from Units 1 and 2, and cite them—
both, parenthetically and bibliographically—on a Works
Cited page in proper MLA style. Do not use the same
quotes included in your Unit 1 essay.
Rules About Short News Articles and News Stories
As long you can justify it as “propaganda, media bias,
and/or manipulative of the ’truth,’” the example of news
you choose for rhetorical analysis and critical response is
up to you, even if it’s a work of news satire or advertorial
news. It doesn’t expressly have to be journalism.
Permitted texts include
‣ written journalism, such as a news article, news
editorial, or news blog;
‣ a single story segment in a cable or streaming news
program (for which you’ll need recording capability so
that you can accurately quote and cite these);
‣ an advertisement that pretends to be journalism or
science writing;
‣ a selected piece of news satire contained in a tabloid,
website, or tv/cable/streaming program.
The text you choose must, however,
‣ be an actual agenda-based text: it must use
language, imagery, situation, and characters you can
analyze rhetorical, and not merely represent an
ideological position;
‣ be individual, specific, and relatively short, rather than
be a large work or a series, collection, or campaign;
‣ not be originally produced for YouTube or other social
media platform (if it ends up being archived on social
media, that’s okay, but it must at first be legitimately
produced for another medium;
‣ have, or seem to have, credibility and/or be affiliated
with institutions that are, or which are made to seem,
credible.
Please don’t choose political speeches, tweets, and texts,
nor bigoted diatribes, as these are expressly and openly
written to propagate a political ideology (i.e., they are
obvious choices for propaganda).
ESSAY DEVELOPMENT
This will be your first essay of the semester that demands
a consistent pattern of development and tone.
‣ Your essay doesn’t need to have exactly five
paragraphs, but it must be structured with a clear
introduction, body, and conclusion.
‣ The body of your essay must be composed in two
parts:
✓ one-third to one-half, rhetorical analysis;
✓ one-half to two-thirds, critical response.
‣ Paragraphs must demonstrate development in five
stages: claim, explanation, support, interpretation,
conclusion. (Review module item 2.8 INFO • The 5-
Stage Body Paragraph.)
Make sure you use the Scoring Rubric for this assignment
to remind yourself about how to develop this essay
effectively. (See below.) The essay’s pattern of
development and sequence of organization should be as
follows:
A. Three-stage introduction: start with a single introductory
paragraph that introduces
• the general subject matter in an interesting way;
• author(s) w/credentials, and the full title of text;
• a thesis asserting your main response argument.
B. Rhetorical analysis: In at least three separate
paragraphs, summarize and explain the methods and
motives of the author’s rhetorical choices, including, but
not limited to,
English 120: College Composition and Reading Instructor: K. Sherlock
• audience awareness;
• voice;
• purpose;
• persuasive appeals.
C. Critical response: explain and support your own
agreement, disagreement, or reaction to the content of
the text. Your critical response must
• be at least three expository/analytical body
paragraphs;
• use and cite quotations or other support from a
minimum of three different texts that were required or
optional for this unit.
D. Conclusion: a concluding multi-sentence paragraph that
summarizes and/or encapsulates your own response to
your selected topic.
E. Works Cited: include at the end of your essay a properly
formatted MLA style Works Cited with citations for all
the sources used in your essay, including the outside
text(s) you enlisted for this assignment and any of the
assigned/recommended unit texts.
REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES
‣ Your essay must be composed in proper MLA document
design. Please just take the no-fuss alternative and
download the MLA document template for this purpose,
a button for which is available at the top of this page.
‣ You may not refer to yourself anywhere in the essay,
particularly in the critical response half. Do not use
pronouns such as “I,” “my,” “me,” and “mine.”
‣ Though you will analyze another author’s use of rhetoric,
you should heighten you awareness of your own:
choose vocabulary that is clear and appropriate for your
audience, and steer clear of common errors of usage
and tone.
‣ A Works Cited, required for this assignment, should be in
proper MLA citation style (again, as prompted by the
MLA document template you are asked to us).
‣ When you upload the final draft of your essay, make sure it
conforms to the proper file-naming protocols. Also, make
sure it’s saved in one of the supported file formats: .doc,
docx, or .pdf.
ASSESSMENT/SCORING RUBRIC
Successful completion of this assignment will be determined
by the following criteria, each of which is explained further in
the scoring rubric for this assignment:
• 10% Introduction: 1) three discernible stages of
development; 2) author’s full name (or sponsoring
agency), correctly spelled, and full primary title correctly
capitalized and marked by italics or quotation marks; 3)
thesis making a general assertion about the rhetorical
effectiveness of the text, followed by a complex
response argument of your own.
• 25% Rhetorical Analysis: Following the guidelines for
content and rhetorical analysis, summarize the main
ideas of the text in one paragraph; then, in a minimum
of two additional paragraphs, examine and detail the
rhetorical elements used by the author.
• 35% Critical Response: A successful critical response
should 1) maintain a consistent position or point of view
about the author’s content; 2) draw from a minimum of
three required or recommended unit texts 3) use as a
framework for discussion concepts of trust, skepticism,
and manipulation of the truth purported by the authors
of those texts (e.g., Marshal McLuhan’s premise “media
is the message” or Katherine Hawley’s discussion of
“self-trust” etc.). Besides reacting to the text, try to
provide an implicit answer to question such as, “Why is
my reaction important?” or “What change or ideas do I
advocate in this response?” or find your own complex
question.
• 05% Conclusion: A brief paragraph that summarizes and/
or encapsulates your own response to your selected
topic should conclude the essay and be clearly
separate and distinct from the Critical Response part of
the essay.
• 15% Writing Competency: Competent writing should 1)
avoid common errors of grammar, punctuation,
sentence mechanics, and usage; 2) contain effectively
organized and cohesively developed paragraphs that
have controlling topic statements, clear explanation,
good use of support, and proper discussion/
interpretation of these; 3) use language with precision
and control; 4) use a respectfully neutral tone free of
slang, vulgarity, and colloquialisms; 5) demonstrate it
has undergone editing and refinement before being
submitted.
• 05% Document Design and Style: Correct MLA style
should be demonstrate in 1) document design and
layout with regard to title page, margins, headers and
pagination, and typography (font size and types); 2)
double-spacing throughout (including Works Cited);
paragraph indention; parenthetical (contextual)
citations; 3) bibliographic references organized and a
Works Cited set with hanging indentions; 4)
demonstrate it has undergone an adjustment of settings
to effect MLA style, or that it you have made use of the
MLA document template.
• 05% Document Formatting: Document should 1) be saved
in a supported file type such as MS Word or PDF; 2)
possess a file name consistent with the required filenaming protocols (e.g., Lastname_F-120-3030-2-
FIN.pdf).