The Assignment: As a means of keeping current with public discourse, choose a single newspaper
columnist or essayist to follow. You must collect current, preferably consecutive columns or essays by
your author. Search the website of the columnist’s newspaper for up-to-date columns, or find a
book. Archives can be searched on some of the columnist’s sites, but some publications require payment
for articles older than one or two weeks. Therefore, check your columnist’s web site weekly. You will
hand in ONE article and analysis each week.
A final summative essay, 2-3 pages, commenting on the stylistic traits and overall rhetorical effectiveness
of the columnist, will be due at quarter’s end, along with the previous weeks’ one-page responses in a
folder.
ANNOTATE-Each article must be annotated for the following:
Speaker’s tone and possible tone shifts
Rhetorical strategies and figurative language
Organization and arrangement
Aristotelian appeals (ethos, pathos, logos)
Mark places in the text that evoke a reaction from you, be it laughter, anger, or confusion. Some
questions to ask yourself as you read:
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How does s/he open the column?
How does s/he close the column?
How is the thesis introduced? Late? Early?
How does s/he organize? What are the parts or sections of the column?
How much is based on observation? Personal experience? Interviews? Fact?
What sort of diction characterizes the columnist?
What sort of syntax (grammar) characterizes the columnist?
What audience does s/he assume? How do you know?
What unstated assumptions (warrants) does the columnist make?
ANALYZE and RESPOND- After annotating, write an analysis (at least one page) that includes the
following:
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A correct MLA citation at the top of your paper that precedes your response.
WHAT – A brief summary of the author’s main point & purpose (not mere summary).
HOW – The claims (arguments) the author makes and whether or not he/she anticipates and addresses
potential opposing arguments; the most significant strategies employed by the author and how they
contribute to purpose.
Comment on how a style develops, and how style unlocks purpose and meaning.
Any questions, objections or enlightenment generated by the column.
Some Notable American Columnists working today
(note that you may also choose a collection of essays, e.g., H.L. Mencken, George Orwell,
Montesquieu, James Baldwin, Marilynne Robinson, Francis Bacon, Russell Baker, etc. )
Anne Applebaum (Washington Post)
Mark Bowden (Philadelphia Inquirer)
David Brooks (NY Times)
David Broder (Washington Post)
Richard Cohen (Washington Post)
Gail Collins (NY Times)
Megan Daum (LA Times)
E.J. Dionne (Washington Post)
Ross Douthat (NY Times)
Thomas Friedman (NY Times)
Georgie Anne Geyer (UPS – uexpress.com)
Ellen Goodman (Boston Globe)
Fred Grimm (Miami Herald)
Jane Healy (Orlando Sentinel)
Bob Herbert (NY Times)
Carl Hiassen (Miami Herald)
Christopher Hitchens (The Atlantic)
Arianna Huffington (huffingtonpost.com)
David Ignatius (Washington Post)
Molly Ivins (Texas Monthly, etc.)
Fred Kaplan (Slate.com)
Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post)
Nicholas Kristof (NY Times)
Paul Krugman (NY Times)
Lawrence Lessig (Wired)
Dahlia Lithwick (Slate.com)
Doyle McManus (LA Times)
Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal)
Andres Oppenheimer (Miami Herald)
Kathleen Parker (Washington Post)
Leonard Pitts (Miami Herald)
Anna Quindlen (Newsweek)
William Raspberry (Washington Post)
Rick Reilly (Sports Illustrated/ESPN mag.)
Frank Rich (NY Times)
Eugene Robinson (Washington Post)
Gregory Rodriguez (LA Times)
Debra Saunders (San Francisco Chronicle)
Jackie Bueno Sousa (Miami Herald)
Andrew Sullivan (The Atlantic)
Lynn Sweet (Chicago Sun-Times)
Liz Taylor (Seattle Times)
Phil Taylor (Sports Illustrated)
Cal Thomas (Washington Times)
Mike Thomas (Orlando Sentinel)
George Will (Washington Post)
Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek)
Grading: You will receive 4 grades throughout the year for this project. These will be calculated
quarterly.
Each quarter grade will be calculated as follows:
7 weekly responses = 70%
1 summative essay = 30%
1 Columnist Journal grade