The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
Rhetorical Analysis Assignment
Assignment: Overview
For this assignment, you’ll select a text related to gaming culture and write an essay of
at least 1200 words in which you analyze the way in which that text utilizes deliberate
rhetorical strategies to create an argument. Your essay needs to contain a persuasive
thesis claim that it develops and supports through use of evidence from the text that
you are analyzing.
Due:
 Draft: Wednesday, October 3 by class
 Revision: Wednesday, October 10, by class
Essay Format: 1200+ words; 1.5 spacing; separate title page including name, title, and
date; page numbers; in-text citations and works cited in MLA form (7th edition); 1”
margins; visual evidence as appropriate with rhetorical captions
Submission Format:
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DRAFT: Electronic posting to Coursework “Rhetorical Analysis” subfolder & 3
printouts brought to class – include a single copy of the pre-writing exercise for
Christine to look at (pre-writing can be paper, if hand-written, or posted to
Coursework in your Rhetorical Analysis folder, if electronic).
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REVISION: electronic posting to “Rhetorical Analysis” subfolder & 1 printout,
turned in at class. Reflective memo also due at this time; you should also turn in
any peer review materials you have received (electronic peer review materials
should simply be uploaded to your “Rhetorical Analysis” folder.
NOTE: Works cited content does not count toward word count.
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Grading:
This assignment is worth 20% of the overall class grade.
Assignment Goals
This assignment has several interrelated goals:
1. To ask you to put into practice the lessons about rhetorical analysis – both as a
reader and as a writer – that we have discussed in class
2. To encourage you to experiment with different pre-writing techniques
3. To work with crafting an effective thesis statement and selecting relevant details
to support your conclusions
4. To focus on writing engaging introductions and conclusions
5. To consider questions of voice, audience, and purpose
6. To work with selecting and integrating appropriate strategies of development and
rhetorical appeals
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The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
The Process
As with much of the writing for this course, this assignment asks you to create your
persuasive essay by following a series of steps:
1. Select your text(s). You should select your text by Monday, October 1. Choose a
text about gaming culture that seems suitable for an extended analysis – you may
opt to look at two texts if you wish, but ask for my approval if you select this
option. You may write about any visual/verbal primary text, but it must relate to
gaming culture. Your goal in this essay will be to make a claim for how this text
uses rhetoric to make an argument (about itself or about gaming culture in
general). That is, you will write an analysis of how the essay is deliberately
composed/constructed (considering elements like rhetorical appeals, strategies of
development or design elements) to create a persuasive argument.
Here are some types you might consider:
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A video game trailer (check YouTube or individual game websites)
A video game print ad (ie. from Game Informer – I have some old issues if
you want to look through them)
A video game box cover (current or from the Cabrinety collection)
A gaming website
A game review (ie. IGN.com & g4tv.com have reviews)
An editorial cartoon or animation (ie. See ExtraCredits for visual arguments
about gaming)
A t-shirt design
A photograph or photo essay
DO NOT choose an entire video game as your primary text. That is not an
appropriate primary source for this assignment.
Remember: you will need to identify the argument made by the text and analyze
the rhetorical strategies that are used to construct that argument. Don’t just
choose a text because you like it: choose one that will support this type of
rigorous analysis.
2. Pre-Writing. For this assignment, you need to complete two pre-writing exercises
to help you focus your topic and analysis before you start drafting.

FIRST PRE-WRITING EXERCISE: Use one of the pre-writing checklists linked
online (adapted from Envision) as a way to get at the different
characteristics of your texts, as a prelude to focusing in on those elements
that will be most important to your argument. You'll find these checklists
under the Assignments tab and also the Class Handouts tab on our course
website. Choose the pre-writing checklist that most closely pertains to the
material that you have been working with and answer at least SIX of the
questions (though you are welcome to answer more if you find them
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The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
helpful). Please save this file and/or print it out; you need to have access to
it in class on 10/1, in your conference, and you will ultimately need to turn
it in (in paper or electronic form) with your revised essay on the 10th.

SECOND PRE-WRITING EXERCISE: This freewrite will be completed IN
CLASS on Monday, October 1.
3. Read examples. During week 2, you’ll be assigned to read a couple sample
rhetorical analysis essays; they are linked through our course website and can
also be found under “Samples” in Coursework. NOTE: If you want to see more
examples, additional samples are also available through the Samples folder on
Coursework and linked from the Assignments tab on our website.
4. Draft your essay. The draft is due on Wednesday, October 3. Write a persuasive
interpretation of your text with a strong thesis statement, considering not only the
argument of the text, but also the way in which the text makes that argument.
Specifically, you need to develop a persuasive thesis that makes a claim about
how the primary text is designed to make a particular argument in relation to its
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rhetorical situation (relationship between text-audience-author), AND/OR
context and kairos; AND/OR
use of rhetorical appeals (such as pathos, logos, and ethos); AND/OR
use of one or more strategies of development such as narration, definition,
comparison/contrast, division-classification, example.
The goal is not to talk about as many elements as possible but instead to focus on
those elements that you feel most contribute to the creation of the text’s overall
argument. Be sure to also consider the different characteristics of the medium
that you’ll be dealing with – that is, analyzing a trailer (a moving, dynamic text
with voice over, close-up, and splicing) is fundamentally different from analyzing a
print ad (a static text that relies more on layout, relationship between printed
word and image, etc.).
5. Hand in your draft. You need to upload your draft to your Rhetorical Analysis
subfolder by class on the 3rd. Also, please bring 3 print outs to class.
6. Draft workshop. You will workshop your papers in class on the 3rd. You will be
put in pairs and will spend some time looking at how each person makes an
argument, develops ideas, uses evidence, and organizes the essay.
7. Peer Review. You will meet in groups of 3 for peer review sessions outside of
class, sometime between October 4th and 6th. See separate assignment sheet for
details about the peer review. Please note: you will be compensated for this outof-class time commitment later in the quarter.
8. Conference. During the process of brainstorming, drafting and revising your
paper, you will meet with me for a one-on-one conference. Sign up using the
“Sign up for a Conference with Christine” link on the right sidebar of our course
website. Keep in mind that you may want to go to the Writing Center to work
with a tutor on this essay, thereby also fulfilling your one required Writing Center
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The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
visit this quarter – to make a writing center appointment, go to
sututor.stanford.edu.
9. Revise your essay. Using the comments offer during the draft workshop, by your
peer reviewers, and by me in conference as a guide, revise your essay. As you do
so, be sure that you move your paper beyond being a mechanical exercise in
pointing out pathos, logos, and ethos; these concepts should inform your analysis,
but you should produce a paper that sounds more like an educated analysis than a
student assignment on pointing to rhetorical terms in a text. Look to your thesis
statement in particular for guiding your paper toward a sophisticated discussion of
how rhetorical appeals and strategies of development function in your chosen text.
Also, be sure to include a relevant and interesting title. Finally, keep in mind how
you as a writer can best use rhetorical appeals and strategies of development in
your essay to produce your own persuasive argument.
10. Write your reflective memo. After you have finished your revision, write your
reflective memo. This is the place to reflect on your own use of rhetoric and your
own decisions as a writer in composing your essay. It can be informal in voice,
but nevertheless should be clear, detailed, well-organized, and approximately 300
words in length. It should definitely include commentary on what changes you
made between the drafting and revision process. It should also touch on at least
some of the following:
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Reference to your own use of rhetorical appeals;
Your use of strategies of development
How an understanding of the rhetorical situation influenced your work;
Structural decisions;
Use of visual rhetoric within your paper;
How contingencies of kairos or awareness of context affected your writing;
How peer review, conferencing, or a writing center appointment affected
your revision decisions;
Your overall experience in writing the essay.
The reflective memo is not optional – you will be penalized if you do not turn one in
(see the evaluation criteria below).
11.Hand it all in. On Wednesday, October 10, at class you should hand in a print out
of your paper, including the reflective memo, your pre-writing (as applicable) and
your peer review notes. Both the revision and the reflective memo should also be
posted to your “Rhetorical Analysis” subfolder on Coursework. Be sure to check
the Rhetorical Analysis checklist, linked through the class website, to make sure
you have fulfilled the assignment completely and correctly.
Evaluation Criteria
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The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
This essay is graded according to the guidelines set out by the Program in Writing and
Rhetoric – for a more detailed explanation of this grading scale, see the PWR Policies
document in the “Important Class Materials” folder in our Materials section in
Coursework, which I also handed out on the first day of class. In particular, an
exemplary essay would contain the following:
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A strong, sophisticated thesis statement and argument supported convincingly by
evidence and that engages a larger “So What” or relevance
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A detailed, focused analysis of the rhetorical strategies and appeals at work within
a text or texts, with a good balance between description and analysis
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Well-developed, cohesive paragraphs, with smooth transitions between
paragraphs and ideas, and a deliberate and fluid overall organization and
development
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A strong, engaging introduction that “hooks” the reader and accurately represents
the topic, style, and direction of the paper and its argument
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Strategic and appropriate use of rhetorical appeals (pathos, logos, ethos & kairos),
developmental strategies (definition, cause/effect, description, example, process,
categorization, narration), and visual rhetoric (as evidence, not illustration) in
your own work
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Clear and effective understanding and negotiation of the rhetorical situation and
context/kairos of your own writing and also of the texts under consideration.
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A clear, engaging, appropriate and consistent voice/style, that relies on concrete,
vivid language, varied sentence structure and appropriate word choice
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A strong conclusion that reemphasizes the central claim without relying exclusively
on summary.
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Evident attention to ethos in the design of the paper and attention to correctness
in grammar, punctuation and spelling
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Meticulous citing of sources in MLA format, including a works cited at the end that
includes links to any online sources (including the primary text that you are
analyzing) that you used.
The draft is NOT optional. Students who do not turn in a complete draft of their
rhetorical analysis will have their overall grade for the assignment reduced half a grade
(from an A- to a B+/A-).
Likewise, the reflective memo is NOT optional. Papers missing their reflective memo will
be marked down half a grade (from an A- to a B+/A-).
Late papers also will be marked down half a grade for each day that they are late.
Further Resources
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The Rhetoric of Gaming: Fall 2012
We will be conferencing to discuss this assignment and will be working on it in class.
However, if you need additional help, you might consider the following:

Schedule a Writing Center appointment. Writing Center tutors can be
indispensible at any stage of your project, from text selection, to brainstorming, to
outlining or drafting, or even during revision. Make an appointment through the
writing center website at http://hwc.stanford.edu or more directly by visiting
http://sututor.stanford.edu. You might decide to meet with a writing tutor in your
dorm instead if that’s more convenient for you. REMEMBER: You are required to
schedule and attend at least one writing center appointment this quarter; see the
“Assignments” tab for further details on this.
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Re-read Envision chapters 1&2. These chapters focus on strategies for writing and
rhetorical analysis that are directly applicable to this assignment. There is an
annotated student sample reproduced in Chapter 1, starting on page 19.
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Look at sample rhetorical analysis essays. These are linked from the
“Assignments” tab and also through the Samples folder on Coursework.
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Look at further rhetorical analysis models from Envision. In addition to the two
assignment sample essays, you can find other examples through the Student
Samples section for Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 linked through the Envision
companion website
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Chapter 1:
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_alfano_envision_3/159/40791/10442562.c
w/content/index.html
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Chapter 2:
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_alfano_envision_3/159/40791/10442583.c
w/content/index.html
E-mail me directly (alfano@stanford.edu) or tweet me (@rhetgaming) with specific
questions about the assignment.
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