ENG 205: Critical Thinking & Intermediate Composition – Fall 2015
Assignment:
Length:
Due Date:
Value:
Articulating and Evaluating How an Argument Persuades a Specific Audience
3-5 pages + Works Cited
Thursday, September 17
15 points (15% of final grade)
In preparation for this project you have read a handful of opinion editorials. Each makes a
deliberative argument to a particular audience. The authors use a variety of techniques – and rely
on differing assumptions – to make their points accessible to a perceived set of readers. Your job
will be to articulate what exactly the argument is, how the writer makes specific rhetorical
choices to appeal to his/her audience in a specific context, and whether or not his/her “moves”
were well chosen for the given purpose.
By analyzing one of these arguments, we will begin to explore the relationship between what an
argument says and how an argument functions. In other words, what specific decisions did the
writer use to appeal to his reader? What does this tell us about the time, place, and overall
climate of the issue at hand? How should they best appeal to their reader? We will begin to
understand how writers/speakers use deliberate tactics to persuade their audience into agreement.
Criteria for Evaluation:
1. Describe the project and argument explicitly – while doing your best to identify the author’s
chosen audience – in an introductory paragraph;
2. Identify and analyze the specific “moves” you feel the author utilizes in order to make his
message more persuasive; what do these moves tell us about his audience?;
3. Describe how the author organizes his text and how this influences what he has to say;
4. Analyze the effectiveness of the writer’s rhetorical decisions with respect to the context of
his/her writing;
5. Write the paper as if addressing a reader unfamiliar with the text;
6. Comment on how this text is significant—what difference it might make to readers of the time
period;
7. Use an effective structure that carefully guides the reader from one idea to the next, and
thoroughly revise your work so that sentences are readable and appropriate for an academic
audience.
To prepare for the paper, highlight or mark the text or take notes on the following elements:
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The author’s project: the work the author is doing
 What is the purpose of the text?
 What assumptions or beliefs about humanity is the author attempting to challenge
or complicate for a specific audience?
What is the argument about, and what are the author’s central claims?
How does the author use satire in an effective way to point to particular issues – and
convince – his reader to engage in a discussion of the topic?
What specific elements of satire are most effectively used to make his point?
Formatting and Documentation:
All papers written for ENG 205 must meet the following guidelines:
• Provide a complete, double-spaced heading that includes your name, your professor’s
name, your class name, and the date.
• Use Times New Roman 12-font and double-space the paper, including the heading (no
single-spacing).
• Staple multiple pages.
• Number multiple pages using MLA format.
• Give the paper a title.
• Use 1" margins on all four sides.
• Use MLA documentation to credit all sources, including lecture and Internet material.
For documentation format, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/.