ASSIGNMENT 3
Prompt, Rubric, Template Phrases & Sample Paper
Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies – Prompt & Assignment Options.......... 2
Option 1: Rhetorical Analysis of Food Inc ............................................ 2
Option 2: present your own analysis/argument ..................................... 3
Option 3: Applying Strategies (Creative Project) plus Self-Analysis ... 4
RUBRIC/Peer Review ASSIGNMENT 3................................................. 5
Template Sentences for Paper 3 ................................................................ 6
Tackling Food Inc. & the Strategies paper – some Notes ........................ 8
Sample Student Paper ................................................................................ 9
1
Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies – Prompt & Assignment Options
Option 1: write a 6 page rhetorical analysis of Kenner’s Food Inc., as described below
Option 2: write a shorter, 3 page rhetorical analysis of Kenner’s Food Inc., plus a 3 page
analysis/argument from the “Option 2” section described below.
Option 3: write a shorter, 3 page rhetorical analysis of Kenner’s Food Inc., plus a creative text
from the “Option 3: Applying Strategies” section described below.
Option 1: Rhetorical Analysis of Food Inc.
Food Inc.is a documentary by Robert Kenner about the politics of industrial food production. The
documentary features interviews with writers Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, as well as farmers and
"environmental entrepreneurs." The film aims to “lift the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the
highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our
government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.” The filmmaker suggests that careful examination of
our food system reveals shocking truths about what we eat, how it’s produced, and who we have become
as a nation.
For this paper you will analyze rhetorical strategies in Food Inc. You will describe, analyze and explain these
strategies, and discuss how they advance the film’s arguments.
Criteria for Evaluation
Successful papers will:
1. accurately describe the authors’ project and argument
2. signal the topic and give a clear indication of how the paper will proceed
3. describe the strategies, provide interpretation and analysis of how the strategies work, and explain
why the authors chose to use these strategies (purpose and audience).
4. explain how the strategy/strategies advances the authors’ arguments.
5. present ample evidence to support your analysis of rhetorical strategies
6. use an effective structure that carefully guides the reader from one idea to the next and be
thoroughly edited so that sentences are readable and appropriate for an academic paper
Common strategies: metadiscourse, ethos pathos, logos, rebuttals, analogies, definitions, word choice,
framing devices, imagery, use of symbolism and icons; selection, presentation, and framing of evidence;
use of story, metaphor, and metonymy; music, lighting, scene selection, shot type and angle; use of light
and
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Option 2: present your own analysis/argument
1. Judge a debate tournament and write an account of the experience
Californian high schools will be coming to San Diego State for a debate competition, Friday through
Sunday, April 15-17. There will be about 1500 competitors, and they need judges. Any student 18 or
over qualifies to judge, and they'll get some training. You can find more about the tournament, and sign
up to be a judge at http://www.cahssa.org/.
You will be asked to assess the strength of claims, arguments, evidence, and refutation strategies. The
extra credit work consists of judging a debate, and completing a short write-up of the experience in which
you explain why you chose the winner.
2. Analyze a fast food restaurant menu
Compose an analysis of a restaurant’s menu and examine the strategies used. Consider how the menu
invites you to think about the food, how it was produced, the eating experience, the values and reputation
of the restaurant, the customers, etc. Questions that may help you compose your analysis:
 What kind of reputation does the restaurant have? What elements of the menu support or
undermine that reputation?
 Who are the customers? What assumptions doe the menu make about your values, beliefs,
desires?
 How are images used in the menu? What fonts are used? What design choices can you identify?
Can you spot stories or cultural narratives? What is the combined effect of these elements?
Where does the menu suggest the food comes from? What does it suggest about the way the food
was prepared?
 What story does the menu tell about how food should be eaten – is eating about having fun,
connecting with friends and family, being healthy, helping the environment, saving money,
participating in a cultural experience, etc.
3. Enter the food politics debate and compose your own argument
Watch (or read the transcript) one of the debates below. Compose your own 2 -3 page argument that
summarizes the debate, describes who you most agree with and why, presents what you think are the best
claim(s), deals with objections, and states why we should care. For help with this, see Graff’s “How to
Write an Argument: What Students and Teachers Really Need to Know (from Clueless in Academe, How
Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind, Yale U. Press, 2004).
http://faculty.up.edu/asarnow/212/GraffHow%20to%20Write%20an%20ArgumentFall2010.htm
Argument Topic #1: “Organic Food is Just Marketing hype”
http://intelligencesquaredus.org/index.php/past-debates/organic-food-is-marketing-hype/
Transcript: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/wp-content/uploads/Organic-041310.pdf
Argument Topic #2 “Genetically modified Food is Good for Us” (IQ Squared U.K. – you have to join the
web site to see the video of the debate.) http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/gm-crops-are-goodfor-us
Argument Topic #3: Debating GM foods
http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Genetically_modified_foods
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Option 3: Applying Strategies (Creative Project) plus Self-Analysis
Length = dependent on genre (if you are unsure, talk to me.)
You will compose a written or visual/digital/multimedia text that addresses a topic related to the themes
explored in Confessions, plus a 1-2 page self-analysis of the rhetorical choices you made.
Below is a list of ideas, but I invite you to come up with your own. The list includes both visual and
written rhetoric to give you some options depending on your comfort level and technical skill. I will ask
you to submit a prospectus for this project. Group projects are possible – see me.
Sample Ideas:
1. Take one scene depicted in the documentary and rewrite it as a play.
2. Write a pitch to a movie producer about your intention to adapt the documentary into a
feature film. In this pitch, you should identify how your movie would change given the
new genre and which actors and actresses you would be interested in casting.
3. Compose an op-ed for the Daily Aztec (or some other publication you read) that makes an
argument about one of the issues addressed in the film.
4. Compose a speech to an organization or person you are familiar with (your high school, the boy
scouts, your fraternity, the CA senate, a politician, etc.) in which you discuss a topic mentioned in
the film and try to persuade the group/person to see things your way/take action.
5. Imagine the movie was being remade by a different author – say Oprah Winfrey, Michael Moore,
Friedman, or the “in Plain English” company. Rewrite a section of the text, or imagine how it
could be translated to a different format.
6. Create a campus campaign linked to one of the claims in Food Inc. What specific
change(s) do you want to see happen? Identify an audience for your campaign. What
does this audience care about? What concerns, interests, or objections might this audience
in association with the desired change? What media choices will you make? What music,
colors, claims, images, or evidence will you use to appeal to this specific audience? Your
group presentation will include analysis of why you made these particular choices.
7. Take one scene depicted in the documentary and rewrite it as a play/movie.
8. Create two political cartoons that address themes in the movie, each adopting a different
perspective.
9. Suggest your own topic.
Self-Analysis
Compose a self-analysis in which you describe how you utilized strategies in your project. How did this
new genre/depiction change from the original? What was your purpose and who was your audience?
What specific effects were you going for? What specific strategies did you use and how did that help your
argument?
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RUBRIC/Peer Review ASSIGNMENT 3
Reviewed By________________
Person Being Reviewed
Your grade reflects your ability to:
■ Introduces topic/gets reader’s attention. Describes rhetorical situation:
who is Kenner, what is his project, and what is the overall argument
made in Food Inc.
■ Statement of purpose - clearly signals to your reader what you plan to discuss
in your paper and how you’ll present/organize your analysis.
■ Introduces 1st strategy to be analyzed OR 1st claim & strategy supporting it
■ Identifies the strategy, and provides quotes/scene descriptions demonstrating
the strategy exists
■ Selects the best quotations/elements to show the strategy exists
■ Uses quotations that are fully introduced, integrated, explained and cited
■ Critically discusses 2 or more strategies in Food Inc.
■ Focuses on fine-grained analysis NOT description/summary
■Explains WHAT these strategies are, and presents evidence to support their
existence.
■Explains HOW they work, WHY they are chosen, and WHAT they are used to
achieve. What effects do they have, and how effective are they? How
do they persuade, and how do they advance the argument?
■ Explains how the strategies support or advance a specific claim
■ Uses an effective structure that smoothly guides the reader from one idea to
the next. Your careful attention to transitioning and topic sentences will be
considered here.
■ Creates cohesive, focused, fully developed sentences/paragraphs
Have thoroughly edited your paper so that sentences are readable and
appropriate for an academic audience. Adhere to MLA format, grammar,
and sentence structure.
Thoughtfully and eloquently conclude your discussion. Discuss the
effectiveness and the significance of Kenner’s project, OR present your own
perspective/position on the issue, OR connect the movie to your own
experience
Comments/suggestions/main things to work on
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1 -- 10
ASSIGNMENT #3: ANALYZING STRATEGIES
Name:
Grade:
Your grade reflects your ability to:
Needs Imp.
Accurately and effectively introduce and contextualize Food Inc.--the project and
argument in your introduction.
Clearly signal to your reader what you plan to discuss in your paper and hint how
you’ll present/organize your analysis.
Accurately describe and explain Food Inc’s key claims and their relationship to the
overall argument. Demonstrate a critical comprehension of the argument.
Critically discuss 2 or more strategies in Food Inc. Explain WHAT these strategies
are, and present evidence to support their existence. Explain HOW they work, WHY
they are chosen, and WHAT they are used to achieve. What effects do they have, and
how effective are they? How do they persuade, and how do they advance the
argument?
Effectively use quotes or scene descriptions from the documentary to support your
analysis. Adequately introduce, correctly cite, and effectively comment on quotes.
Use an effective structure that smoothly guides the reader from one idea to the next.
Your careful attention to transitioning and topic sentences will be considered here.
Have thoroughly edited your paper so that sentences are readable and appropriate for
an academic audience. Adhere to MLA format, grammar, and sentence structure.
Thoughtfully and eloquently conclude your discussion. Discuss the effectiveness and
the significance of Kenner’s project.
Demonstrate a strong command of the written language. Voice and style will be
considered here.
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Strong Satisfactory
Other comments:
Template Sentences for Paper 3
Introduction + overview of your project
“A Rhetorical strategy is a particular way in which authors craft language so as to have an effect on
readers. Strategies are means of persuasion, ways of using language to get readers’ attention, interest, or
agreement. It is important to be able to identify these strategies so as to…”
“In my paper I will begin by briefly describing the project and argument made by…”
“I will then identify and examine some of the rhetorical strategies used by…Next, I will present an
explanation of these strategies, explaining how they work and why they are used…Finally, I will conclude
my paper with a discussion of the significance of these authors’ work [or] a comparison of their use of
rhetorical strategies.”
Project and Argument Statements: “In article X, Tannen, professor of linguistics at…investigates Y…
Tannen’s project is A, or as she puts it “B, C and D.” Tannen uses several primary methods to achieve this,
most notably E, F and G…”
“Tannen’s central argument is H, or as she puts it, “Bla bla bla.” Tannen claims X is the case/advances
argument Y/asserts Z.”
Rhetorical Strategies: “Chua uses a number of rhetorical strategies throughout her text. However, I will
focus on J and K, which appear in her discussion of L…”
“A clear example of this strategy occurs on page iv, when Chua states… This strategy works by doing
C…it is effective because it does K…it has the effect of P… Why engage such a strategy? Chua chooses
this strategy in order to…”
“A second example of this rhetorical strategy is…”
Conclusion: “The significance of Chua’s project can be discerned in F…She stresses the importance of
Y, and argues that insufficient attention has been paid to Z…Chua claims that it is crucial that X… This
paper demonstrates the value of H, and how by paying close attention to the way authors do J we can see
T…”
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Tackling Food Inc. & the Strategies paper – some Notes
The following are some ideas to get you thinking about how you might approach the assignment.
You can focus on a strategy and how it is used across parts of the movie, or you can look at one segment
or section in detail and examine how several strategies are used to advance a point or have an effect. For
example, you could examine the way music and sound effects are used as commentary, or as a kind of
“Greek chorus” throughout the movie. You could look at the way music is used to contrast industrial
farming with the alternative farms shown – for example, with Joel Salatin and Polyface farms (the
“cowboy philosopher” wearing a straw hat and suspenders). Alternatively, you could focus just on the
end, and the “call to action” the movie makes, and consider the strategies used, and how this advances the
movie’s goals/claims.
Possible strategies/sections to examine
You could examine “Kevin’s Story,” and the way pathos is used to move the reader to care about a
potentially dry issue – food safety regulations. Consider how Kevin’s story is told, and the role it plays in
advancing key claims. For example, you could consider the use of music, or home video footage from the
holiday the family took, just before Kevin died. Consider how images of him playing in the water are
juxtaposed with the story of his experience in hospital where he suffered acutely from being denied water.
What details about the family are revealed, and why?
Consider how the family’s struggle to convince politicians to change the law and to enact legislation
protecting other kids, is framed and shot. Why are they shown walking long corridors, expressing
frustration and exhaustion, and how does the mother describe her project and what motivates her? How
do you think this is meant to impact the audience (remember, the filmmakers posed questions to these
people, and likely shot huge amounts of footage, and carefully selected pieces that fit their rhetorical
purpose.
There is no narrator in this movie, and yet a clear set of claims are advanced, and the movie is “cohesive”
– it ties together. How is this achieved? What recurring phrases, ideas, images and motifs are used to tie
the film together and present a unified argument?
How does the moviemaker achieve credibility (ethos)? How does the selection of people interviewed, the
presentation of issues, the images and footage shown, the sources drawn on, the data displayed, and other
such devices work to make the film seem believable?
Look at range of people selected, interviewed and filmed - how they are presented, in what contexts, with
what surroundings, and how are they framed? For example, 2 of the key authorities in the movie are Eric
Schlosser and Michael Pollan. One is a journalist and professor, the other is an author professor at
Berkeley. How are they shown? What are they wearing? How do they talk? What surroundings are they
shown in? etc.
How are rebuttals and objections handled? For example, consider the way the movie handles the objection
that food is all about personal choice and individuals are solely to blame for their health and diet. Pollan
states that this is always the argument that the companies make – that it’s not their fault if people eat
unhealthy food. The movie presents many objections to this, including the segment showing a Hispanic
family trying to find affordable food, who say that it’s really hard to eat in a healthy way.
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Sample Student Paper
Rhetorical Analysis of Anderson’s Confessions of a Radical Industrialist
Most businesses today simply strive to increase their profits by any means, rarely
considering the environment. But what sets business leader Ray Anderson apart from others is
his peculiar (but inspirational) goal of having a company that is completely sustainable to the
environment-without cutting profits. In his book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist,
Anderson explains his journey of transforming his business to eventually become completely
sustainable. With this book, his goal is to convince and inspire other companies to seek out
methods of production that will not have such harmful affects on environment as most industries
have today. He claims that it is in both business and society’s best interest to become completely
sustainable in the future. I will be analyzing some of the rhetorical strategies Anderson uses to
try and persuade other business leaders to follow in his footsteps. In this paper, I will identify
how Anderson uses the “3 pillars of persuasion-ethos, pathos, logos” defined in Julia T. Wood’s
book Communication in Our Lives to build a strong persuasive argument.
Let me start with defining ethos more in depth, and pointing out ways of enhancing it.
Ethos refers to a process in which the speaker builds a perception of good character and
credibility by the audience (Wood, 447). Ways that a speaker can enhance his/her ethos include
creating a perception that he/she-has integrity, is trustworthy, has a goodwill towards the
audience, knows the topic well, and demonstrates a dynamic commitment to the topic (Wood,
447). When analyzing Anderson’s argument, I saw how he uses all of the above attributions to
enhance his ethos. Now I will go on to show how he meets each of these points.
Integrity can be seen simply through his actions throughout both his lifetime and his
years of leading Interface. He has led his life and his company in a direction that is completely
consistent with his morals and beliefs in sustainability. He explains how he wants to do good by
the environment with considerations of people in the future, rather than have his actions be
dictated by greed like typical business leaders these days. Nobody in government or industry has
told him to make this bold move towards sustainability; he made the decision on his own based
on ethical values.
Another way to enhance ethos is to exercise goodwill towards the audience-business
owners and people in the community. In Chapter 10 of the book, he shows this goodwill by
telling about the programs Interface has launched to try and influence businesses towards
sustainability. Specifically, a program called InterfaceRAISE is a consulting arm that can
enlighten other businesses on how to become more sustainable, while still making a profit. In the
Chapter 10, Anderson provides a quote from the CEO of Wal Mart’s Sam’s Club speaking about
his experience with InterfaceRAISE reading,
“Visiting Interface and seeing the creativity to establish more sustainable practices made it
undeniable that the rest of us can do the same. We don’t have to spend time wondering if
we can do something. Instead, we can move on to figure out how” (156).
By including this quote, the author cleverly enhanced his ethos/credibility by showing
praise from other world-renowned corporations. Anderson clarifies his goodwill towards
other companies and society as a whole by the creation of a consulting arm meant to
help businesses increase profits and reduce their ecological footprint.
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In the beginning of the book, Anderson further heightens his credibility by stating the
achievements of both himself as an entrepreneur and Interface as a company. In the first chapter,
he explains how he came of 17 years of working under another company before he took the
plunge of starting his own. Now, he says the company has grown “from scratch into the world
leader in carpet tiles (modular carpet) with annual sales of more than a billion dollars” (2). That
is about 40 years of solid industrial knowledge, which directly relates to credibility. In addition
to that, he is the only one who has lead a top company through an environmental transformation
so drastic, so he is clearly among the most credible individuals to speak on the topic. In the view
of others, Anderson is seen as an expert consultant on the topic. In support of this, he was chosen
to serve on the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, and served as its co-chair (xii).
It is beyond doubt that Anderson speaks with dynamism about the issue, further
increasing his ethos. With quotes like this one from Chapter 16, Anderson describes his new
view of reality as “accepting the fragile finiteness of the earth; adopting a long view and putting
humans in their proper relationship with nature;” he captures the reader and puts them into his
mind (267). By speaking on how his thinking has changed, and showing enthusiasm in his new
ideas, it causes the audience to be enthused as well.
Now I will move on to recognize a second strategy of argument used by Anderson;
pathos. Pathos involves techniques used by the speaker to arouse feelings among listeners.
Throughout the book, Anderson uses certain techniques to enhance his pathos, which include:
personalizing the issue, appealing to the audience’s needs/values, and bringing material alive
(Wood, 450).
Anderson provides a detailed example in Chapter 2, which personalizes the issue for the
audience by putting them in the same situation he faced. He builds up to this moment by
describing how proud he was of himself in taking a huge risk and building such a successful
company from nothing. In telling the story, he lets the audience feel the pride he felt up to 1994,
when a powerful question was introduced that changed his thinking entirely. The question, sent
to him by a sales associate, read, “Some customers want to know what Interface is doing for the
environment. How should we answer?” (9). Anderson exercises an effective strategy of pathos in
this instance by promoting feelings of inspiration among the audience through his story of
accomplishment, and then letting them feel the shame and/or confusion he felt on the day this
question was sent to him.
A second method found in Anderson’s argument to enhance his pathos is appealing to the
needs of his audience (Wood, 450). In this example, his intended audience is business leaders.
Significant needs/values of conventional business leaders today and tomorrow is always going to
be profit, reputation, and efficiency. The book provides many steps for businesses to take in
order to meet these values from a business point-of-view, and the author uses detailed examples
of how shifting to environmental innovations can help meet the conventional values of today’s
businesses. A good example of Anderson using this strategy is in Chapter 4 when he is talking
about ‘climbing mount sustainability’. In this chapter, Anderson appeals to needs and values of
businesses by saying that “capitalist, enlightened self-interest” can be a driving force for
companies to move towards sustainability (38). And he goes on to say that the payoff of
sustainability will be “nothing short of survival-while earning a solid, honest, ethical profit” (39).
These statements represent an effective strategy of argument using pathos by appealing to the
needs of business-profit, reputation- and saying that it’s in their own self interest to take a more
environmental path towards achieving these needs.
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Finally, I will touch on the third method that Anderson uses to enhance pathos-bringing
material alive (Wood, 450). He does this by telling stories and using language that paints verbal
pictures. In the start of Chapter 14, Anderson writes,
“I explained how Paul Hawken’s book, The Ecology of Commerce, indicted me as a
plunderer of the earth. I was a captain of industry, a success by anybody’s measure.
And by my very success I was also an instrument of destruction, an unwitting
participant in driving humanity straight off a cliff” (225).
This section is a textbook example of how to choose language that will impact the audience, and
paint a vivid verbal picture. From the view of the audience, plundering the earth sounds worse
than harming it, and driving humanity off a cliff sounds more convincing than hurting humanity.
These words are clear-cut examples of how the author enhances the pathos aspect of the
argument with the instrument of language.
Last but not least, I will address the logos aspect of the author’s persuasive argument.
Logos deals with how the author uses logical thought and reasoning, along with evidence, to
persuade the audience (Wood, 450). Typically, two types of reasoning are used: inductive and
deductive reasoning (Wood, 450). I will show how Anderson uses evidence to enforce his
reasoning-which ultimately enforces his argument. Anderson mostly uses the technique of
deductive reasoning, introducing global/general claims and backing them using specific
examples and/or evidence.
In Chapter 14, Anderson uses deductive reasoning, first by stating a generally accepted
claim that “our universities have been very good for years at turning out professionals equipped
with skills appropriate to the first industrial revolution, but not the new one” (227). In other
words, Anderson blames universities for teaching students old ways of business practice rather
than considering the environmental issues that businesses will face in the future. The essence of
the author’s argument is that current business practices can be attributed to what universities
teach. He suggests that if universities would teach more environmental business practices, it will
greatly help shift business to be more sustainable in the future. Using deductive reasoning,
Anderson continues to support this general claim by providing a more specific example found in
the transformation of his own alma mater, Georgia Tech. Anderson explains how in 1995, the
university revised its mission statement to be more committed to teaching sustainability in its
business and technological practices. Anderson goes on to say that in years since, “Georgia Tech
is now among the world’s best in the areas of green policy, green practices, and integrated
academic curricula”, followed by a list of the institute’s environmental achievements (231). With
the previous quotations, the author effectively used deductive reasoning to state a general claim
that universities can help solve the environmental issue of sustainability in the future, and
supported this claim by showing a success story, making the claim more convincing to the
audience.
In conclusion, the author effectively used and considered the argumentative techniques of
ethos, pathos and logos when writing this book. In the beginnings of the book, Anderson does a
good job establishing his ethos by showing his integrity and goodwill towards the audience,
along with his knowledge and enthusiasm about the issue. His credibility is based off his 40
years of being a leader and participant of industrial business, and his story of coming from
humble beginnings to being mentioned in several business magazines. He exercised pathos by
appealing to the needs of other business leaders that may be reading, proposing steps they can
take that are in their own self interest of seeking more profits, while doing less harm to the
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environment in the process. When appealing to readers who may not be business leaders, he uses
language to bring the issue alive and relate it to all of humanity. Towards the end of the book,
Anderson uses logos to convince the audience that his argument is based off sound reasoning and
evidence, suggesting that they begin to act now towards a more sustainable future. These three
strategies helped to make the book more persuasive, and convince readers to take action.
Works Cited
Anderson, Ray C., and Robin A. White. Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People,
Purpose : Doing Business by Respecting the Earth. New York: St. Martin's, 2009. Print.
Wood, J. T. (2009). Communication in our lives (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
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