Objectives:
Use techniques for critical reading
Evaluate how personal context influences your own and others’ perspectives
Understand how perspective and bias can influence argument
Conduct basic library database searches
Summarize sources effectively
Practice responsible use and correct citation of sources
Write a rhetorical analysis
Instructions:
For this assignment, you will apply the techniques of rhetorical analysis from Chapter 4 to the media violence essay from Chapter 2 that is most persuasive to you. (If you’ve changed your mind as we’ve worked on this unit, you can choose a different essay than the one you originally selected.) This time, you’ll be writing as yourself, with your imaginary critic as the audience. This essay is essentially an expansion of the elements in a rhetorical analysis paragraph into a fully-developed rhetorical analysis essay. Instead of a sentence or two on each element, you’ll have an entire paragraph to examine each element in more depth.
Tips:
Please view this handout on Writing a Critical Response for more information on writing a critical response.
Please view this page on The Rhetorical Situation for an informative PowerPoint presentation on The Rhetorical Situation. The file is located at the top of the linked web page.
Please review the MLA formatting videos available at the end of this weekly module.
Requirements:
Approximately 900-1000 words, plus a Works Cited page in MLA Format. Do not forget your in-text citations!
SIUC Writing Center
write.siuc.edu
WRITING THE CRITICAL RESPONSE
–adapted from Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, 4
th
edition, Writing: Invention Forma and Style
by Podis & Podis, The Purposeful Writer by Donna Gorrell
A critique is an analysis of and a commentary on another piece of writing. It generally
focuses on technique as well as on content. A critical response essay (or interpretive
essay or review) has two missions: to summarize a source’s main idea and to respond to
the source’s main ideas with reactions based on your synthesis.
Summarizing
The first step to writing is to read actively and thoughtfully, seeking answers to the
following questions as you go:
? What are the main points, ideas, or arguments of the work (book, article, play
essay, etc.)?
? How is the work organized?
? What evidence/support does the author give?
? What is the primary purpose of the work?
(For further guidance on summarizing, see our handout Five Keys to Writing Effective
Summaries.)
Analyzing (interpretation and evaluation)
To help you generate content for your analysis, consider the following questions:
? Does the work achieve its purpose? Fully or only partially?
? Was the purpose worthwhile to begin with? Or was it too limited, trivial, broad,
theoretical, etc.?
? Is any of the evidence weak or insufficient? In what way? Conversely, is the
evidence/support particularly effective or strong?
? Can I supply further explanation to clarify or support any of the main points,
ideas, and arguments?
? Are there sections you don’t understand? Why?
? Was there any area where the author offered too much or too little information?
? Is the organization of the work an important factor? Does its organization help me
understand it, hinder my understanding, or neither?
? Is anything about the language or style noteworthy?
Organization
The length or your essay and whether you respond to a single passage or to an entire
work will vary with the assignment. Regardless of length and breadth, all critical
responses include the following basic elements:
SIUC Writing Center
write.siuc.edu
? Introduction:
? Body:
o Summary
o Transition
o Analysis: Evaluate the evidence: sufficient (enough evidence, examples),
representative(large enough pool/sample), relevant(accurate correlations),
accurate, claims fairly qualified
o Transition
o Response: base reaction on your own experience, prior knowledge, and
opinions (?)
? Conclusion:
? Documentation:
Within the body, you may choose from three basic patterns of organization: write all the
summary paragraphs first, followed by the analysis portion; alternate between summary
and analysis paragraphs so that each paragraph of summary is followed by a critique of
the summarized information; or combine a summary and critique of each idea within
each paragraph of the body.
