Study Notes
First Draft of a Rhetorical Analysis of a Public Document Assignment
Write a 750-1,000-word essay that includes an analysis of a public document.
Your task is to do a close reading of a public document, summarize it, and then analyze its rhetorical situation. Use the sample rhetorical analysis from the textbook (pages 57-60) as a flexible guide—not as a rigid model. Your analysis will contain a few more features than the one found in the book. How you organize your analysis will depend in part on the writing you choose and in part on the decisions you make about how to arrange the parts of your analysis.
Directions (based on the Rhetorical Analysis assignment from chapter 2 of The Call to Write).
Read the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web page on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United States. The link to the page is http://www.cdc.gov/NCBDDD/adhd/data.html
To prepare for your analysis, use the reading strategies presented in chapter 2 to come to terms with the reading you’ve chosen: 1. Do a first close reading that uses underlining, annotation, and summary to make sure you understand what the writer is saying. Go back to any sections that need clarification. Chapter 2 can help you do a close reading. 2. On a second reading, pay attention to what the writer is doing by describing the writer’s strategy. Chapter 2 can help you describe the writer’s strategy.
Conduct a preanalysis. Use your close reading to analyze the rhetorical situation. Here are some questions to guide your analysis. You do not need to answer all of them—pick the ones that make the most sense to you. Your close reading will help you generate ideas for your essay. 1. What is the context of issues? What do you know about the topic? What issues does the topic raise? Is there a larger debate, discussion, or controversy already going on? What seems to be at stake? 2. Who is the writer? What do you know about the writer’s background,
Write a 750-1,000-word essay that includes an analysis of a public document.
Your task is to do a close reading of a public document, summarize it, and then analyze its rhetorical situation. Use the sample rhetorical analysis from the textbook (pages 57-60) as a flexible guide—not as a rigid model. Your analysis will contain a few more features than the one found in the book. How you organize your analysis will depend in part on the writing you choose and in part on the decisions you make about how to arrange the parts of your analysis.
Directions (based on the Rhetorical Analysis assignment from chapter 2 of The Call to Write).
Read the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web page on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United States. The link to the page is http://www.cdc.gov/NCBDDD/adhd/data.html
To prepare for your analysis, use the reading strategies presented in chapter 2 to come to terms with the reading you’ve chosen: 1. Do a first close reading that uses underlining, annotation, and summary to make sure you understand what the writer is saying. Go back to any sections that need clarification. Chapter 2 can help you do a close reading. 2. On a second reading, pay attention to what the writer is doing by describing the writer’s strategy. Chapter 2 can help you describe the writer’s strategy.
Conduct a preanalysis. Use your close reading to analyze the rhetorical situation. Here are some questions to guide your analysis. You do not need to answer all of them—pick the ones that make the most sense to you. Your close reading will help you generate ideas for your essay. 1. What is the context of issues? What do you know about the topic? What issues does the topic raise? Is there a larger debate, discussion, or controversy already going on? What seems to be at stake? 2. Who is the writer? What do you know about the writer’s background,