Writing Exercise 1
Now that you have read three essays (Nestle, Freedman, Carr), I would like you to choose one whose ideas you find to be particularly important. None of the essays is “easy” so make your selection based upon the ideas the writer presents and whether or not you find these ideas meaningful, provocative, and intriguing, and engage you as a citizen.
In this first writing assignment you will analyze how and why the author develops these ideas. To do this, you will have to define the key terms rhetorical situation, exigence, and rhetorical audience and analyze how each is reflected in the essay of your choice. Describe the rhetorical situation that the writer is responding to by writing the essay (or speech). What is the “exigence” that gives rise to the essay and what action or change do you think the author would like to see? Who is the author’s audience? How can you tell? Use brief direct quotes from your main text as well as Bitzer’s essay as you develop your analysis. Your essay will not be convincing without proper evidence to support them.
This assignment should be at least 2 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font. Please copy and paste your assignment. Do not attach it.
Writing Exercise 2
For this exercise, respond to the controlling exigence (or secondary exigencies) in the essay of your choice. To do this you should focus on a particular idea that the author develops, so use a couple of quotations that directly represent this idea. Examine this idea carefully. Is this idea important? Why? What are your own thoughts in response to this idea? As you conclude your essay, focus on your own point of view and develop an argument that is somewhat new and either builds upon and extends the author’s ideas or is different from the author’s. It may be a different or unique solution to the problem that the author may not have considered.
This assignment should be at least two pages in length, double-spaced. Please copy and paste your assignment.
Essay 1–Rough Draft
The goal of this essay is for you to be able to analyze the exigence presented in the essay of your choice and propose solutions to the problem based on this analysis. The ideas of the published essay should be your springboard, a place of interest or curiosity from which you launch your own ideas. The essay you’re writing should leave the reader with new thoughts and questions and not merely the ideas of the published essay.
As you put Ex. 1 and Ex. 2 together as a rough draft, think of the “parts” of your essay –the analysis of the text, inclusion of Bitzer’s ideas, your response to the ideas of the text, and development of your own thoughts that leads to new ideas and solutions. Please provide sub-headings to the various parts of your essay that guide your readers and help you in focusing and organizing your ideas. Your essay should be coherent and well-organized in structure and compelling in its subject and style. You must use brief quotes from the text as supporting evidence.
Put together all the writing you have done (writing exercises 1 and 2) in the form of a rough draft. You must use brief quotes from the text as supporting evidence.
Please create an interesting and descriptive title for your draft. Your draft should be at least 5 to 6 pages long. Please submit your rough draft as an attachment in Word.