Essay 1 is a rhetorical analysis of a written text.
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- Various writings should be chosen to practice doing rhetorical analysis, including a focus on context, exigence/purpose and audience but possibly other aspects of the rhetorical situation.
- Close reading of the visual text, including tone, symbolism, visual irony, and motifs will supplement the rhetorical analysis.
- A genre that normally requires rhetorical analysis, such as a book review, should be chosen as the Essay 1 genre.
- Real-world examples of the genre chosen in #3 should be studied to identify the features of this genre.
Essay 2 is a rhetorical analysis of a visual text.
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- An image, or set of images, is analyzed based in large part on an analysis of the rhetorical situation in which the image appeared, especially including cultural and historical contexts but also including all the elements of the rhetorical situation.
- Close reading of the visual text, including tone, symbolism, visual irony, and motifs will supplement the rhetorical analysis.
- A genre that normally involves analysis of images, such as a cultural critique, should be chosen as the Essay 2 genre.
- Real-world examples of the genre chosen in #3 should be studied to identify the features of this genre.
Essay 3 is research-based rhetorical discourse in the service of an argument.
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- Students choose a current issue and a relevant audience to be addressed.
- Students define the issue in terms of cultural/historical context and as a rhetorical problem capable of being solved.
- Students develop a rhetorical strategy to identify and evaluate possible solutions, argue for the plausibility of a particular solution, and to reach a particular audience.
- Real-world research reports or proposals are studied as models for Essay 3.