Description
In this final assignment, you are tasked to combine these two skills. Write a three-page review and analysis essay about Molly Osberg’s “How to Not Die in America .” Following are the instructions:
1. Read the chapter on “Motivation” again. Write an introductory paragraph that interests your reader. Maybe find an anecdote about healthcare that is relevant to the issue in hand.
2. Make clear why Osberg writes the essay. Condense her main claims. For suggestions, see the Summary chapter I have sent out last week. Be sure not to miss any major claim in the essay.
3. Analyze Osberg’s rhetorical strategies. Here are a few questions to consider: How do her arguments proceed? How does she unfold her narrative? To what genre does this essay belong? What is the purpose of those one-sentence paragraphs? Why does she maintain a colloquial style? What are the numbers for? How does she you those numbers? What does the phrase “designated survivor” mean? Why does it appear in the conclusion?
4. You can also consider what the essay is appealing to. Ethos? That is to say, shared values. Pathos—the emotional response from the reader? Or logos?
5. Organize your essay in a way that is confidently coherent. See the chapter on “Global Coherence” in Style.
6. Try to be concise as well. Do not repeat the information you have stated already. See “Concision” in Style.
