Did the author successfully meet his or her purpose, considering his or her intended audience?

To analyze something is to examine it very closely, to break it apart into its separate components, in order to illustrate or argue your view on the analyzed material. When a chemist wants to know what makes up a compound, he or she will break it apart and look at all of its elements to see what it is made of. We can do the same thing with writing, which can be broken down to sentence and even word level in order to more deeply analyze meaning within any given text.

For this assignment, you will be asked to analyze an essay in an attempt to argue the author’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness in getting his/her message across to his/her intended audience. This will require you not only to identify the purpose of his/her work but also to identify who the intended audience is. After selecting any essay from our textbook or an article from online, please follow the guidelines below in order to articulate your argument of the source work’s effectiveness. Be sure to consider the author’s intended purpose and intended audience. Also consider what parts of the essay reached or failed to reach the intended audience, and why those parts succeeded or failed. When analyzing writing, there are a variety of things you can possibly discuss involving the text, from close readings of sentence structure, word choice, and tone to deeper messages or commentary on cultural matters and historical context. Analysis is based on interpretation, so find your own interpretations of the text and build your analysis from there.

The essay will need to be properly structured with clear topic sentences and transitions. Just like any other essay, your writing must have a clear point to it—a thesis statement that gives an argument, which your analysis will support. You will also need to thoroughly illustrate what your thesis is claiming by giving examples from the essay through the use of quoting, paraphrasing, and/or summarizing. Follow the format given below to structure your essay:

Paragraph One: Summary
Begin your essay with an effective 6-12 sentence summary of the source text. Be sure to clearly identify the author and title of the piece and to use recurring identifiers throughout the summary so that the reader knows you are still summarizing (e.g. The author goes on to explain…, Smith also states that…, …according to the essay).

Paragraph Two: Introduction of Purpose, Audience, Effectiveness of Source
Follow your summary paragraph with a 6-12 sentence introduction paragraph, which transitions from your summary to your thesis and rhetorical analysis. This paragraph should introduce two key components: intended purpose and intended audience. Most importantly, this paragraph must contain a well-developed thesis statement arguing the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the author’s argument. Your thesis should clearly state whether the essay was effective or ineffective. A good thesis often builds tension and forecasts the essay’s major points of argument. A model for a thesis arguing “ineffective” may look like this: Although [author]’s essay was intended to [purpose of essay], “[title of essay]” is ultimately ineffective because .

Body Paragraphs
The body paragraphs should attempt to illustrate the thesis of your essay through organized arguments and use of the work itself to help support your claims. Use the piece by summarizing, paraphrasing, and/or directly quoting to support what you say about the essay. Only discuss the effectiveness of the essay; do not expand on its topic with your own knowledge or opinions. This is not a personal response or a personal critique. Your life experiences, your personal stance on the issue, and your enjoyment of the essay are nonessential to this assignment and should not be included. Your goal here is to dissect the source and show its effectiveness. Did the author successfully meet his or her purpose, considering his or her intended audience? That’s all you’re answering. Be sure to stick to that task.

You should not do other research for this paper; you will only use your own perceptions, observations, and the chosen work itself. Be sure to correctly give both in-text and Works Cited citations in proper MLA documentation style (refer to your textbook for help on this). Both are necessary in order to avoid committing plagiarism, so do not forget them! Go to the Writing Center for help with this if needed.

Conclusion Paragraph
This is a place for you to ponder the significance of what your essay has revealed about this piece. Try not to summarize the main points your essay discusses. Instead, try to answer the “So what?” question. Return to your thesis and expand your paper out by discussing the larger implications or effects it could have. Remember, you’re joining the conversation that has been going on about this piece, and the conversation shouldn’t end after your paper is complete. There’s a lot you can do in a conclusion paragraph, but keep in mind that it is the last thing your reader will read and, hence, has the possibility of leaving a lasting impression. Take advantage of that!

Your essay will be 3-4 pages in length and follow MLA formatting guidelines. Also, remember that this essay will be reviewed by your fellow classmates. Your final draft will be submitted to Canvas (here) and the workshop sheets to me on the assigned due date. If needed, you may use your one-week extension on this assignment.

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