Midterm Project

Basics: a 5-6 page, double-spaced paper analyzing the constitutive rhetoric of a law, proposed law, or other legal document

Our readings in the first part of the semester have discussed how legal documents and their surrounding rhetoric constitute communities. The legal documents we and our readings have discussed make implicit arguments about who belongs and what belonging should look like, as well as what values a community shares and what those values mean. Because no text can do everything, these texts are inherently limited, and because defining an in-group requires an out-group, there will always need to be someone or something left out. Your job in this paper is to describe, using resources and methods from our class so far, the rhetorical work of a legal text. Your argument should not be about whether this text is bad or good, although you may find that the cultural effects of or assumptions within the text are objectionable. Your task is analytical rather than evaluative: what cultural and rhetorical work is this legal text doing, and how does it do it?

Choosing a Text to Analyze

Even if you don’t care at all about law, you care about something or someone that laws affect! Try to find something related to your interests, ideally from the last 10-20 years. If you would like to analyze something pre-2000, please clear it with me first. I recommend a bill or law rather than a court case (because bills/laws tend to be more legible and shorter) although you could look at a very narrow part of a court’s opinion or related argument. Executive orders would also work for this.

Depending on your interests, you may consider laws, proposed laws, or executive orders about: education, freedom of speech, gender equity, LGBTQ+ rights, sports/student athletes, etc.

Writing Process

Your final paper will need to make an argument about the constitutive rhetoric of this legal document. You may also want to draw on or analyze public defenses of or critiques of this legal document, if they are relevant to your argument.

• Identify a possible topic and take notes on your primary text/texts. What story or competing stories is this text telling about a problem? How does this text constitute a community? Who is being included/excluded? What cultural assumptions does it reinforce or contest? Consider connections to our readings as well.
• Use notes and instructor feedback to outline an argument. What claim are you making about the constitutive rhetoric of this text? Why does the claim matter? What evidence do you have to support it?
• Consider the material work of this law in the world. Who is/would be affected by it? Who benefits? Who, if anyone, is harmed?
• Remember that writing is a recursive process and your argument may shift as you go. It’s normal to change your position based on new information.

Evaluation

For a grade of B, your paper must meet the following criteria:

• Makes a clear argument about the constitutive rhetoric of an appropriate legal text
• Uses evidence from the text to support claims
• Draws on class readings and discussion to support or clarify your argument
• Cites all sources in MLA format, both parenthetically and on a separate Works Cited page
• 5-6 pages, double spaced, 12-point font

Papers will receive an A if they are exceptionally insightful, exceptionally well-argued, or use the class texts in especially compelling and effective ways.

I will attach my miderm propossal as well as the two text i want to use and a inclass text we discussed. which is this : https://revolution.chnm.org/d/293/