Rhetorical Analysis

Write a rhetorical analysis of Jose Vargass My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant article for an audience of readers who have not encountered the article youre analyzing. For our purposes, a rhetorical analysis explains purpose, audience, genre, and context. These questions will guide your analysis:

Who is the audience for this article, and how successful was the writer in anticipating their audiences expectations and understanding of the topic, and in what ways did the writer appeal to their audience and were they persuasive in doing so? Do you think you are a member of the writers intended audience?

What was the writers purpose in writing this article, and how successfully do they articulate this purpose, whether stated or implied? How successful is the writer at fulfilling their purpose?

How would you describe the style and tone of the article, and are these choices consistent with the genre of the journal or publication in which the article appears? What are the effects of these choices on the writers intended audience and on you, as a reader (whether youre in the intended audience or not)?

Has the writer sufficiently situated their article within an ongoing conversation about their topic, and did they cite sources and acknowledge others ideas and research in a meaningful way?

How did the author utilize pathos and logos?

Details

Your paper should focus on explaining the key points in your analysis, and together, they will combine into a coherent main point. The following list contains examples of how to state a coherent main point for this assignment:

WRITERS FULL NAME, in their article XYZ, does an excellent job of appealing to their audience through multiple examples and anecdotes, and as a result it is enjoyable to read. However, the article is not fully successful in achieving its stated purpose because WRITERS LAST NAMEs conclusion does not include any discussion of how their audience could change their behaviors and address the underlying problem of TOPIC.

In ACADEMIC JOURNAL, articles usually follow a clear structure in which a writer explores a social issue, reviews other scholars attempts to understand the social issue, and then proposes her own analysis of the issue to propose a new solution. WRITERS FULL NAME, in her article XYZ, does exactly that, and in this paper, I will discuss the most effective aspects of WRITERS LAST NAMEs work and explain why they are so effective for their particular audience and purpose.

In XYZ, WRITERS FULL NAME is successful at establishing a clear topic and problem that needs a solution, as is consistent with the academic genre in which the article is published. But the article is weighed down by too much information and too many statistics, facts and charts that are presented without enough context and explanation. It is possible that some readers in WRITERS LAST NAMEs intended audience do not need a lot of context, but context is always vital to be sure that readers understand where the ideas exist in conversation with other writers and disciplines. Thus, WRITERS LAST NAME is only partly successful in achieving their purpose in this article.

Notice that in each example, the main point is not just saying that the article is good or bad. Instead, these examples serve to begin a complex analysis, and this is what I want to see in your papers. Aside from figuring out your own main point, it is common for students to struggle in deciding how much to summarize the article and where to include the summary. There are essentially two good options: in most cases, you may summarize the article while you in the process of explaining your main point, but you may also begin your paper with two or three paragraphs of summary before launching into an explanation of your main point. Either is fine, and you should choose whichever structure fits best with your analysis and main point.

Format

Your first draft of your paper must be at least four (4) pages long, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a 12-point font. Quotes and paraphrases from your research sources must be cited in-text and listed at the end using MLA format. No additional research or source material is necessary for this assignment, and if you use any additional sources they must be cited. You may write in the first-person (using I) and the style of your paper should be formal and academic. That is, you may cite personal experience if it is fully necessary to your rhetorical analysis and main point, but personal digressions and unrelated opinions should not be included.