Rhetorical Analysis of a Website Essay

1. The essay must be in the standard essay format (minimum 5 paragraphs) and have:

An introduction, thesis statement, 3 body paragraphs of main ideas, and a conclusion.

2. For your essay to fit into the Rhetorical Analysis of a Website essay guidelines, you must pick one of the two broad topics that you chose for your first essay, find a website (don’t use the library databases), and evaluate the websites/links by answering the questions below:

• Authority – Who is the author? What is their point of view? Is the author credible? Does the author have bias? Why or why not?
• Purpose – Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience? Does the source play to the correct audience? Why or why not?
• Publication & format What type of website (com, edu, gov, or org) is it?
• Describe the ways the type of website adds to or detracts from its credibility.
• Relevance – How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope? Date of publication – When was it written? Has it been updated?
• Documentation – Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite? Are the sources credible? Why or why not?
• Layout and Appearance- How is the layout on the main web page? Are the background, lettering, images it easy or difficult to read? In what ways?
• Ease of Use- is it easy to information? Is the information easy to understand? Why or why not?

3. Any regular website is fine. The quality of the website is up to you. However, don’t think the best scholarly website, the better. It’s perfectly fine to pick a bad website as well. In fact, it may be better for you so you’ll know what to look for.

4. The essay should be 750-1000 words (3-4 complete pages and doesnt include the works cited page). I won’t mind if it’s a few pages longer. Papers written in Microsoft word with double-spacing, 1 inch margins, and 12 point font. You must also cite your sources in MLA using in-text and on a works cited page. For this essay, you should have at least one source-the website youre discussing. If the in-text citing or works cited page are missing, the highest grade possible will be a D. If both are missing, its and F.

5. Keep in mind, that you can still use the broad topic or narrow it down to something more specific.

6. To be complete, the essays must have a rough draft with a completed peer review worksheet, essay discussion questions, and a final draft.

7. Since it’s a formal essay, it should have no “I believes, with regards to opinions, and should be in a flowing and easy to read style. It should also be neat with few grammar errors. Remember you’re the expert. You have to assume the audience has no clue about what you are stating.