McArdle’s article
Assignment: Answer at least SEVEN of the following questions for McArdle’s article and post to the Assignment tab located in the Module.
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Who is the author and what are her credentials (expertise, education, experience)?
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When and where was the text published? What is the genre?
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Who is the intended audience? How do you know this?
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Does the article have a thesis? If so, what is it and where is it located?
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What is McArdle’s overall purpose?
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What types of evidence does McArdle provide? Is the evidence accurate, significant, and convincing? Does McArdle document her evidence? Why or why not?
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What appeals does McArdle use—logos, pathos, ethos? How does she use them? Does she use them effectively?
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Does McArdle argue logically or does the article suffer from any logical fallacies? What fallacies can you identify?
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What assumptions does McArdle make about her topic/audience? Are they valid assumptions?
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To what extent does McArdle achieve her purpose? How persuasive is McArdle’s article? Does McArdle convince you of the correctness of her thesis? Why/why not? What makes the article persuasive? What detracts from its persuasiveness? What could make it more persuasive?
Rhetorical Analysis Assignment
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For this assignment, you will write a rhetorical analysis/critique of Megan McArdle’s “The College Bubble.” As a starting point, you should identify the author’s, purpose, thesis, and target audience and then select those aspects of the article that you want to focus on in your essay. You could write a positive or negative critique, emphasizing what an author does effectively or fails to do, or you could analyze both the strengths and weaknesses of a text. You should narrow the focus of your critique; do not attempt to analyze all aspects of the article. For this assignment, you could do any of the following or could go in other directions as well:
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Analyze a technique or related techniques that the writer uses to achieve her purpose, including organization, evidence, appeals (logos, pathos, ethos), language, style, word choice, or tone (writer’s attitude). It is often good to narrow your focus rather than attempting to analyze multiple aspects of the article; for example, you could analyze what McArdle does/fails to do to establish her ethos within the article and how it impacts the article, or you could analyze McArdle’s use of expert opinion and how it supports/fails to support her thesis.
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Analyze how McArdle appropriately addresses critical issues or focus on ones that she overlooks, fails to address, or dismisses too easily.
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Analyze the persuasiveness of the author’s conclusions and their validity or implications; you could focus on the ways the author deals with opposing ideas and makes a stronger/weaker case by addressing them.
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Analyze the author’s logical reasoning and/or identify logical fallacies within the argument (hasty generalization, begging the question, faulty cause and effect).
You need to develop a thesis that presents the central claim of your essay. However you choose to organize your essay, you should begin with an introduction that provides a context for the reader to understand your analysis and that presents your thesis (typically at the end of the introduction); you should then move to the body where you develop the thesis and support it with evidence; and then you should close by reiterating your thesis, often emphasizing its importance, and providing a sense of completeness to the essay.
Audience: Target the professor and other students in the class, all of whom are familiar with the article.
Purpose: Critique/analyze McArdle’s article. Illustrate your critical reading and writing skills in a well-written essay that shows your ability to analyze a written text, to present that analysis in an essay, and to follow the conventions of essay and academic writing. Remember that your purpose is to critique McArdle’s article, not write an essay on the value of a college education.
Evidence: Provide evidence from the article to support your thesis and other claims you make within the essay.
Length: 3-4 pages, double spaced, 12-point standard font (Times New Roman).
Documentation: Document sources using MLA. Use in-text citations to identify the source for all paraphrases and quotations that you use from McArdle or any other outside sources.
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT
