The goal of Project 2 is to give you the opportunity to give me (and your classmates) your take on how a certain writing works. Your mission in Project 2, in other words is to come up with an answer to this question: What rhetorical (i.e., persuasive) stuff is going on in the essay you chose? And why?
We’ve talked about the rhetorical situation and the rhetorical appeals to character, emotion, and logic/argument. These are tools you should use to figure out when and where and how the essay (and its author) is trying to persuade you of something. Once you decide what the author is trying to tell his or her audience, you then have to decide (and communicate) whether it works or not.
Remember: you want your analysis to be understandable. That means that you’re going to have to identify and label your analysis — what are you saying? It’s one thing to find rhetorical moments, it’s another (and better) thing to find those moments and to tell (and/or show using the text) us what they are. Is this an appeal to emotion? Is it a moment when the voice (and presence) of the author really shows through? Etc.
Remember, any essay in E and E is fair game. This project will be due next Wednesday, 2/16