Essay #1: Analysis Essay
Peer Review Draft Due: 9/1 (in-class peer reviews 9/6)
Final and Initial Draft Due: 9/13
Craft a coherent essay (i.e. one that is not just a series of paragraph responses to the prompt) in which you respond (in an appropriate order) to all of the following components: Identify and provide a brief summary of the author’s argument; Describe and discuss at least two strategies that the author uses to support his or her argument; Describe the overall structure of the reading selection and explain whether it furthers the aims of the author’s argument; Discuss the premise(s) and/or assumption(s) on which the argument is based; Evaluate the extent to which you find the argument convincing.
This essay is not an “agree or disagree” exercise, nor is it intended to generate an extensive summary of the article. Responses that emphasize personal opinion or summary will not earn a passing score.
Important Terms (from the prompt)
Pay close attention to how the writing prompt is phrased. It is very important to focus on the exact assigned task and address all parts of the writing prompt. If you address what you are being asked, you increase your chances of earning a better score. Here are some terms to look for along with brief definitions:
Summarize: Requires you to put the author's argument in your own words. You want to keep this as brief as possible by limiting the summary to only 1 paragraph.
Describe, Explain, Discuss: Beyond summary, these terms require you to analyze, to go beyond what is written to how it is written. Effective description, explanation, and discussion are objective and impersonal, rather than subjective. Furthermore, they employ specific, direct, concrete language.
Evaluate: More subjective than objective analysis, evaluation requires judgment and assessment based on reasoning, and evidence. Evaluating an argument goes beyond declaring whether or not you agree with it. You are required to assess how its strengths and weaknesses contribute its convincingness. Pay Attention to how the writer responds to potential opposition.
Strategies: Strategies are moves or devices that help build and support arguments. Commonly used strategies include examples, statistical support, appeals to the emotions of the reader (pathos), author’s credibility (ethos), analogies and comparisons, irony, refutations of opposing arguments, and quotations from experts and famous sources. Stylistic devices such as repetition, alliteration, and metaphor can also be characterized as strategies.
Structure: The way a piece of writing develops; how is it built?
Premise and Assumption: Treated as synonyms in this assignment, premises and assumptions are the principles, beliefs, and values upon which arguments rest. Premises and assumptions can be explicit or implicit (implied or suggested) in an argument. They are effective to the extent they are shared by the reader, thus forming "common ground."
