PROMPT: Appeals Analysis Essay
READINGBruce Cannon Gibney:“How the Baby Boomers Destroyed Everything” PURPOSEThe purpose of this 4-5 page essay is to be able to accurately identify and evaluate ethos, pathos, and logosas well as coherently argue for the effectiveness of an argument.
PROMPT For this essay, examine and evaluate either Gibney’sargument. To do this, analyze the strategieshe uses effectively and also criticize the less effective strategies. After a thorough and unbiased evaluation, assert your conclusion about the effectiveness of the author’s argument based on your analysis.
BREAKDOWN 1. Use your critical thinking skills to identify emotional, logical, andethical appealsthat majorly affect the author’s argument. You may find only a few that have a huge effect –look for recurring elements or elements that affect the author’s argument in a profound or key way. 2. Use your rhetorical lens to discuss elements of ethos, pathos, & logos [ethical, emotional, & logical appeals] that affect the author’s argument. 3. Write your rhetorical analysis focusing on the prompt: develop an argument that supports the following claim: The author’s use of rhetorical appeals is effective/ineffective[choose one or the other]. [Note: You may alter this claim to suit your tastes, but be sure your version clearly states the same idea in an arguable sentence.] 4. Argue toward a conclusion that states how effective the author is in the use of the rhetorical One way to write this essay is to devote§appeals.
STRUCTURE TIPS separate sections to ethos, pathos andlogos, looking at the most While you§outstanding use and misuse of these appeals in the text. should discuss strengths and weaknesses of the author’s writing strategies as you go, develop a deeper discussion of strengths and Unlike theüweaknesses in a separate paragraph before you conclude
NOTES general argument essay, this essay does not ask you to engage in a debateon thetopic. Arguingabout the topic of the article means you are Be sure your main claim is about how effective the author’süoff topic. argument is and that your topic sentences signal what each paragraph is about.
Use the AXES for Rhetoric handout.
