ISO Rhetorical Analysis Essay Prompts

[sk917]

Hello hive mind!

I'm returning to the classroom after a brief hiatus, and am teaching Freshman Composition with Everything's an Argument 8e. I'm looking for any samples you'd be willing to share of essay prompts, specifically rhetorical analysis. I think I've written a pretty good assignment prompt, but I'd love to see what others--who may or may not use EaA--have for this. I appreciate any samples, and wisdom, you're willing to share!

Thanks,

Sarah

[blitsinger]

Hi, Sarah,

I start off the semester having the students write an essay in which they argue for their own definition of a concept. We about terms that are in dispute:

https://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/4551023a.html

or that need to be distinguished from one another, e.g., refugee/migrant

I often have t hem read the first chapter of bell hooks' All about Love. It is an extended definition of love that employs most of the rhetorical strategies for defining a term.

I explain to students that in any paper they write they will need to make sure that the reader understands the meaning they have assigned to a particular word, whether that choice is based on specialized use in a particular field, personal experience, or effort to redefine the term in order to bring about change.

This really highlights that everything is an argument.

Betty Litsinger

Director of Multilingual Writing

English House 212

Bryn Mawr College

101 North Merion Avenue

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010

blitsinger@brynmawr.edu

Telephone: 610.526.7745

“When you encounter difficulties, you need to be optimistic. The pessimists tend to die.” Zhou Youguang