Textual Analysis Assignment Sheet

After spending time analyzing advertisements last week, you know that advertisers carefully think

through and skillfully design both the visual and written elements of advertisements in order to put

forward both explicit and implicit arguments. You shouldn’t be surprised, then, to learn that authors

also employ rhetorical appeals and think through their rhetorical choices in order to impact their

audiences in a desired manner. Whether they’re seeking to inform, persuade, or even entertain their

readers, authors carefully analyze their audience and choose research, examples, organization, tone,

and even language accordingly. To help recognize and contemplate the rhetoric of written texts, you will

write a Textual Analysis Essay about an assigned professional essay.

The Textual Analysis Essay will ask you to analyze an author’s methods and the effectiveness of those

methods. After reading and thinking about EITHER bell hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing

the Poor” OR Carol Dweck’s “From Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” you will write a paper

exploring the ways in which the author uses rhetoric to accomplish her purpose. Through investigating

the author’s methods and the impact of those methods on her audience and purpose, you will gain

critical thinking and reading skills which should help you recognize faulty arguments in others’ writing

and improve the effectiveness of your own writing.

Assignment Guidelines

Essays for Analysis: Please note that you only have these two essay options for this assignment:

 “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor” by bell hooks (Inquiry 573)

 “From Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck (Inquiry 668)

Title: The title should be creative and representative not just of the basic topic of the paper, but also of

the major point being made in the paper.

Introduction: Your introduction should include the following two components:

1. A paragraph leading us into the topic and context. Please look at Inquiry or the sample

student papers for ideas about introduction methods.

2. A paragraph summarizing the professional text you will analyze. Before readers can

understand the significance of your analysis, they will need an overview of the professional

source’s purpose, thesis, and main points. Your summary paragraph should follow the guidelines

laid out in Rules and Learning Units 3 and 4, and should include the following:

a. A statement of the author’s full name and the essay’s full title as well as a very

general statement of the essay’s major argument in the first sentence.

b. An overview of the major claims and tone used to support the essay’s argument.

c. A transitional bridge into and statement of your essay’s thesis.

ENG 105: Composition I Essay Assignment

Page 2 of 2

Thesis Statement: The thesis statement should present an arguable claim about the effectiveness of the

professional essay’s methods and arguments. Your thesis statement should make a claim about the way

the essay is written and how the author’s methods impact his argument, NOT just respond in agreement

or disagreement with the author’s argument.

Analysis Section (Body): Your essay’s analysis section will support the thesis by analyzing how the

professional author’s methods and content appeal to the audience and impact the effectiveness of her

argument. The bulk of your essay should focus on analysis, so this section will fill at least two to three

full pages of your essay.

Conclusion: The conclusion should reiterate the main point of your essay by restating the thesis in

different words and tying together the claims made throughout your essay in final support of your

judgment (thesis statement). Please use one of the examples from Inquiry as a model for your

conclusion.

Outside Sources: No outside research is allowed. Do not read or bring in outside ideas or statistics. The

analysis should be based on your own reading of and insight into your chosen essay.

Source Integration and Documentation: You will need to follow MLA conventions for source integration

and documentation. You will also be required to integrate the following:

1. At least two quotations from your chosen essay.

2. At least one paraphrase of one of the author’s ideas.

Style: Avoid using the first person (I, we, us, my, our) and the second person (you, your). In this essay,

you should not have any reason to use first or second person point of view.

Format: Standard MLA formatting; double spaced; 12 point, Times New Roman font; one-inch margins;

Works Cited page.

Length: 4-6 pages, double spaced (not including the Works Cited Page.)

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