Paper 2: Context

Paper 2 looks at an article in context. Watch Checkers Speech (Links to an external site.) and ANALYZE IT FIRST WITHOUT CONTEXT. If you know the author, ignore information you know about him. If you know the circumstances of the speech, ignore that information too. Take it in a purposeful void of context and analyze its rhetorical effectiveness. Is it a logically effective argument? What makes it so? How logically effective is it? What Rhetorical Strategies effectively or ineffectively appeal to Logos? Are there any Rhetorical Fallacies? After that is determined, does the speaker establish credibility? How strongly? through which Rhetorical Strategies? How does the success or failure to establish an appeal to Ethos support or undermine the Logos-based appeal? Lastly, is it emotionally effective or ineffective? Which emotions are evoked? How strongly? What Strategies are used to evoke them? Is there a logical grounding behind the emotional appeals? How do the appeals support or undermine the effectiveness of the Main Claim?

This part should be about 3 pages.

Then, add context. Find out who Richard Nixon was, when this was made, who it was made two, and why it was necessary. Find out what the historical perception of Nixon is, and how the public remembers him. How does this information change the effectiveness of the argument? Do the Strategies stay effective? Do they lose effectiveness? Do they become Fallacies? Prove your points through analysis.

This part should be about 2 pages.

If you’re still struggling with how to analyze, the Analysis Worksheets are all here to help. You can also set up office hours with me during the week to go over either the article or what you’ve written so far to see what I would suggest improving.

This assignment will deal with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th SLOs pointed out in the Syllabus.

This paper requires:

5-7 pages

MLA format