Rhetorical Analysis Project Evaluation

These are the questions I will ask myself as I evaluate the rhetorical appropriateness of your rhetorical analysis project. You will receive a separate grade for the analysis report and the letter to the editor, with each counting for half of the final grade.

Rhetorical Analysis Report

• Does your forum analysis demonstrate your careful, close examination of the forum? Do you cite direct evidence from the forum in support of your claims? Does this evidence come from multiple and varied sources within the forum?
• Similarly, do you base your assumptions about the audience on demonstrated evidence from the forum, or do you rely on mere assertion or stereotyping?
• Does your report show evidence of being part of a composing process? That is, was your rhetorical analysis performed with an eye toward the writing that it must ultimately inform (the letter to the editor), or do you treat it as just a series of unrelated questions?
• Does your report itself employ rhetorical strategies (written and visual) to establish its ethos as a carefully composed, thoughtful, and accessible report?

Letter to the Editor

• Is your letter evidently informed by your rhetorical analysis? That is:
  • Is your letter appropriate to the forum and genre? Does it obey the written, stylistic, and argumentative conventions of letters to the editor for The Atlantic Monthly? Do you present your researched claims (if any) in a manner appropriate to the forum?
  • Is your letter appropriate for the audience of The Atlantic Monthly in terms of it's written style, tone, manner of address, argument, ethos-building strategies, etc.? Do you present the sorts of arguments that this audience would find compelling, in a manner that they would find persuasive?
• Does your letter present reflect your serious engagement with—and thoughtful reflection upon—the issues presented in Carr's article?
• Ultimately, would your letter likely be accepted for publication if it were to be submitted?