Everything will be submitted through Canvas, so you’ll find more details there. As the semester goes on, I may have to adjust these assignment requirements, so check back.

Review #1 (Due 9/14)

Before getting too far into specifics on editing the work of others, I want you to practice being efficient with your prose. Write a review about something (see David Fricke’s “The E Street Band Keep Rolling in ’09” from Rolling Stone on Canvas). Good reviews are hard to do. They have limited space to pack in information about a topic, so review writers need to be efficient but not telegraphic.

In 800-950 words (you absolutely must hit between that count), write a POSITIVE review for something–you’re recommending what you’re reviewing. In the past, music used to come on CDs, cassette tapes, or vinyl, and we’d often refer to these collections as albums (only dilettante hipsters scoff at calling anything but a vinyl record an album). Today, music is quite horrible, so it will be difficult to do a positive review of an album, but you could try. Consider any of the following:

• Music (venues, albums, concerts)
• Theatre or theater
• Films
• TV Shows (episode, season, or series)
• Books
• Events (Pridefest, Greek Fest, Brewers Fest, Charlotte Film Festival, etc.)
• Attractions (Carowinds, NASCAR Hall of Fame, Grandfather Mountain, Mecklenburg County Jail, etc.)
• Restaurants, bars, food trucks,
• Retail
• Anything you want to review

Also, if you’re reviewing a film, show, novel, etc. do not summarize. Most summaries give away too many spoilers. You want to get readers to watch or read (or not watch or read) the text you review. You’re aiming for providing an impression of the topic and not a play-by-play plot summary. Also, you’re not writing a personal essay about your tastes. You can use first person, but don’t rely on your own pet peeves and assertions to guide your review’s prose. For instance, notice the difference between the following two sentences:

1. I really love this actor’s work and will watch anything they* star in. If you’re like me, you’ll love this film.
2. Continuing with her strong acting and commanding presence on screen that audiences know well, Kristen Stewart delivers another stunning performance as Princess Diana in Spencer (2021).

*Yes, “they” is perfectly acceptable as a singular pronoun, and the film industry often uses “actor” for all talent regardless of gender. {Except for awards…}

Notice that the second sentence might be solely the writer’s opinion, but it’s written as if it’s a known fact that Kristen Stewart is a well-known, well-liked actress.

This is a portfolio assignment, so you’ll submit in a fully drafted version via Canvas for me to comment on; then, you’ll revise for your final portfolio, which is due at the end of the semester (12/07).

Review #2 (Due 10/19)

This assignment is similar to Review #1. I want you to do another positive review, but I’d like you to pick a different topic. For instance, don’t do a review on the same theme: if you did a restaurant review, do a music or film review. Again, see David Fricke’s “The E Street Band Keep Rolling in ’09” from Rolling Stone on Canvas for an example. My expectation is that you’ll be much more efficient in this review than Review #1. But make sure this is a review and not a personal essay.

Also, if you’re reviewing a film, show, novel, etc. do not summarize. Most summaries give away too many spoilers. You want to get readers to watch or read (or not watch or read) the text you review.

I have a pretty detailed discussion on a music review excerpt to help inspire you. Please review that for examples of prose revision techniques.

In 600-750 words (you absolutely must hit between that count, and notice it’s shorter than Review #1), write a review for something. In the past, music used to come on CDs, cassette tapes, or vinyl, and we’d often refer to these collections as albums (only dilettante hipsters scoff at calling anything but a vinyl record an album). Today, music is quite horrible, so it will be difficult to do a positive review of an album, but you could try. Consider any of the following:

• Music (venues, albums, concerts)
• Theatre or theater
• Films
• TV Shows (episode, season, or series)
• Books
• Events (Pridefest, Greek Fest, Brewers Fest, Charlotte Film Festival, etc.)
• Attractions (Carowinds, NASCAR Hall of Fame, Grandfather Mountain, Mecklenburg County Jail, etc.)
• Restaurants, bars, food trucks,
• Retail
• Anything you want to review

Besides having a well-written review, you must conform to formatting guidelines, which will always be a part of any future writing career. Here are the absolutely must-follow guidelines:

• Name, date, “Review #2” all single spaced on three different lines
• The rest of the assignment is double spaced
• Before the title, briefly describe the audience to whom you’re writing. You may include publications as references.
  • For instance, “My audience would be 35-45 year olds who frequently read Rolling Stone magazine.”
• Have a title that informs the reader about the subject (Not “Review #2”)
• Center your title
• Double space your review
• Include the word count on the last line like this: “Word Count: XXX”

This is a portfolio assignment, so you’ll submit in a fully drafted version via Canvas for me to comment on; then, you’ll revise for your final portfolio, which is due at the end of the semester (12/02).

Prose Revisions (Due 10/26)

Your goal for this assignment is to make the prose more readable, more efficient. Just remember not to change the original meaning of the text. This won’t be a Portfolio Assignment that you revise–you get one shot at it. There are three paragraphs below with specific instructions. Your goal is to make them more readable, more efficient. Just remember not to change the original meaning of the paragraph.

Copy + paste the three (3) separate paragraphs to revise. Make your revisions based on the instructions. Heed the advice to NOT change the meaning of the original prose. Upload the assignment to the proper place on Canvas.

1. Suburbanization Paragraph Revision (35 pts.)

Please revise the paragraph below on suburbanization. The paragraph is 142 words and the final should be between 100 and 85 words. Remember, let’s try to make the paragraph below active and parallel, and do your best to limit the strings of prepositional phrases and nominalizations. Also, your revision should NOT change the original meaning of the paragraph. The first sentence is fine, by the way.

Since 1945, suburbanization has been the most significant fact of American social and political life. The people responsible for the compiling of the 1970 census caught its magnitude with the observation that for the first time more people in metropolitan areas resided outside the boundaries of cities than within them. The 1980 figures represent a confirmation of this trend and a measurement of its acceleration. Moreover, the explosion of the population of the suburban areas has been accompanied by a marked decline in the population of cities. The result has been a steady growth of suburban power in American politics. The changing numbers have made its dominance inevitable, but the fact that the participation of suburbanites in registration and voting produced a much larger percentage than did the participation of city dwellers has resulted in an acceleration of the shift.

2. Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision (35 pts.)

Please revise the following paragraph so it’s more readable. Like the paragraph above, make the sentences active and parallel, trying your best to limit the strings of prepositional phrases. I have purposely not given you a specific word count for this paragraph. Again, your revision should NOT change the original meaning of the paragraph. Hint: if a sentence sounds like something Yoda would say, you should probably revise it. Consider combing some sentences as well.

International headlines were first made by Guglielmo Marconi when wireless transmissions were successfully sent and received across the English Channel on March 27, 1899 . This significant event marked the first international wireless communication. Many important English and French reporters made an observation and bore witness to the event, and Marconi was promoted as an international celebrity much like Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell by the press. Less than three years after crossing the English Channel , a solidification of celebrity status by Marconi was made when signals were transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean on December 12, 1901 . Reports concerning what had happened between Poldhu in Cornwall , England and Signal Hill in St. John’s , Newfoundland were made by newspapers around the world. Without using wires a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was made. Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909 for crossing the Atlantic .

3. Housing Prices Paragraph Revision (30 pts.)

Please revise the paragraphs below on the housing market. Don’t worry about length; instead, find subjects and agents (verbs hidden in nouns) and rewrite the paragraph in Plain Language. Do your best to limit passive voice, strings of prepositional phrases, and nominalizations. Also, your revision should NOT change the original meaning of the paragraph. Think about the entire paragraph first, and then revise.

It is noted that sales of existing homes have made a falling for five months in a row ending in the month of August as the once-booming housing market slowed further. On Monday a report stating that existing home sales made a slippage in the nature of 0.55 percent to an annual rate of 8.45 million units was made by The National Association of Realtors. Home prices have also experienced a drop in value due to the slowdown in sales, and it is duly noted that the median price of an existing home sold in August dropped to $195,000, which is 1.68 percent below last year. This current situation is now marking the first year-over-year price decline in more than 11 years. A report last week that construction of new homes and apartments plunged by 6 percent in August has now been followed by the weakness in existing home sales. This weakness is the cause pushing building activity to the lowest level since early 2003.

Review #3 (Due 11/09)

This assignment is similar to Review #1 and #2, but I’d like you to pick a different topic, and this can be either positive or negative. Again, see David Fricke’s “The E Street Band Keep Rolling in ’09” from Rolling Stone on Canvas for an example. My expectation is that you’ll be much more efficient in this review than Review #1 and #2. But make sure this is a review and not a personal essay. Statements like “In my opinion…,” “According to me…,” and “I prefer…” are irrelevant to your review. You aren’t explaining your personal tastes and pet peeves to readers; you’re trying to motivate them to want to (or avoid) consuming something.

Also, if you’re reviewing a film, show, novel, etc. do not summarize. Once again, do not summarize. Most summaries give away too many spoilers. You want to get readers to watch or read (or not watch or read) the text you review.

I have a pretty detailed discussion on a music review excerpt to help inspire you. Please review that for examples of prose revision techniques.

In 400-550 words (you absolutely must hit between that count, and notice it’s shorter than Review #2 and nearly half the length of Review #1), write a review for something. In the past, music used to come on CDs, cassette tapes, or vinyl, and we’d often refer to these collections as albums (only dilettante hipsters scoff at calling anything but a vinyl record an album). Today, music is quite horrible, so it will be difficult to do a positive review of an album, but you could try. Consider any of the following:

• Music (venues, albums, concerts)
• Theatre or theater
• Films
• TV Shows (episode, season, or series)
• Books
• Events (Pridefest, Greek Fest, Brewers Fest, Charlotte Film Festival, etc.)
• Attractions (Carowinds, NASCAR Hall of Fame, Grandfather Mountain, Mecklenburg County Jail, etc.)
• Restaurants, bars, food trucks,
• Retail
• Anything you want to review

Besides having a well-written review, you must conform to formatting guidelines, which will always be a part of any future writing career. Here are the absolutely must-follow guidelines:

• Name, date, “Review #3” all single spaced on three different lines
• The rest of the assignment is double spaced
• Before the title, briefly describe the audience to whom you’re writing. You may include publications as references.
  • For instance, “My audience would be 35-45 year olds who frequently read Rolling Stone magazine.”
• Have a title that informs the reader about the subject (Not “Review #3”)
• Center your title
• Double space your review
• Include the word count on the last line like this: “Word Count: XXX”

This is a portfolio assignment, so you’ll submit in a fully drafted version via Canvas for me to comment on; then, you’ll revise for your final portfolio, which is due at the end of the semester (12/02).

Copyediting Assignment (Due 11/16)

This assignment will ask you to edit two paragraphs within a time limit–most likely 15 minutes. It’ll be on Canvas with more instructions.

Portfolios (Due 12/07)

You will turn these into me via Canvas with a reflective piece, providing context for your revisions. I could go into great detail about the value of portfolios: put it this way, I find these assignments still valuable even after seriously rethinking much composition pedagogy from my PhD training. For your particular portfolios, I’m going to concentrate on the reflection that’s important for this semester. Let me get the basics down right now. The first drafts you submit will already by on Canvas, so you’ll just need to include the following items for your portfolio revisions:

• Revisions…
  • Review #1 (800-950 words)
  • Review #2 (600-750 words)
  • Review #3 (400-550 words)
• Reflective Essay(ish)
  • “Context” doesn’t mean you simply mention all your changes. I want to know why you made the changes you did. Why are the changes more effective in your words?
  • I’m not the last word of prose efficiency, so, if your particular context requires you to “break the rules” (so to speak), just explain why.

Make sure you revise and stay within the stated word counts for each essay. Yes, efficiency is a goal, but you’re supposed to include as much as you can within the word count. You’re trying to be thorough without being verbose. I hope the lessons this semester and my comments have helped guide you to ask the right questions to strike that balance. Good Luck!

The goal of the reflection is for you to show me that you’re aware of not only your revision process but also the rhetorical effects of the grammatical choices you made. In order to increase your critical reflection and, therefore, thinking, I have some guidelines for you. I’ve decided to ask you to concentrate on specific topics for the different documents instead of having you reflect on every document the same way. The comments I made on your drafts are for you to reflect more broadly about the rhetorical effects of your prose.

For each document, I want you to reflect on how your grammatical choices carry out your message. Do not feel the need to give me play-by-play steps; instead, you should focus on key areas, patterns that reoccur. Do not narrate or summarize what you wrote. You’re reflecting on your work to explain why you made the choices you did. If you disagree with a suggestion I made, that’s fine. However, you should explain why, and the reflective essay is a good place to do that.

Word Count: You’ve just spent an entire semester studying prose style, so this should be an efficient yet thorough reflection. You don’t have a word count because the goal is to address the questions below in an efficient but not telegraphic manner. Good luck!

Below are questions to guide your reflections:

Introduction

• Overall, what do your changes show about your growth as a prose specialist or technical writer (or just writer) in general? Be specific…show don’t tell.
• This is your chance to think broadly, so don’t go into too many specific examples. This intro is your sense of yourself as a writer who just spent a semester in a rhetorical grammar class.
  • Yes, even without the job title “Technical Writer” each of you will engage in many forms of technical communication on and off the job.

Review #1

• Because this assignment was early in the semester, you probably think differently about producing efficient prose. Point to the choices you made in the original draft and discuss what theories you learned since the beginning of the semester that led to those changes.
• Explain your review’s prevailing rhetorical appeal: ethos, pathos, and (possibly) logos.
• How does this assignment’s revision show your editing and prose skills? In other words, how is this review representative of your writing abilities?
  • If you prefer this following sentence to the one above, you’ve paid a lot of attention this semester:
    “In other words, how does this review represent your writing abilities?”
  • Notice there’s no be verb in the latter sentence.

Review #2

• Explain your review’s prevailing rhetorical appeal: ethos, pathos, and (possibly) logos.
• How is your document appropriate for your audience and purpose?
  • Here you should be thinking about culture and the elements of your prose and topic that make it suitable for your audience.
  • Explain how you aimed for efficiency in your prose and how your choices should convey your message.
• Make sure you defend–offer proof–for your arguments. Don’t just assert.

Review #3

• Explain your review’s prevailing rhetorical appeal: ethos, pathos, and (possibly) logos.
• How does your document represent grammatical efficiency?
  • Here you should be thinking about the prose revisions we’ve advocated all semester.
  • Explain how you aimed for active voice, few prepositions, and action verbs as opposed to be verbs to convey your message.
• Make sure you defend–offer proof–for your arguments. Don’t just assert.

Conclusion

Have some kind of conclusion. I definitely don’t want you to go over ever detail and every choice you made in your writing, but try to explain why understanding rhetorical grammar will benefit your future as a writer, editor, communicator, citizen, or thinker. The conclusion is also a place for you to explain any weirdness or to clarify anything that might be confusing. If you struggled, if you thrived, if you are utterly confused–let me know what happened. You’ll find that you’ll need to assess yourself and your abilities in the future. Sometimes the assessments will be formal and sometimes informal, but you will need to reflect on your work (and the work of others) in the future.

5183 Rhetorical Analysis Assignment & Presentation (due 12/07)

***This assignment is for ENGL 5183 students only***

***This assignment is for ENGL 5183 students only***

***This assignment is for ENGL 5183 students only***

Think of this as an end-of-term showcasing of your understanding of the course lessons. You are going to wow me by analyzing the way a selection of prose conveys its message. Select a paragraph of professional prose, and analyze its use of structure and punctuation to achieve the intended rhetorical effect. You will do yourself a favor if you pick a selection of prose that was written. Speeches are good sources for this, but you’ll have more to discuss at the sentence level–specifically punctuation–if you find a written selection of prose. If you choose a speech, make sure you have a transcript. You’re not analyzing a speaker’s tone, cadence, body language, etc. You’re analyzing prose, so choose a printed speech. There are plenty out there.

On the sentence level, consider sentence patterns (active vs. passive voice, commands, questions, etc.), repetition, the placement of optional elements such as adverbials, and the use of rhythmic devices to add or shift emphasis. On the paragraph level, examine the methods used to achieve cohesion: pronouns, power words, parallel structures, etc., as well as the use of end focus and the known-new contract. Then, in clear, well-organized prose, present your findings to the reader. Include an overall assessment of the author’s effectiveness in achieving the desired rhetorical end.

Try to determine the author’s rhetorical intent and discuss your analysis in terms of that intent. You will do yourself a huge favor if you focus on a dominant rhetorical appeal (see below for more information). Consider analyzing any of the following appeals if they’re in your prose selection:

• Ethos–how the selection conveys the author’s character and the characteristics of the type of writing
• Pathos–emotional appeals the authors invokes (or attempts to invoke) in the audience
• Logos–the logical appeals and statements of fact the authors makes, including assumed statements of fact
• Explain whether sentence structures emphasize information appropriately
• Explain how adverbials, participials, gerunds, prepositional phrases, etc. affect the efficiency of the writing

Assume that the reader of your essay is someone who has not taken this course but who understands the basics of grammar and is interested in your analysis. This should be at least 1500 words.

November 2nd’s class webpage has a link to a longer discussion on how to analyze a text to locate sentence-level rhetorical techniques and their effects (and affects).

Dominant rhetorical appeal: Consider the author’s intent for the selection of writing. An effective way to set up your introduction would be to explain the dominant rhetorical appeal of the piece. For instance, imagine you’re analyzing an application letter. The dominant appeal will be of ethos; the author is convincing the audience they are the ideal candidate for a job. Their credentials, past experiences, attention to detail exhibited in a well-written letter, etc. will convince (or fail to convince) the audience that they are credible, having the necessary qualifications for employment.

Additionally, consider an environmental warning from a well-known scientist. Although the scientist’s credentials will be an appeal of ethos, the facts and logic used–appeals to logos–will or should be more dominant in order to convince readers of the environmental danger.

And another thing…consider a message from an organization like the ASPCA (first paragraph of “Breaking: Bad News for Slaughter-Bound Birds”). Obviously, their images are entirely used as emotional appeals (pathos) to invoke shame and sympathy in an audience, moving them to take action to protect animals. Of course, you’ll focus on the words in this rhetorical analysis. Although the ASPCA uses celebrity endorsements (ethos) along with facts and statistics (logos) about animal cruelty, it’s their emotional appeals (pathos) that really drive home their messages.

Presentation Component

In addition, you must do a 9-10 min presentation on this analysis. Because we’re 100% asynchronous, you will submit this on Canvas. You choose what’s important to say, but don’t go over 10 min and don’t go under 9 min. See below for scoring criteria.

You should incorporate specific theories from our textbooks (Rhetorical Grammar and Perfect English Grammar), which provide the theoretical framework or support for your argument. Your analysis should properly use course-specific vocabulary to convey the “rhetoric of” the text or texts you’ve selected. At a minimum, you ought to address the following in this rhetorical analysis essay:

• Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (as we’ll show, logos is not as prominent)
• Discussion of the culture(s) from which the document comes
• Big picture–national, Western, global, etc.
• Local picture–occupation, region, age group, etc.
• E/Affect on/of an audience (this is, of course, debatable)

Remember, texts are cultural products and, therefore, offer insight about the cultures from which they come. This analysis is not about the “nuts and bolts” of the document–how it’s assembled; instead, you’re demonstrating how it communicates its message.