"Video Game Playing: Friend or Foe?" by Jeremy Gillen

What do you think of the evidence Gillen provides to support his argument? Was the research solid? Was his evidence convincing? Did this article affect the way you think about video games? 

"The Fate and Future of Food" by Kyle Hole

Sometimes essays end with a "call to action" that invites readers to change their opinions, beliefs, or actions regarding an issue.  What is the "call to action" in this article? What does the author want us to do after reading the article?

"How Many Eggs Should We Place in the Student Evaluation Basket?" by Devin Gilbert

What did you think of Gilbert's article? How many of you write evaluations after a class is over, and how much weight do you think these evaluations should be given?

Here is the post for the Weber Writes article, "Correlation Between Sleep Habits and Academic Performance in College Students." What do you think of this article? What does Burton do well, and what could she have done better? Also, do you have experience with attempting to get more sleep while balancing school, work, and home life? Did it work?

Essay #2 Assignment Sheet

Here is the prompt for Essay #2, just in case you need it to finish your drafting questions over the weekend:

Essay #2 Assignment

ENG. 1010/Emily Whitby

Due: November 4, 2013

In this assignment, your task is to compose an essay in which you describe how one text attempts to persuade the reader.  You need to draw on examples from the text and evaluate the persuasive language in these examples using rhetorical appeals, advertising appeals, and logical fallacies.

Remember, this is not an essay about your opinion of the text, or whether the text is “good” or “bad.”  This is an essay in which you make an argument about how the text persuades readers, and then support your claims with examples from the text.  In order to accomplish this, you will need to discuss 1) what the author is trying to achieve, 2) how the author uses persuasive language to do it, and 3) whether the author is successful in persuading the reader and why.  You must focus on these three things in your essay in order to get credit for the essay.

Formatting:

●    3-4 pages

●    Double spaced

●    12 pt. Times New Roman

●    1” margins

●    Include a Works Cited page at the end of your essay (this does not count as a page of your essay)

Essay #2 Drafting Questions

●    What is the author trying to make us think, feel, or believe?

●    Why does the author want us to think, feel, or believe this?

●    What rhetorical appeals does he or she use?

●    What logical fallacies can you find in the text?

●    Give specific examples of how the text tries to persuade us.

●    Give specific quotations from the text that are particularly persuasive or manipulative.

●    What specific words or images does the author use to persuade us?

●    Does the author succeed in his or her purpose?  What makes him or her successful?

●    What makes the author’s argument important or significant?

●    What else needs to be said about the persuasive/manipulative language in the text?

●    Overall, what can be gained by considering the text’s persuasive language?

 

Possible Articles for Essay #2

Here are just a few persuasive articles, any of which would fit the criteria for the Essay #2 assignment.  The first article is from 1977 and contains one of the examples in our rhetorical appeals handout.  The rest are from the opinion pages of the websites I've suggested. Skim through the articles and see if they spark your interest; if not, let the articles lead you to other articles on their pages. At the end if this post I've also included websites for you to search.

"The Satisfactions of Housewifery and Motherhood" by Terry Martin Hekker

"Why I am Pro-Life" by Thomas L. Friedman

"Mugging Our Descendants" by George F. Will

"It's Time to Allow Doping in Sport" by Ellis Cashmore

"Should Doping Be Allowed?" Room for Debate Forum

"Who Says There Is No Solution to Bullying?" by Becky Cohn-Vargas

"Don't Blame the Eater" by David Zinczenko

"Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood"

cnn.com
nytimes.com
washingtonpost.com
motherjones.com
huffingtonpost.com
salon.com
sltrib.com
deseretnews.com
standard.net

"Selling Happiness: Two Pitches From Mad Men"

The following links will take you to YouTube clips of the popular AMC series, Mad Men.

The first clip   is from the very first episode of the series, and shows Don Draper making a pitch for Lucky Strike Cigarettes: "Mad Men: It's Toasted."

The second shows a pitch for the Kodak Carousel: "Mad Men: Carousel."

As you watch the clips, consider how the use of a single word, or the choice of one word over another, can increase the persuasive appeal of an advertisement.