Revising and Perfecting Rhetorical Device Assignments

Formatting and Proofreading

Please pay attention to formatting. The three sections of analysis need to be clearly separated, as do the definition and passage. There is a template you can fill in. It’s not that complicated.
Proofread your document. It is simply unacceptable to have multiple errors in capitalization, commas, and other basic issues. It’s hard to believe that much time was spent on the assignment when those basic elements look like they were done in a rush and almost certainly without review before submission.
Use consistent tense in your analysis section.
Put your name on your assignment.

Context Section

The context section should be detailed, with date, place, and audience provided. You might have to search for this information online, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to find. If you take a specific passage from another work, you need to cite it. The section should be your own writing, though.
2-3 sentences should suffice.

Concept

The most challenging part of the assignment is the concept section. In it, you need to analyze how the language of the device is used to create meaning and why the author chose the words she did. Don’t simply tell me that it “had an impact” on the audience, but explain how.
Avoid literal analysis and summary. For instance, reporting that King’s use of “withering flames of injustice” was designed to discuss the pain of injustice is not analysis, but a bad paraphrase. Ask yourself (and then answer) why he chose the particular language and image he did.
When discussing a device, focus on the particular word choice for that device.
If the language you could use for the device you are analyzing could be applied to any example of the device, you need better analysis. Take out, for instance, generic descriptions about how antithesis uses opposing images and ideas and break down the specific opposing images and ideas the author uses in your example.

Connection

In the context section, you need to identify a theme of the work as a whole and show how the device you analyzed in the concept section contributes to that theme. Be specific.
Explicitly connect the passage you’re addressing with the broader meaning of the work. If, for instance, you believe that King used the juxtaposition of light and dark to expose the injustices of racism in his time, show how it does that.

Deadlines

Revisions (printed and stapled to the original assignment) are due Tuesday in class. In class. Not after, not at lunch, but in class.
Rhetorical devices #3 and #4 should come from “Thinking Like a Mountain” by Aldo Leopold. Device #3 is due in class on Wednesday and Device #4 is due in class on Friday.