Hi! this order is a revision for my essay #1 got a little bit low grades here so I need some help! here’s what my professor said:
“Overall I thought you had a strong thesis statement that presented an evaluation and reasoning. The supporting paragraphs,on the other hand, tended to focus on restating what the text says rather than evaluating the rhetorical strengths of the essay. So in general it felt like the essay was too much summary and not enough analysis”
also here’s instructions:
You will write one full essay. Unlike the homework, these papers will require more formal structures like an introduction, conclusion, academic thesis, organized supporting paragraphs, in-text citations and so on. The essays are meant to gauge your ability to develop a protracted written argument, one which you support with textual evidence, analysis, and reasoning. Each essay should be a minimum of 1000 words (around four pages,)
Essay #1 Write an essay in which you analyze how effective the rhetorical choices and argumentative moves are in Mark Edmundson’s “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College
Students”.
Your goal overall is to assess how well you think Edmundson makes a sound argument that
appeals to his audience, or to explain the flaws you see in his appeals and rhetorical approach. You
should use direct quotations from his essay to support your analysis and use MLA formatting to cite
such quotations; this means that after any quotations you should include a parenthetical reference to the
page number it came from, for example: (Edmundson 42).
Rhetorical issues to address include any of the following:
Consider how Edmundson presents the situation he is responding to;
Consider his purpose in writing;
Outline his main claims;
Identify his sense of audience;
Identify what types of claims he is making;
Consider the kinds of support he uses to prove his arguments;
Examine how he deals with opposing ideas;
Analyze his use of Ethos, Pathos, or Logos to appeal to readers.
You should not address all of these questions, instead choose the rhetorical concepts that best support
your overall evaluation of the text.