Week 2 (2/3 & 2/5)

2/3 (MON) | READING FOR RHETORIC

  1. Read & annotate Course Reading: Rebecca Solnit – “Climate Change Is Violence”
    • Read this short article at least twice.
      • First, read for the main argument and to get a sense of the structure.
      • Then, review the handout on annotating a text that we went over in class. Be sure to read the strategies that we didn’t get to.
      • Finally, Solnit’s essay again and annotate rigorously. Take your time. The best annotations go beyond simply defining and highlighting in order to question and think analytically alongside the text, rather than offer factual information. Consider both content (Solnit’s ideas) and her form (the writing). The annotation should help you prepare for class discussion. Think: what are several aspects of this essay or moments of writing in the essay that I want to bring up in class?
  2. Reading on Writing:  Rosenwasser & Stephen – from Writing Analytically, pp. 2–9
    • Read to better understand what analysis is and how to engage in it, as well as consider the different kinds of writing and how they serve different purposes.

2/5 (WED) | THE RHETORICAL SITUATION

  1. Read & annotate: Zadie Smith – “Elegy for a Country’s Seasons”
    • See instructions for Solnit reading above. Annotate rigorously. Take your time. Try to have fun with it. What writing techniques in the essay do you want to try out in your own writing?
  2. Write: Post 1.1
    • Choose a few sentences from a text or speech that you’ve encountered recently and write a blog post in which you analyze a small part of it for rhetoric. (The text doesn’t have to be particularly good or compelling! It might even be more instructive if it’s not!) What’s effective? What’s not effective? What assumptions are implied in the words of the writer/speaker?  (Feel free to choose any text/speech you want, but you might want to use this as an opportunity to analyze a piece of writing you’ve encountered in another class. Or, given the impeachment trial, you might listen to one of the speeches made and analyze the rhetoric.)
  3. Read: Rosenwasser & Stephen – from Writing Analytically, pp. 38–40; 53–58
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