Project #1 Prompt & Details Rhetorically Examining a Text Project Overview For this first project, you will focus on rhetorically examining a text of your choice. A text is any “piece of communication" designed by a human (website, meme, video, song, email, outfit, video game, policy, legislation, article, poetry, photograph, painting, recipe, commercial, essay, architecture, interior design, etc.). This project will exhibit your knowledge and application of rhetorical analysis to a single text. You will select a text that is relevant to you academically, professionally, or personally. This is NOT an essay, rather it is a focused collection of responses to guided questions that lead to an in-depth rhetorical analysis. Reading, Writing, & Thinking Expectations This project is meant to provide the opportunity for focused analytical reading, writing and thinking. For this project, you are applying a very specific lens to a text, a rhetorical one. This kind of thinking will shape your reading inherently as you will actively engage with your text in ways you might have not experienced before. The writing for this project is process orientated, which means you are documenting your analysis findings. Your writing will stem from the perspective of a rhetorical thinker. You want to focus on the fundamentals you have developed over your writing career. This includes thoughtful sentences that create organized paragraphs. Your tone and style will capture your own voice; however, this voice will be shaped by the analytical work you are engaging with. Step One: Select your Text Throughout this course, we will be reading sections from The Prophet. This text will serve as an inspiration for our projects. You are to select a text to analyze that is in some way either academically, professionally, or personally relevant to you. To start brainstorming, you will first consider what sections from The Prophet resonate with you and grab your attention. That will serve as a broad category of interest you will then work from. Select one to two topics/sections from The Prophet that resonate with you academically, professionally, or personally. From there, consider texts related to that topic to start the brainstorming process. Select a text that is of individual relevance: academic, professional, or personal to analyze Select a text that is interesting to you Select a text that is manageable to examine given our time frame O For example, instead of a book, focus on a chapter from a book. Instead of an entire T.V series, focus on an episode. Step Two: Address the Questions Respond to the following questions. Requirements for how to do this are detailed below. 1. Text Name & Details a. Name your text and explain why you selected this text. Explain how this text is of professional, academic, or personal significance to you. b. Include the title, creator, and date of publication of the text you have collected 2. Multimodal Design Choices & Affordances a. Identify and describe 2 out of 5 modalities (Linguistic, Visual, Aural, Spatial, Gestural) used to design your text. Here you are to detail the elements of the modalities and how they are being used to design your text: be descriptive. b. Explain the effects of these specific design choices on the text itself. Address how the specific use of each modality creates particular effects on the text and audience. 3. Context a. Identify when the text was created, where it was created, who created it, and how the text was created (the medium). Provide basic information on the text itself. b. Address the larger socio-political circumstances or social or cultural norms/environment that shaped/influenced the text's creation. In other words, describe the environment (people, places, events, ideas, etc.) that existed during the creation of the text and address how this environment played a role in its creation and/or response. 4. Exigency a. Explain "the circumstances and reasons why" this text was created and made to “matter”, or be engaged with, in the first place. b. Explain the "relevance", or importance/significance, of the text specifically during its time of publication. 5. Audience a. Identify who the text is intended for, specifically identify the primary, or target, audience. Explain why you believe this group/community is the primary audience for the text. b. Address some of the values, beliefs, and/or expectations of the target audience and how those may have played a role in the creation and/or reaction to the text itself. 6. Purpose a. Identify and explain the primary goal or intent of the text (persuading, informing, comparing, addressing a gap, etc.). Provide evidence from the text as to how your identified purpose(s) are communicated to the audience(s). Consider how the text delivers its message in regards to ideas, organization, style, etc. 7. Text Reactions/Responses a. Address audience reactions/responses to the text's publication when it was published. What were they and how did they impact the text's success or failure? b. Describe your own personal reaction to the text. Consider your first time engaging with the text versus now. 8. Text Contributions a. Explain what impact/effects/affects/contributions the text has led to since its publication. This can be social, political, economic, individual, community based, etc. 9. References Page or Works Cited Page Project Requirements ● a. List of all the sources read to help you complete this project b. Formatted in either APA or MLA Each section addressed in at minimum: 250 words Use of at minimum one source in the following sections: O Exigency O Context O ● O Audience Reactions/Responses O Text Contributions Must include at minimum 4 sources in-text O 2 must be academic/scholarly sources ■ Most likely to apply to: context, purpose, audience, exigency Consider relying on scholarly sources to help you learn more about 1) context, or the environment in which the text was published 2) the theme, events, people your text focuses on 3) info about particular communities and groups O Course readings acceptable • Use of APA or MLA Style Guide for formatting and in-text citations (depending on which you utilize the most) O Sections will be used at headings (Purpose, Audience, etc.) Project Submission You will upload this to Canvas O Week 6 Folder will contain a submission page, or you can submit via “Assignments" tab Due Date O Oct. 12th, Sunday, by midnight Project Assessment Your Project will be assessed according to the 5 major categories of composition: Content, Organization, Style, Collaboration, and Formatting Conventions. To review the general project rubric details, click HERE. Rubric specified to this project can be found in our "Project #1" tab located in our Project Prompts & Resources Folder