Composition II: Is there a Right to Free Speech?

As you know, the reason you’re in Composition II -- and the reason everyone has to take Composition II -- is to continue improving your writing knowledge and ability. And, of course, one of the best ways to stimulate improvement in this area -- or any area -- is to be reflective about how and why you do what you do, and to analyze how and why others do what they do.
We’ve spent the first two weeks of class honing our rhetorical analysis skills by looking at sample research writing (Ariely and Wertenbroch on procrastination, Mary Roach on being swallowed alive, and the samples you found). In doing so, we looked carefully at texts in order to determine features of their rhetorical situations, such as the audience and the purpose of the piece. In addition, we broadened that view to think about how the essay as a whole is put together, how sources -- the most significant “tell” of a research paper -- are used, and what sorts of “writerly moves” (rhetorical choices) these authors make in order to convey their research to their target audience.
This assignment invites you to apply this kind of rhetorical analysis … to your own writing. To prepare for this assignment, choose a paper you’ve written that utilizes sources for a specific purpose. This paper can come from any class/discipline -- though Composition I would be a good first place to look -- but must make use of (ideally multiple) outside sources, and be at least a couple of pages long. Then, do the following:
Part 1: Rhetorical AnalysisRefer to the class-generated “how-to guide” posted on Schoology as you work
Explain the exigence for this paper. Recall that exigence is a problem or issue that compels the writer to write. What compelled you to write this? Was it the unanswered question on the prompt? Was it the risk of a poor grade if you didn’t do the task? Something else entirely?
Explain what the purpose of your paper is. In order words, what does your paper try to accomplish? To get your readers to think about a topic in a certain way? To demonstrate what you know? Something else entirely?
Describe your style of writing and cite some examples that demonstrate the tone of your paper.
Identify some writerly moves you made because of the genre of this paper. What kind of paper is this? What are the conventions of that genre that you made sure to stick to? Cite some examples of moves you made in order to write within this genre.
Identify some writerly moves you made because of the audience for this paper. Who did you envision would read this? Cite some examples from your writing to illustrate that you were making certain rhetorical choices in order to deliberately speak to that readership.
Now think about other potential audiences. Who else would be interested in this or care about this paper? Who might benefit from reading your work? What changes would you make in how you delivered this paper based on these additional readers?
Part 2: Reflecting on Research-writing:
Looking at your paper in conversation with Ariely & Wertenbroch, Roach, and the two samples your chose, compare the writerly moves (rhetorical choices) you made to theirs.
Where do see yourself making the same moves?
Where are you doing something different from them?
Why might those differences exist? (Are you writing for different purposes or audiences, or in a different genre?)
What moves of theirs might you try utilizing if you were to rewrite your paper? Why?
Now think more globally: In doing this study, what have you learned about the research-writing genre?
What has all of this taught you or told you about research-writing?
Which rhetorical choices do you want to meaningfully make in future compositions?
Here’s the tl;dr version
I want you to apply the rhetorical analysis skills we’ve been practicing in the first two weeks of class to your own writing, and I want to think about the moves you made as a writer in comparison to the moves we saw in other pieces of writing. Ultimately, I expect your finished product will be in the ballpark of four pages long, and that it’ll demonstrate to me your ability to rhetorically analyze and to insightfully contrast your writing with the work of other writers.
The How-to
Please submit both your rhetorical analysis and the original paper that you’re analyzing digitally via Schoology. (You can just copy and paste your own paper that you’re analyzing to the bottom of the document. Don’t feel like you need to include the original grade or any of the comments that your previous instructor might have left.)
Your complete draft should be posted to Schoology before class on Tuesday, February 12th. (That’ll be worth 15 points.)
Your final revision should be posted to Schoology before class on Thursday, February 14th. (That’ll be worth 200 points.)