Assignment Description: 1) Read “Backpacks vs. briefcases: steps toward rhetorical analysis” (Links to an external site.) by Laura Bolin Carroll2) Write down at least two critical questions you had about the reading. Make sure the questions are introspective and can’t be answered directly in the reading. Ask questions that demonstrate some critical consideration of the reading. Ask your instructor for examples of critical discussion questions if needed. Put Critical Questions above the questions.3) Then answer the following discussion question below using 250-350 words.4) Make sure to come back and answer at least two of your classmates’ discussion questions within 48 hours of the initial post deadline.For the Response Part of Your Assignment:Define what a “rhetorical situation” is, including all of its parts (exigence, intended audience, rhetors, and constraints) in your own words, using quotes or paraphrases from Laura Bolin Carroll’s article with MLA in-text citations (send me an e-mail if you need help with this!) and then use an example of a text to explain how each part of the rhetorical situation functions. So, in your post you can have two sections. In the first section, either use bullet points or paragraphs to divide your post into exigence, intended audience, rhetors, and constraints. In each paragraph or bullet-pointed section, a) define the term in your own words, b) include a quote or paraphrase from “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” that supports the definition. Then, in the second section, write about your text example and explain what the exigence, intended audience, rhetors, and constraints for that text were.For your topic for this post, choose a text from either of these two categories: 1) an assignment that you still have in your possession–given to you in a class that you took within the last 6 months or are taking now, or 2) a social media, blog or vlog post that you published for an audience. A third option, if you have the original document in your possession and are able to share it ethically, could be a letter or e-mail that you had to write in order to solve a problem at work or in your personal life, such as to a company.Use MLA format carefully and accurately for your citations from Carroll. Please use the resources for MLA in our modules to guide you. This activity will help you generate content and ideas for your 3-4 page rhetorical situation assignment.
