Developed by Amanda Monteleone
For internal use within the Department of English at Texas Wesleyan University
CC BY-NC-SA to Amanda Monteleone
ENG 1301 Rhetorical Analysis Guidelines
Purpose
For this assignment, you will analyze the rhetorical appeals of an essay and evaluate the
effectiveness of those appeals in terms of the essay’s intended audience. The essay you will
examine is Isis Artze’s “Spanglish is Here to Stay,” published by Education Digest in 2001.
The purpose of rhetorical analysis is to understand how texts work to influence readers. The
purpose of this paper is to give you practice analyzing the rhetorical moves that writer makes and
considering how those rhetorical moves will be received by readers.
Brainstorming and Drafting
To prepare your essay contents, draft responses to the following prompts:
• What is Artze’s main claim?
• What reasons does she provide to support this main claim? In order to identify her
supporting reasons, imagine that you could ask Artze in person: “Why do you believe
that [main claim]?” Based on the information in the article, how do you think Artze
would answer?
• What evidence does Artze provide to support her reasons?
• Do Artze’s credentials make her claim more credible? Does Artze seem knowledgeable
and well-informed on the topic? For whose best interest does Artze make this argument?
Does she draw on values she shares with the audience?
• Does Artze evoke emotions in readers that are likely to help her case? Does Artze evoke
sensations in readers that will make the writing seem vivid?
• Based on your answers to these questions, develop a claim for or against the effectiveness
of the essay and provide reasons for your opinion. This statement will be your thesis.
Arrangement
As you prepare a draft that you’ll share with readers, begin with an introduction that
accomplishes two goals:
• clarifies the purpose of your essay with clear signposting language.
• states your thesis, your statement on the overall effectiveness of Artze’s essay.
Each of your body paragraphs will expand on the following topics. Make sure that each body
paragraph has a topic sentence that clarifies the paragraph’s purpose.
Developed by Amanda Monteleone
For internal use within the Department of English at Texas Wesleyan University
CC BY-NC-SA to Amanda Monteleone
• Artze’s main claim, reasons, and evidence. You should summarize at least two reasons
from the essay for Artze’s main claim. Using the quotation sandwich style, quote an
important piece of evidence, then analyze the effectiveness of this evidence with your
commentary.
• Artze’s use of ethos appeal. How does Artze demonstrate credibility in this essay?
Describe the ethical dimensions associated with the issue she brings up. Using the
quotation sandwich style, quote an important detail to illustrate Artze’s ethos appeal.
With your commentary, explain how the quote illustrates ethos.
• Artze’s use of pathos, or emotional appeal. Where does Artze evoke emotions in readers
or use vivid imagery? Using the quotation sandwich style, quote an important detail to
illustrate Artze’s emotional appeal. With your commentary, explain how the quote
illustrates pathos.
You must also provide a conclusion to your essay that includes the following:
• A restatement of your thesis, or main point, about the overall effectiveness of Artze’s
essay.
• Leave the reader with a couple of the most compelling points from your essay.
Important Notes
• Do not consult online sources for this assignment. Part of your task is to demonstrate
your participation in class conversations and your awareness of what we’ve discussed so
far in class. If you have difficulty summarizing the major points from our discussion, see
me during my office hours. Moreover, using ideas from outside sources without giving
credit will result in a plagiarism sanction. It may be helpful to think of this paragraph as a
“test” or “quiz” on what we have covered in class so far about “Spanglish is Here to
Stay.”
• To give credit to ideas generated in class, precede your idea with language like “In our
class conversations, we discussed how…” or “A classmate brought up the interesting
point that…”
Style
Your audience for this essay is your classmates and instructor. Therefore, your writing style
should be semi-professional. Make a point to use vivid or more specific vocabulary words to
make your work more interesting to the audience.
Each paragraph must have a clear topic sentence. Each paragraph should have a clear purpose in
the essay and relate to a specific point or main idea specified in the “Arrangement” section.
Your essay must be double-spaced, with 12-point font size and one-inch margins all the way
around. Your header, heading and title should be formatted in MLA style. See the Purdue OWL
website (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html) for more information on formatting your
essay in MLA style.
Developed by Amanda Monteleone
For internal use within the Department of English at Texas Wesleyan University
CC BY-NC-SA to Amanda Monteleone
Proofread your work carefully before submission. Use spell-check and grammar-check resources
before submitting your work. I strongly recommend reading your paper aloud before submitting
it to catch missing words or run-on sentences that error-checking resources cannot detect.
Grading
Your essay will be assessed on a scale of 0-100 according to the following criteria:
• inclusion of all required elements in the “Arrangement” section
• well-developed paragraphs with clear topic sentences
• proper MLA formatting and citation styles
• professional formatting and proofreading practices
Your essay must be a minimum of three pages long, not including a Works Cited page, to be
eligible for a passing grade. To meet this requirement, you should have a substantial amount of
text on page “3” of the draft. Extra spaces between lines, paragraphs, or before or after title, and
lengthy quotes within the paper will not count toward this length requirement.
Make sure to include all required elements in your essay. Make these elements clearly
identifiable by using language that repeats the question or prompt along with your answer. Any
degree of generic, “AI-style” writing, fake quotes, or false or off-topic content will automatically
receive zero credit and a plagiarism referral. Protect your integrity by clearly referring to the
specified elements (main idea, syntax, conflicts, etc.) with key words and by demonstrating your
knowledge of the article and our class conversation about the article.
When quoting Artze’s essay, use the “quotation sandwich” style discussed in class, sandwiching
quotes with important contexts and following with plenty of your own commentary relating the
quote back to the paragraph’s topic.
You must provide a Works Cited entry for Artze’s essay according to the information presented
in class.
The Rhetorical Analysis essay is worth 15% of your total grade. Your submission will receive a
10-point deduction for each day late. Your submission will not be accepted after three days past
the initial due date/time.
