Armbruster
WRIT 2072
Spring 2006

Assignment 2: Analysis of Persuasive Message
Regarding Corporate Social Responsibility

This assignment is designed to accomplish two purposes at once.   First, it will enhance your knowledge of the various ways you can encourage corporate social responsibility through writing.   It will also give you an opportunity to apply some of the core concepts of persuasive writing that we have been discussing in class (and that you have been reading about).   Recognizing these concepts and techniques in the writing of others should help you employ them more consciously and strategically in your own writing.

Choose one of the two attached documents (both are primarily arguments or examples of persuasive writing) and write a short (2-3 doublespaced pages) analysis using the concepts below.   Be sure to refer to the relevant handouts   (Chapter 1 on "Rhetoric in Our Lives" from Everyday Use and Chapter 4 on "Arguing: Action as Inquiry" from Composing a Civic Life ) as you conduct your analysis.

Your analysis is due in class on Tuesday, February 21 .

Concepts for Analysis

Who is the intended audience?   How can you tell?   (Keep in mind that one document could have multiple audiences and could even have different purposes for different audiences.)  

How is that audience likely to feel about the topic (positive, negative, neutral)?

What seems to be the purpose of the document (intended outcome)?

Is there anything about the context of the argument that could influence its effectiveness?   Does the document address that context in any way?

Does the argument use appeals

·             to evidence?   What type(s) of evidence?

·             to reason (deductive, inductive, analogy, or other)?

·             to ethos, or the character of the writer?

·             to the reader's emotions?

If so, how effectively does it use them?

How does the argument address any objections or other negative reactions its readers might have?

Overall, how effective do you feel this argument would be in achieving its purpose with its intended readers?