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PIECE OF THE WEEK 2nd QUARTER: COLUMNIST PROJECT

This project has four parts:

• Six rhetorical analyses on consecutive op-ed columns written by the same journalist

• One essay which analyzes your columnist’s style

• One essay on your chosen topic written in the style of your columnist

• One reflection essay which discusses how you imitated your columnist’s style

PART 1 – Six Rhetorical Analysis Essays: Due 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23, 11/30, 12/7

During the 2nd quarter, you will follow a nationally syndicated columnist in a newspaper. You must collect six current, consecutive columns by your author. Spend the next week searching for a columnist 1) whose topics you enjoy reading, and 2) whose writing style you like. Read and explore widely. Choose carefully. You may not switch columnists after the first deadline.

Procedure for each week:

1- Print one copy of the column. Annotate for purpose and tone, rhetorical strategies, and organizational shifts. Mark places in the text that evoke a reaction from you, be it laughter, anger, or confusion. (10 points each week for annotated column)

Some questions to ask yourself as you read:

• How does s/he open and close the column?

• How soon does s/he announce the thesis?

• How does s/he organize? What are the parts or sections of the column?

• How much is based on observation? Personal experience? Interviews? Fact?

• What sort of diction characterizes the columnist?

• What sort of syntax characterizes the columnist?

• What audience does s/he assume? How do you know?

• What allusions, imagery, figurative language, symbols are used (if any)?

2. After annotating, type a rhetorical analysis essay:

A. Intro: the author’s thesis, purpose, and overall tone

B. Body: chronological rhetorical analysis using content-method-effect pattern

C. Conclusion: an analysis of the last part of the column, general comment

D. Beginning with the 2nd analysis essay, submit a reflection in which you explain how

you used my comments on the previous essay to improve the next essay. Cite examples.

3. Check your essay against the “Rhetorical Analysis Rubric.” Revise if necessary.

Presentation (Note that this heading is unique):

At the top of your analysis on the left, write your name, due date; on the right, write your columnist’s name, column date. Center the title of the column and add the number (#1…#6).

Double-space the essay.

Order of STAPLED papers: reflection on top, analysis essay, annotated column

PART 2 – One Analysis Essay: Any time up to, and including, 1/6/16

The next task – after all six essays have been read and analyzed - is to write an essay that includes the following:

• The author's general focus in columns (e.g. political, family, arts)

• Three separate paragraphs, each highlighting one of of the author's oft-used stylistic devices with plentiful examples from the columns

• An analysis of the efficacy of those devices

Presentation:

1. Length should be about two pages, 12 point Times New Roman font, plus a third page for your Works Cited information.

The Works Cited page is titled Works Cited (centered, no quotation marks, no underline). Cite all six columns in proper MLA form.

2. Presume your reader is looking at your six columns and has read them. If you embed words,

phrases, or lines from a specific editorial, enclose an abbreviated version of the column’s title

in parentheses. Include at least one direct quotation for each strategy you write about.

Ex: Dowd continuously refers to Romney as “Mittens” to poke fun at him. (“The Loin King”).

I want to see internal citations for three reasons:

(a) to show you know the citation form,

(b) to show you know how to gracefully incorporate quotations, and

(c) to reinforce the validity of your argument by providing evidence.

N.B. Cite quotations only, not general knowledge/information.

Ex. In “The Loin King,” Dowd pokes fun at Romney by calling him names.

3. This is a formal essay. You should write in the third person (avoiding the passive) except for the last paragraph in which you might shift to first person when you evaluate the readability of the columnist and explain your personal response to his/her style, perspective, and topics.

4. This is an analytical essay and a research paper based entirely on primary resources (your six columns). You are to judge the author's writing style as convincing or ineffectual and explain why. It is not necessary that you agree with the author if you feel s/he has made a point forcefully. Specific examples must be provided from a variety of collected columns.

5. Prepare an MLA-formatted Works Cited page. Staple this Analysis paper to the Works Cited page.

PART 3 – One Mirror Column: Due any time up to 1/6/16

Write a mirror op-ed column in the style of your writer on any legitimate (real-life) issue of your choice. The length, style, and techniques should imitate those of your writer. Have fun!

(If your creative juices are flowing, you might enjoy formatting your column in the style of a newspaper Op-Ed page.)

PART 4 – One Reflection: Due any time up to 1/6/16

Write a one-to-two page reflection piece in which you discuss what techniques and stylistic characteristics of the columnist you tried to emulate and how you did so with examples from your Mirror Column.

Staple the Mirror Column on top of the Reflection.

Due Dates:

Monday, 11/2: First annotated column and written response

Monday, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23, 11/30, 12/7: Reflections, five annotated columns, and responses.

Wenesday, 1/6: Completed columns, ESSAY, MIRROR PIECE, and REFLECTION collected.

Contents of Final Folder – due January 6, 2016:

In this order, top to bottom:

- Analysis essay on columnist’s style

- Mirror piece

- Reflection

- All six original analyses (with my comments) with articles and reflections IN REVERSE ORDER WITH THE MOST RECENT ANALYSIS FIRST

SOURCES:

Look for a journalist whose:

Topics you like, and

Writing style you like

Choose the writer’s REGULAR column; Do NOT choose their blogs or Q & A pieces.

The New York Times Click on Opinion, then columnists.

Maureen Dowd

David Brooks

Nicholas D. Kristof

Gail Collins

The Washington Post Click on Opinions to see a list of regular contributors.

Charles Krauthammer

Chicago Tribune Click on Columnists.

Charles Krauthammer

Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Miami Herald Click on Opinion; Columnists are on the right

Ana-Veciana Suarez

Leonard Pitts, Jr.

If you ever have trouble locating a specific columnist/article, try a Google search like this:

Charles Krauthammer column archive

Note that most papers offer a limited number of free articles; for example, the New York Times currently allows ten per month. Therefore, be aware of how many times you visit the site and click on articles.

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