A rhetorical genre analysis requires you to consider the effectiveness of how a writer presents a topic using rhetoric within the constraints of a genre instead of the extent to which you agree or disagree with the writer. Understanding the relationship between writerly intention, audience, genre expectations, and how writers use rhetoric will help you consider the issues around rhetoric and genres and for whom.
This essay is an opportunity to take the analytical skills you have been developing to write a critical analysis about the effects of rhetoric and the possibilities and limitations of genre. This assignment asks you to:
The editorial genre moves away from a binary debate and puts sources into a conversation with the writer’s perspective by what they have in common, where they differ, and, of course, why they are included. We see this genre across platforms everywhere, such as in popular culture commentary, Ted Talks, blogs, and even in the workplace. A compelling editorial includes the quality of sources, as well as how the writer interacts with sources and adds perspective. Writers build their arguments (and change them) in response to a source’s meaning and function, as well as in consideration of purpose and audience.
