Genre: Op-Ed piece for the New York Times
Audience: Your choice (primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences)
Learning Outcomes: Rhetorical Knowledge; Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing; Knowledge of Conventions; Processes
Length: 1250-1500 words
Due Dates:
- Thursday 10/6: Statement of Purpose
- Tuesday 10/11: First Draft
- Thursday 10/13: Peer Editing Feedback; Workshop Participation
- Tuesday 10/18: Final Draft
Your choice of projects:
Take a position on debatable topics and arguments that we’ve encountered in the NYT so far, or that you’ve come across yourself:
- David Brooks on “The Limits of Empathy“
- “On Campus, It’s One Big Commercial”
- “Rights Collide as Town Clerk Sidesteps Role in Gay Marriages“
- Bittman: Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
- Troy Davis and the Death Penalty
- Kristof on national parks, or famine, or Mother’s Day
- Occupy Wall Street? LA? Chicago? Boston? Pro/Con?
- What is the purpose of college? Why are you here?
Or, if you’re looking to explore more broadly:
- Photo essays: define it and enact it
- What representation of reality does the New York Times present?
- Who is the ideal reader of the New York Times?
- Select a topic of interest to you — social, cultural, economic, political; professional, creative, or community-based — and show how the New York Times covers and presents that topic historically and currently
- Select a current news story and follow it for seven consecutive days: how does the New York Times cover and present that story?
- Select a regular section of the New York Times and analyze how it is shaped — and shapes? — the domain that it covers
- What are the rhetorical features of the New York Times’s visual and multimodal presentations?
- Take a position: is it more productive to read the print or digital versions of the New York Times?
Background
The genre you’re working in is the persuasive academic essay. Our St. Martin’s e-Handbook is very strong in this area, and we’ll be using it at every point along the way in the planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading stages of your project’s development:
Rhetorical Situations
