This assignment asks you to apply the knowledge you gained from conducting the investigative essay into your chosen topic or issue by closely analyzing two artifacts from your field:
a text-based artifact (e.g., a scholarly article, book chapter, or professional publication)
a non-text-based artifact (e.g., an image, video, or podcast)
Rather than analyzing only the texts’ explicit statements, you will be considering how any feature of the artifacts may function in a rhetorical manner. In other words, you will be looking at how each artifact constructs meaning by framing a multifaceted response to a particular rhetorical situation. By comparing and contrasting these two artifacts, your aim is to describe how each genre attempts to accomplish its respective purposes.
Steps
Select two artifacts that address the issue you have identified in Project 1 (What role does do historical narratives and disparities in access to healthcare play in shaping African Americans perception of the healthcare system?.) The goal is to work with a single subject but two very different rhetorical approaches to that subject.
Closely consider (read, examine, ponder) and analyze (identify features and explain their function) the artifacts. In order to perform a rhetorical analysis, you will need to have a strong grasp of the subject of the artifacts and a basic understanding of the genres. Only then can you turn your attention to analyzing the rhetorical strategies each employs, including genre conventions, context, author, audience, purpose, rhetorical appeals, exigence, medium, constraints, metaphorical language, active and passive voice, use of visuals, organization/structure, tone, and formality.
Write an essay that analyzes your two artifacts, paying particular attention to the rhetorical strategies each employs and, perhaps, the effectiveness of the texts. This is in large part a comparison/contrast essay built around rhetorical terminology and solid evidence to support your findings.
