using
Opinion | If You’re Under 30, How Does Politics Affect Your Dating Life? – The New York Times (nytimes.com) by Jessica Grose
Identify the rhetorical devices and strategies the writer(s) use(s) to discuss their topic. Discuss how those
rhetorical decisions help to create the message of the text. This paper will demonstrate your ability to
break down rhetorical decisions and strategies and examine how the context of the words creates
meaning.
● Your introduction should provide a basic context of the text. In this introduction, You’ll explain the
events that led to this piece’s publication. It will end with a thesis statement that asserts how the writer
demonstrates a rhetorical strategy to create their argument.
● Immediately after your introduction paragraph, you’ll write a summary paragraph of the OP-Ed.
● You will be using PIE paragraphs for the remainder of this essay until your conclusion. Specifically,
provide individual body paragraphs to discuss the following items:
○ The ethos of the writer(s). What is their “right to write” on this topic? Who is she/he/they?
What academic/professional/political communities are they a part of? How does that
connection give them insight into their topic? How does their ethos impact your reading of
their argument? Write at least one, if not two, body paragraphs detailing how the writer is (not)
qualified to discuss the topic.
○ The pathos of the words. How does the OP-Ed use emotion? How does their use of pathos
impact your reading of their argument? Find at least two specific examples to discuss in-depth
using the PIE methodology.
○ The logos of the argument or message. Do they provide (or allude to) real-world examples?
What kinds of specific evidence do they bring into the larger conversation in this piece? How
does that evidence impact your reading of their argument? Find one or two specific examples
to discuss in-depth using the PIE methodology.
● In your conclusion paragraph, you’ll write about how this essay has (not) influenced your own views on
the broader topic. What are your thoughts on the discourse surrounding this topic? What more would
you like to know about the topic to feel more comfortable making decisions in the voting booth?
