- 13 Mar, 2021
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President Ronald Regan’s tribute to the challenger astronauts in 1986
Instructions
All students will complete a rhetorical analysis of President Ronald Reagan’s tribute to the Challenger astronauts in 1986. The link to the You Tube video is available below.
The rhetorical analysis should be 1000 words in length.
The rhetorical strategies you choose to analyze should address the questions in at least four of the items listed on p. 100 in the textbook. You must address the first two bulleted items and may choose two others from the list. However, when a question asks “what,” you must instead answer “how.” For example, the first item asks, “What is the purpose of this argument? What does it hope to achieve?” While you do have to answer these questions, your analysis must focus on the how. How does the speech by Reagan achieve his purpose? What rhetorical strategies does he use and what is their effect?
This is NOT a research essay. You are doing the analysis and are not to search for what other people say about Reagan’s speech and its rhetorical effectiveness. If you fail to adhere to this guideline, you will be required to rewrite the essay to earn credit for it.
The essay is to be formatted in MLA style.
There will be a Works Cited list. The entry on the list will be the speech. The entry should be formatted as follows:
Reagan, Ronald. “Address on the Challenger Disaster, 1986.” You Tube, uploaded March 17, 2008,
Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjXjfxoNXM.
Transcript: https://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html
Essay is due March 8, 2020 by 11:59 pm.
Late work is penalized 25% of the points. Late work will not be accepted after March 29 unless approved by Prof. Vaez.
70% of the words must be yours. You may use up to 30% of words spoken by Reagan. Avoid long quotes. Paraphrase whenever possible. However, if Reagan uses a phrase that is particularly effective, do quote rather than attempt to put it into your own words.
The rhetorical analysis should be 1000 words in length.
The rhetorical strategies you choose to analyze should address the questions in at least four of the items listed on p. 100 in the textbook. You must address the first two bulleted items and may choose two others from the list. However, when a question asks “what,” you must instead answer “how.” For example, the first item asks, “What is the purpose of this argument? What does it hope to achieve?” While you do have to answer these questions, your analysis must focus on the how. How does the speech by Reagan achieve his purpose? What rhetorical strategies does he use and what is their effect?
This is NOT a research essay. You are doing the analysis and are not to search for what other people say about Reagan’s speech and its rhetorical effectiveness. If you fail to adhere to this guideline, you will be required to rewrite the essay to earn credit for it.
The essay is to be formatted in MLA style.
There will be a Works Cited list. The entry on the list will be the speech. The entry should be formatted as follows:
Reagan, Ronald. “Address on the Challenger Disaster, 1986.” You Tube, uploaded March 17, 2008,
Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjXjfxoNXM.
Transcript: https://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html
Essay is due March 8, 2020 by 11:59 pm.
Late work is penalized 25% of the points. Late work will not be accepted after March 29 unless approved by Prof. Vaez.
70% of the words must be yours. You may use up to 30% of words spoken by Reagan. Avoid long quotes. Paraphrase whenever possible. However, if Reagan uses a phrase that is particularly effective, do quote rather than attempt to put it into your own words.
pg.100
– What are the context — social, political, historical, cultural — for this argument? Whose interests does it serve? Who gains or loses by it?
– Can you identify fallacies in the argument — emotional, ethical, or logical?
– How is the argument organized or arranged? what media does the argument use and how effectively?
– How does the language and style of the argument work to persuade an audience?