Formal Assignment One: Editorial Series

WRIT 1122, Winter 2011

6-8 pages in three documents
MLA Style (if applicable)

We’ll begin our examination of political rhetorics by responding to how personal

and political issues become intertwined. This assignment will ask you to
construct and reconstruct an argument that crosses the personal/political divide,
both in analyzing how others present their personal/political issues, and
presenting your own personal/political stances. In doing so, we will also get our
feet wet in creating and maintaining coherently structured arguments—with
claims, supporting evidence and reasons, appropriate warrants, and rebuttals—
and working on the three most common appeals in rhetoric—those of pathos (an
appeal to emotions), ethos (an appeal to ethics, or to the person speaking), and
logos (an appeal to logic).

In this assignment you will be asked to create three, editorial-style arguments in

reaction to a current issue you personally consider political, or in reaction to the
readings assigned for this assignment.

The “editorial” is a fairly straightforward genre: It is traditionally a short piece

(about 500 words) written in reaction to, or rebutting, the claims made by other
editorials, news or feature stories, or current events. Editorials frequently start
with claims of their own, and then support those claims with various types of
evidence—personal experience, personal interpretation, or hard evidence—
explaining the claim being made. Editorials range from polemic to humorous,
emotional to stoic, but they all are small-scale arguments concerning current
social or political issues, and are written and submitted by anyone from
professional writers to the person who lives next door. An editorial is probably
the most apparent place in current media realms where “private”
political arguments are made “public” to encourage further
argumentation and debate.

For this assignment, present your political opinion about an issue in an argument,
imagining a generally intelligent and diverse audience (in beliefs as well as
demographics). This could be done by critiquing (or arguing against) a recent
statement about an issue, by presenting an argument in support of a stance,
or by providing your readers with new insight about a subject. You’re
crafting a series of three statements where you present your own personal beliefs
as they are affected politically.

In each editorial, not only will you be asked to sustain a structured and supported
argument, but you will write each editorial using a different rhetorical appeal—the
first, an appeal to ethos, the second, an appeal to pathos, and the third an appeal
to logos. You can choose to revise your second and third editorials by changing
your topic or stance, or keep the same argument but revise by using a different
rhetorical appeal. In short, you can create three, unique editorials or
substantially revise previous editorials to create new ones.
Some Tips:
• Find ways of narrowing a topic. An editorial about “abortion” or
“legalization” will not only be irrelevant and without context, but are not
arguments that cannot be made successfully in two pages. Perhaps a
statement about why you chose to “go green” is more appropriate.
• Keep your eyes and ears on the news. You might have to do a bit of outside
reading to stay informed about the issue you’re reacting to.
• It never hurts to write in reaction to what others argue, even if it’s a reading
from class.

Editorials
Coleman, Vance. “Gays in Our Military Deserve Better.” USA Today Online. 2
December, 2010. Online.
Egan, Timothy. “The Can’t-Do Nation.” NY Times Online. 29 December, 2010.
Online.
Stewart, John. “Lame as F@*k Congress.” The Daily Show With John Stewart. 13
December, 2010.
---. “Worst Responders.” The Daily Show With John Stewart. 16 December,
2010.

Process Assignments:
1) Impressions of “Maggie’s Farm”
2) Peer Response (2 given, 2 received for each draft)
3) Teacher Conference (if applicable)
4) Writer’s Memo (1pg)

You’ll be evaluated by how well you create structured argument in each of

your editorials, including:
• Claims and how you structure arguments in critique, support, or extension
of an argument
• Use of supporting evidence and reasoning for each argument
• How effectively appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos are used in the service
of arguments in each editorial
• How effectively editorials are revised to incorporate suggestions from peers
and the instructor
• The effectiveness of your prose and written style

Due: January 24th in class