Quiz 1 & Blog Post 2

Hi everyone! Quiz 1 will be posted tomorrow morning and must be completed by tomorrow evening. Once you begin the quiz, which is only 5 questions, you have 1-hour window for completing it. If you do not yet have the book or the code, please let me know.

Blog Assignment 2 is posted below and can also be found on Blackboard. Please post your assignment on your blog by midnight on Saturday. I really enjoyed the first round of blogs, and I can't wait to see how you respond to this assignment. Make sure you read the instructions and respond as comprehensively as possible.

Blog Assignment 2: Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation
For your second blog posting this semester—and in preparation for your first Course Project—we’d like you to select a piece of writing/article that you were assigned to read in one of the classes in your major here at USM, and to begin analyzing and discussing the rhetorical situation that seems to have motivated the creation of this document. That is, we want you to choose a typical type of writing that you have to read and use as a student in your major, and employing several of the “strategies for close reading” and “analyzing the rhetorical situation” discussed in WAPP, provide a summary of the text, as well as an analysis/evaluation of the writing’s overall rhetorical effectiveness.
To do this well, you will probably want to consider the following:

• What is the context of the issues the writer seems to be discussing? What do you know about the topic? What issues does the topic raise?  Is there a larger debate, discussion, or controversy already going on that motivates the writing of this piece? What seems to be at stake?
• Who is the writer? What do you know about the writer’s background, credibility, knowledge of the topic, beliefs, social allegiances, etc.?
• What is the publication? What do you know about its intended readers, reputability, political slant, types of topics it covers, etc.?
• What is the call to write? Why is the writer addressing this issue and/or taking a positing at this particular time? Is there some sense of urgency involved? How does the writer identify the significance of the issues involved?
• What is the writer’s purpose? What is he or she trying to accomplish? How do you know?
• Who is the intended audience? Is the writer addressing one group of readers or several? What kind of relationship is the writer trying to establish with readers? What assumptions about readers does this writer seem to make?
• How does the writer use language? What is the writer’s tone? Does the writer used specialized terms or slang? What does the writer's word choice show about his or her assumptions about readers?

Finally, after you have considered all these things, you'll want to provide an evaluation of how well the writer seems to have accomplished his or her purpose overall, and what her or she might have done differently to make the document even more effective.
As with all your blog entries, feel free to provide links to any information or resources that you feel might be interesting or useful. You may also wish to include any images, videos or additional material that your readers might appreciate or enjoy.
This blog entry should be approximately 500-750 words in length. If you have any questions, please let me know. Also, post a comment to my blog or e-mail me when your second blog is posted.

Happy writing!!

Courtney