Response Paper 2 asks you to engage in a comparative rhetorical analysis of two texts. 
Response Paper 2 is a rhetorical analysis paper that requires you to form a comparative rhetorical analysis of any two readings from our course syllabus.
The final draft of this assignment will need to be between 1000 and 1500 words long (about three to five pages, double spaced), and will need to include an MLA formatted Works Cited page.
A good way to think of this assignment is as a framework for telling your audience who you think wrote the better article.  It’s important to acknowledge that “the better article” and “the article you agreed with most” aren’t necessarily the same thing: sometimes, people will form poorly constructed arguments with viewpoints you agree with, or people will do a great job of constructing an argument defending a perspective that you disagree with.

As long as you stick to discussing writing and rhetoric, you should be alright.  I’ve produced a list of rhetorical vocabulary terms here as well, just for your reference.  While this list is not exhaustive, it may help kick start your processes if you’re feeling stuck:

– Audience
– Purpose
– Context
– Use of appeals (like ethos, pathos, and logos)
– Tone
– Language
– Style
– Stance
– Genre/Medium
Successful responses to this assignment will:
– Compare the rhetorical practices of two texts.
– Demonstrate critical thinking through the formation of critiques of each text.
– Present a clear stance on the effectiveness of the rhetoric in their source texts.
– Support that stance with evidence and discussion.
– Demonstrate a familiarity with, and an accurate representation of, the relevant texts.
– Appropriately attribute quotations and cite texts using MLA guidelines.

In this chapter from her book Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, author Susan J. Douglas discusses the Girl Group bands of the early and mid-1960s. Some questions you might consider in writing your response to her essay are:

Why is Douglas writing about this particular topic?
What is the thesis (main point) of Douglas’s chapter?
What audience do you think Douglas is writing to? Does her audience affect the shape of her argument? Does it affect her writing style?
What groups, songs, and songwriters does Douglas discuss?
What kind of musical observation and detail does Douglas use to support her argument? Is her use of musical detail successful?
What do you think Douglas’s musical background is?
While Douglas is writing about Girl Groups, how can her argument and observations be applied to other kinds of music?

Sample Solution

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