2019 1st Semester Apprentice~Precis IRP

Writer Apprenticeship Final IRP #1 for 1st Semester

“Good writing isn’t a science. It’s an art, and the horizon is infinite. You can always get better.” -David Foster Wallace

Task:  Inspired by DFW's words on writing, we will continue our study of craft. Our next project will involve you following a columnist from a major newspaper/ publication over the next few weeks.  The purpose of this project is for you to learn at the feet of a contemporary master of argumentative prose.  You will collect a minimum of four current columns and analyze the patterns of persuasion and style of this writer.  

 Too easy!  

Areas of annotation for each column:

• Speaker’s tone and possible tone shifts~ Why?
• Rhetorical strategies ~For what effect?
• Organization and arrangement ~Why here?
• Methods of appeals to specific targets of this audience~ Why would the audience be sensitive or respond to this?
• Intended audience reactions- laughter, anger, confusion, clarify, etc.

Questions to guide your observations for analysis:

1. How does the title prime the reader? why is it a "privileged perch"?
2.  What is the thesis and where is it? Why would it be placed there for what effect?
3. What introductory technique(s) did the author use?  Is the technique woven into the essay?  How? Is there a return to it in the conclusion? What is the intended effect?
4. Our texts have reflected some of the purposes of argument.  Using the language of your text, identify the purpose (s) of this argument. Is this a ceremonial argument, a deliberative argument, a forensic argument?  
5. What appears to be the balance of ethos(flex), pathos (spectrum of distinct emotional appeals), or logos (leveraging of data/ stats) this editorial?
6. Comment on the method of conclusion.  What can you learn from this method of closing?
7. What appeals are in the argument? Really think about psychology and how the writer is "unlocking" the reader.
8. After studying this piece, what, if anything, would you like to emulate as a writer?

Check out New York Times Opinion pages and columnists or the syndicated columnists from USA Today/CNN/ US News for your selection of the writer. Washington Post maybe? How about an international point of view from The Guardian/ Independent UK or Project Syndicate? Explore an idea first and stumble into a writer with Allsides ? Take this time to sample some writers and find the best one that suits your potential growth in argument writing.
LA Times/Chicago Tribune/WSJ (paywall?/ The Economist/Bloomberg or even more regional.
If you go over your "free articles", use ProQuest to search the articles.

Remember that the "I" in IRP stands for Independent. Outside of today, there will be limited time to work on this project in class. This means that there is a level of trust and academic maturity required to meet the demands. If you wait until the last few days to complete the analysis of the writer, the project will suffer as your analysis will be weak as will your Apprentice essay. On the flip side, keeping a disciplined regiment of analysis of a new editorial piece every 1-2 days will pay off as you will be less stressed and will allow for a proper reflection on the technique of your writer. This reflection will make the drafting of the Apprentice essay smooth.

While we will not use Google Sites this year, you can follow this model Editorial Project and Apprentice Essay from Matt Wenz. This is what it will resemble in Google docs. Target no less than 5 solid observations per editorial. You will then write a rhetorical analysis of one of the techniques of the editorial directly under the article. The rhetorical analysis paragraph will essentially be commenting on the dynamic of technique impacting the audience with direct evidence. A model of this will be posted shortly. Too easy!

Due dates- 
Writer selection by 11/4/2019
1st Editorial annotation by 11/5/2019
Editorial Annotation/ Reflection on Writer Style  
Editorial Essay-November...

Expect one drop in where I verify that you are keeping up with the intent of this project.  

via GIPHY