The New York Times Article: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? By Motoko Rich

For this assignment, we are both engaging with the idea of a text (what it says) and examining how the writer makes a case. That is, we’re going to be paying close attention to the rhetorical choices that the writer makes and how choices in structuring a text (the organizing principle). The purpose of this assignment is to understand the relationship between comprehension of a text and analyzing the strategies that authors use to communicate messages to readers. Thus you’ll need to understand Rich’s rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context), the different writing techniques she uses to reach her audience and achieve her purpose, and find specific evidence in the text itself to support your analysis about her rhetorical approach as a writer.

For the main part of your essay, you’ll be focusing on how she presents this argument to her readers through the choices he made as writer. Here are some questions to consider while you develop your analysis (you do not need to answer them all; they are intended to get you thinking critically as you read):

• What is your first impression of Rich's essay? Does she seem to take one side over the other?

• Pay attention to her essay's structure--where does she address which positions? Who speaks to and for those positions? Which are introduced and at what point? Which get more space?

• How does her selection of evidence to represent each point of view work? Do some sources seem more credible than others?

• What is the tone of this essay? Identify specific textual examples where she seems to communicate a particular attitude toward the subject she is discussing.

• Look carefully at her word choice (diction). Where do you see her using words with negative or positive connotations? That is, which verbs seem to communicate positive meaning and which communicate a negative meaning? Work carefully through the essay, and try to identify specific examples of language that communicate the writer’s tone or that characterize the topic in a particular way

The New York Times Article: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Rea...