Now we are moving beyond summaries to analysis. This means that you will not just be giving a sense of what is in the text you choose to write about, but will be describing the strategies the writer has used to try to convince the reader, and you will make a final judgment on how effective the text is at convincing us.

You can choose to analyze one of the following excerpts from American Earth:

• A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (266-294)
• "Everything is a Human Being" by Alice Walker (659-670)
• "A First American Views His Land" by N. Scott Momaday (570-581)

Requirements:

• An engaging introduction (make us interested in the piece you are writing about). Introduction may be more than one paragraph if needed.
• A focused thesis which gives a sense in one or two sentences of what is most noteworthy about the writer's strategy for convincing the reader in the text. You may or may not give your overall evaluation of the success of the text in the thesis.
• Introduction summarizes the main argument(s) of the text
• Body paragraphs discuss all the strategies the writer uses to convince us. 
• Some or all body paragraphs and/or conclusion assess the effectiveness of these strategies.  To what extent does the excerpt convince you of its definition and fulfill its purpose? If the text has limited success or success only with certain audiences, be precise about that.
• Focused paragraphs that draw on ample references to the text for support. The topics listed above may be discussed in any order and not necessarily in separate paragraphs.  You choose the structure that most smoothly leads the reader through your ideas. You may find that a point related to audience is very similar to one you want to make about ethos: in that case, you should combine them into one paragraph.
• Signal phrases used throughout to give a sense of the writer's purposes
• A conclusion that assesses the effectiveness of the writer's strategies. You may want to make observations on
• At least a full 6 pages long.

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Some ideas for what to include
Warning: Your finished essay shouldn't read like a list of strategies because then the reader won't get a sense of what is important or why the strategies are being listed.

Instead, you'll want to use the concepts from Rhetoric as a guide to discovering what is really interesting or noteworthy about this author's strategic approach. You do not have to discuss every item on the list below. Your goal is a more unified vision of the style and approach of the text. That said, as you are gathering material and developing your analysis, here are some broad areas to consider.

1. Exigence: What is the situation that drives the writer to write?  What is his purpose? (Rhetoric 12-13)
2. Logos:  What exactly is the writer claiming?  What is she defining, and how does she define it? What reasoning supports the claim (Rhetoric Chapter Two), and are there any assumptions or warrants (Rhetoric 19-21) that are important to note? Are there any fallacies? (Rhetoric 65-71)Your essay should summarize her definition argument and then go on to discuss any problems you see with her logic.
3. Examples. What kinds of examples does the writer use to support his definition? (Rhetoric 138) and how does he or she establish typicality for them?  (Rhetoric 139)
4. Definitions What kinds of definitions (Rhetoric 143-8) does the writer use to support the overall definition argument?
5. Comparisons (Rhetoric 153-57). Does the writer use comparison to help define something and if so, how plausible is the comparison?
6. Audience: What can you infer about the audience the writer wants to reach?  (Rhetoric 4-5 and 55) How does this affect her ethos and pathos? 
7. Ethos: How does the writer attempt to establish his credibility and gain our trust? (Rhetoric 48-52)  Does he use any particular strategies to convince the reader that he is reasonable (Rhetoric 56-60)To what extent does he succeed?
8. Pathos: How does the writer attempt to affect the reader’s emotions?(Rhetoric 53-55, 60-64) Does she do this through examples? (Rhetoric 63)Through word choice? (Rhetoric 61-2) Are the appeals likely to affect the audience as intended? Do any emotional appeals backfire? (Rhetoric 64)