The goal of this assignment is help you locate credible secondary sources to aid your rhetorical analysis. While there are many potential sources you might use for any given research assignment, not all sources are equally credible, or equally helpful, to your specific composing goal. How can you evaluate whether or not a source you’ve found is a “good” one to support the rhetorical analysis you’re working on? What makes the author of the source someone you can trust on the subject they are writing about? This assignment will provide you with tools to help you make these decisions.
To begin this assignment, again review the “Evaluating Sources Criteria” document (see below). It will help you think critically about the secondary sources you find. Second, you should again visit the research-related content in the Modules section. Next, make sure to use the resources within the ASU library databases to search for reliable and meaningful secondary sources for your project.
Keep the following in mind as you conduct research for this assignment and Project 2 in general:
- You should not find/use sources that merely identify and explain the rhetorical concepts we’re working with: ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. The material provided in the Project 2 module provides sufficient info on these concepts. There is no reason to cite a source to explain these concepts; your own words as a composer should be sufficient.
- Be sure to find sources that are related to the creator, content, or target audience of your chosen social media account. You may also search for sources that provide a critical lens or analytical framework for your paper.
- Note that rhetorical analysis is a more academic genre than Project 1’s profile. As such, most readers would expect to see at least one scholarly (peer reviewed) source like can be found in the library databases. Use this assignment as an opportunity to explore these types of sources; look beyond a simple Google search.
- You cannot use the secondary sources already provided to you in the Project 2 resources area for this assignment. But feel free to use them to aid the analysis of your chosen social media account as you continue to revise your Project 2 rough draft.
- Finally, for the purposes of Project 2, your chosen social media account does not count as a secondary source. As it is the subject of your analysis, it is a primary source. (You should still cite it in your APA references page, however.)
Remember: your goal is to locate sources you can use and cite *within* your analysis. When you have located and read at least two secondary sources you think will aid your rhetorical analysis, do the following:
- Compose 1-2 full paragraphs about each source, explaining why you’ve selected it as a credible textual source for Project 2 and how, specifically, it will help you be successful in Project 2. Ideally, it will be a source you can actually use *within* your analysis. Be thorough and specific: convince readers that this source will truly be helpful to your Project 2 work — and that it wasn’t just one of the first sources you happened to find. Show evidence you’ve read the source in its entirety. Make sure to discuss the credibility of the author and the publisher (website, database, periodical, etc.) for each source.
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